Team Canada graduate and Nova Scotia product Austin Connelly had a 2017 season to remember on the European Tour. The 21-year-old posted three top-10 results and added a T14 finish at The British Open Championship en route to earning full status for the 2018 campaign.

Golfing World recently caught up with Connelly to discuss the breakthrough season that was:

THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. – Bernhard Langer made a 30-foot birdie putt on the second playoff hole to beat Miguel Angel Jimenez in the PowerShares QQQ Championship on Sunday for his second victory in two events of the Charles Schwab Cup playoffs.

Langer missed a similar putt on the first extra hole as both he and Jimenez made par. He was perfect on the second for his third win in his last four tournaments and seventh victory of the season.

Just wow.

Bernhard Langer makes birdie on 2nd playoff hole to win @PwrShrsQQQChamp.

He takes the first 2 #SchwabCup Playoffs events. pic.twitter.com/q3fFqiRD87

— PGA TOUR Champions (@ChampionsTour) October 30, 2017

Langer and Jimenez, who shared the 36-hole lead with David Toms, both shot 5-under 67 in the final round to force the playoff at 11-under 205. Toms, winless in his first season on the senior tour, had a 69 to finish two shots back in third.

Langer leads the Schwab Cup points standings and is followed by Scott McCarron, Kenny Perry, Jimenez and Kevin Sutherland. The points now reset and any of the top five can win the cup and $1 million bonus with a victory in the Schwab Cup Championship at Phoenix Country Club from Nov. 10-12.

The words of a champion.

Bernhard Langer discusses winning the @PwrShrsQQQChamp in a playoff against Miguel Angel Jimenez. pic.twitter.com/BIEAvTPjNN

— PGA TOUR Champions (@ChampionsTour) October 30, 2017

McCarron shot a final-round 69 and finished fourth at 208. Fred Funk (68), Doug Garwood (70) and Billy Andrade (71) were tied another two shots back. Perry (72) finished in a tie for 12th at 212, and Sutherland (69) was in a group at 217.

Canadian Hall-of-Famer Stephen Ames will advance to the season-ending Charles Schwab Cup after finishing tied for 19th.

JACKSON, Miss. – Ryan Armour shot a 4-under 68 to earn an impressive first career win at the Sanderson Farms Championship.

Armour started Sunday’s final round with a five-shot lead and was never seriously challenged. The 41-year-old won for the first time in 105 career starts, finishing at 19-under for a five-shot victory over Chesson Hadley.

Jonathan Randolph – a Jackson-area native playing on his home course – briefly made a charge with seven birdies over his first nine holes. That pushed him to 14 under, but Armour was able to maintain some separation thanks to three birdies on his first seven holes.

Randolph eventually cooled off and Armour methodically worked his way around the course.

Hadley shot a 68. Randolph was third after shooting a 67 and finishing at 12 under.

PGA TOUR rookie Ben Silverman (72) of Thornhill, Ont., was the low Canadian at 9 under and tied for seventh, marking his first top-10 finish.

David Hearn (77) of Brantford, Ont., was 1 over and Corey Conners (73) of Listowel, Ont., finished 2 over.

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia – Cristie Kerr made her 20th career victory on the LPGA Tour one to remember.

Locked in a four-way tie for the lead going to the 18th hole, Kerr made a 35-foot birdie putt for an even-par 71 and a one-shot victory in the Sime Darby LPGA Malaysia to cap off a wild finish at the TPC Kuala Lumpur.

Kerr, who won earlier this year in Hawaii, became the 27th player in LPGA Tour with 20 career victories.

“What a way to win,” Kerr said. “I always said I wanted to get a win by my 40s, and I got it pretty quick.”

“That’s probably the longest putt I’ve ever made to win a golf tournament.” @CKGolferChic #SimeDarbyLPGA pic.twitter.com/eFLiAgDg58

— #CMEFinalStretch ? (@LPGA) October 29, 2017

Kerr, who celebrated her 40th birthday on Oct. 12, became the first player since Catriona Matthew (42) at the 2011 Lorena Ochoa Invitational to win in her 40s. This one packed a little more excitement than she anticipated.

She took a one-shot lead over defending champion Shanshan Feng into the final round, only to slip into a tie for the lead with a double bogey on the par-3 seventh hole. Kerr still had the tournament in her grasp until a two-shot swing on the 17th hole – Kerr made bogey and Feng made birdie.

Danielle Kang, who won the Women’s PGA Championship this year for her first major, closed with a 66 and Jacqui Concolino had a 67. They also were tied for the lead and waiting to see if there would be a playoff.

Kerr made sure there wasn’t.

For a player who has made a career with her short game, even Kerr was impressed. As the photographers were lining up for the trophy presentation, Kerr and her caddie went back to the spot and stepped off the putt one more time.

“I knew it was going to be like a five-way playoff,” Kerr said. “I was just like, ‘Got to do it. Got to do it.’ The only thing I could control was trusting my line and hitting the putt with the speed to make it. And I did it.”

Kerr finished at 15-under 269 and earned $270,000 and went over $19 million for her career, third on the all-time list behind Annika Sorenstam and Karrie Webb. She also became the seventh player with multiple victories this year.

Feng was trying to win in Malaysia for the third time in four years, and nearly pulled it off. She now has two victories and three runner-up finishes in the tournament.

“I think second is still not a bad finish here, and I’m still keeping my record pretty good here in Malaysia,” Feng said after closing with a 71.

Concolino earlier had a 10-foot birdie putt on the 18th that caught the lip and stayed out. The runner-up finish was her best on the LPGA Tour.

“Cristie making the putt on the last hole is kind of inevitable I guess,” Concolino said.

Canada’s Brooke Henderson of Smiths Falls, Ont., posted the low score on the day with a bogey-free 64, moving her into a four-way tie for 5th place.

.@BrookeHenderson puts 7 birdies on the card for her final round to finish with an #LPGAHotRound of 64 at #SimeDarbyLPGA! pic.twitter.com/DEQBKAV5tc

— #CMEFinalStretch ? (@LPGA) October 29, 2017

SHANGHAI – Justin Rose posed with the trophy from the balcony high above the 18th green at Sheshan International, a moment that didn’t seem possible.

He started the final round eight shots behind Dustin Johnson, the No. 1 player in the world.

“The beginning of the day, I was playing for second,” Rose said.

The HSBC Champions turned into a shocker in Shanghai when Johnson went into the PGA Tour record books for all the wrong reasons.

Instead of becoming the first player to win three World Golf Championships in one year, he tied a record for losing the largest lead in the final round. Six shots clear of the field, Johnson didn’t make a single birdie on a wild, wind-blown Sunday for a collapse that even Rose didn’t see coming.

Only when he saw a leaderboard behind the 14th green and realized he was three shots behind did Rose think he might have a chance. He got up-and-down with a tough bunker shot for birdie. He made a 10-foot par save at the 15th to stay in the game. He birdied the next two holes.

As Rose was signing for a 5-under 67, he looked up and saw Johnson’s last hope for eagle on the 18th tumble off the side of the green and into the water.

“It’s the kind of day you certainly don’t expect,” Rose said after his two-shot victory. “It’s the kind of a day you hope for – dream for – but a lot of things need to go your way in order for a day like today to happen, coming from eight shots behind, especially going against a player like DJ.”

He overcame an EIGHT-shot deficit for his 8th win on the PGA TOUR! ?@JustinRose99 claims the WGC-HSBC Champions! #QuickHits pic.twitter.com/eo32mFc7OB

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) October 29, 2017

Johnson certainly did his part. He shot 77, his highest final round with the lead since an 82 at Pebble Beach in the 2010 U.S. Open.

“I just could never get anything going and didn’t hole any putts,” Johnson said. “It was pretty simple.”

It was simply stunning.

Johnson matched the record for losing a six-shot lead, most recently by Sergio Garcia at Quail Hollow in 2005, most famously by Greg Norman in the 1996 Masters.

The one-man show turned into a four-man race in the final hour, and Rose seized on it with a 31 on the back nine. He finished at 14-under 274. Johnson tied for second with Henrik Stenson (70) and Brooks Koepka (71), who also had their chances.

Only two other players in PGA Tour history have come from more than eight shots behind on the final day to win – Paul Lawrie (10 shots) in the 1999 British Open and Stewart Cink (nine shots) at Hilton Head in 2004.

“It was the perfect type of weather conditions to make a comeback,” Rose said. “This is the type of day when you are playing with a lead, every hole seems difficult. Obviously, someone is still capable of playing a special round of golf. And my back nine was just amazing today.”

The signature shot was a 5-iron he purposely threw up into the wind on the par-3 17th and watched it land some 3 feet behind the hole. That gave him the lead over Stenson, and no one caught him.

Stenson, who tied for the lead with a two-putt birdie from just short of the 16th green, ballooned his tee shot on the 17th and was well short and to the right, leading to a bogey. Koepka was within one shot of the lead until the wind switched on him at the 15th and deposited his shot into a plugged lie in the bunker. He blasted out to the fringe and took three putts from 30 feet for double bogey.

Rose won for the first time since capturing the gold medal at the Olympics last summer in Rio de Janeiro. He now has won every year since 2010.

The HSBC Champions sure didn’t look like a tournament where he would keep that streak going, not when he was eight shots behind going into the final round against Johnson, who has been No. 1 in the world since running off three straight victories against strong fields in the spring.

Nothing went right for Johnson.

He made bogey on No. 1. He drove into the water on the par-5 second and had to scramble for bogey. Still, he made the turn at 15 under and had a three-shot lead, and he was driving it down the middle and long on every shot. He fell apart on the par-5 14th, when he chunked a short iron for his second shot and had to get up-and-down for par, bogeyed the 15th from the bunker, and then hooked an iron into deep rough on the 16th.

His flop shot was a yard short of being perfect. Instead, it went into a bunker and he made another bogey.

“That wind was blowing hard,” Stenson said. “On this golf course, if you hit the wrong shot at the wrong time, it’s going to penalize you. Certainly it penalized DJ a number of times today. That’s why he came back to the rest of us. I played pretty strong, and then I hit one bad shot with possible the wrong club on 17. That kind of ended my chances to win the golf tournament.”

Rose won his second World Golf Championships title – the other was at Doral in 2012 – and moved to No. 6 in the world. Johnson gets a month off to consider one that got away from him in an ugly manner.

JACKSON, Miss. – Ryan Armour shot a 5-under 67 during a windy, chilly third round Saturday to take a five-stroke lead at the Sanderson Farms Championship.

Armour, who led by one after 36 holes, had eight birdies and three bogeys to move to 15 under 201. Chesson Hadley (68) was next at 10 under. Vaughn Taylor (70), Scott Strohmeyer (68), Beau Hossler (69), Canada’s Ben Silverman (69), and Seamus Power (71) were tied for third another shot back at 207.

Silverman, of Thornhill, Ont., had four birdies and just one bogey in his round. David Hearn (74) of Brantford, Ont., is 4 under while Corey Conners (74) of Listowel, Ont., is 1 over.

Armour, 41, is seeking his first PGA Tour title in his 105th Tour event.

After the first two rounds were played in sunshine and near-80 degree temperatures, it was in the low 50s on Saturday. Biting wings added to the chill factor – and the uncertainty on judging shots.

An Ohio native who now lives in Jupiter, Florida, Armour fought through the conditions to post the day’s low round. He overcame bogeys on holes Nos. 5-7 with four straight birdies on the back nine, capped by a 57-foot putt on the most difficult hole on the course, the par-4 16th, to regain control.

While Armour was grinding out pars and birdies, his youngest son, Patrick, was celebrating his ninth birthday at home in Jupiter. Armour credited his family for improving his game.

“The kids have helped me become more disciplined,” he said. “Back coming out of college, you thought you could do everything. But now with kids who get up early, wanting to be part of their life, I want to have energy. I get to bed early and up early, and that’s discipline that’s helping me on the golf course.

“I’m happy where I’m at with my family, my caddy, my instructor. My parents are healthy finally, everything is falling into place.”

He’s been at the top of his game all week, tied for the lead after the first round, and then alone at the top following the second round, which was delayed by rain that came late Friday and completed on Saturday morning.

Armour took just 26 putts and made eight birdies Saturday. He followed his bogey string by stuffing an 8-iron to 4 feet for birdie on No. 8, made a 21-footer from the fringe for birdie on No. 10, and then got on a roll – again on Nos. 13-16. That birdie binge marked the second straight round he had par on each of those holes.

Asked how he’ll handle being in the final group on Sunday, the even-natured Armour said he’ll do what he’s done each day.

“Kind of stick with what you’re doing,” he said. “You’re not always going to be able to, but my strength is – obviously, I have figured this out, finally – driving it in the fairway, hitting it on the green, and trying to make putts. I don’t overpower a golf course.”

THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. – Bernhard Langer shot his second straight 3-under 69 Saturday to pull into a tie with David Toms and Miguel Angel Jimenez for the second-round lead at the PowerShares QQQ Championship.

Langer, the Schwab Cup points leader who has all but wrapped up his ninth PGA Tour Champions money title in 10 seasons, birdied Nos. 12, 13 and 17 to pull even with Jimenez (70), one behind Toms (72). Toms, who had a hole-in-one in the opening round, then bogeyed No. 18 to fall into the three-way tie at 6-under 138.

Scott McCarron (69), Billy Andrade (70) and Jeff Maggert (73) _ who was tied with Toms for the lead after the first round _ were one shot back. Kenny Perry (68), Doug Garwood (69), Wes Short Jr. (70) and Scott Dunlap) were tied for seventh at 140.

Jesper Parnevik, who was one shot off the lead after the opening round, had a 74.

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia – Cristie Kerr fired a 6-under 65 Saturday to take a one-stroke lead over defending champion Feng Shanshan at the Sime Darby.

The American veteran, who posted the tournament’s lowest score of 63 on Friday, had five birdies in the opening nine holes of the third round and got two more for an overall 15-under 198.

“I’m just going to enjoy it,” Kerr said of Sunday as she aims to clinch her first title in six months. “I’m just going to try to not put too much pressure on myself. I try to do the best on every shot, so that’s my mantra tomorrow.”

Former top-ranked Lydia Ko, the first-round leader, saw her title challenge all but end after posting a 70 to end the day tied for 12th on 7-under 206.

Feng stays in firm contention after the Chinese shot 3-under 68, despite only managing three birdies in tropical conditions at TPC Kuala Lumpur.

“It was really hot with no breeze,” Feng said. “I almost felt like I was going down, but I tried my best … I mean, my ball-striking wasn’t as accurate but I think overall 3-under, bogey-free round is still a very good score for Saturday.”

South Korea’s Kim Sei-young is four shots behind Kerr in third, while American duo Stacy Lewis and Jacqui Concolino are tied for fourth.

Canadian Brooke Henderson shares a four-way tie for 19th place at 6 under par.

SHANGHAI – As part of a promotional stunt for the HSBC Champions earlier in the week, Dustin Johnson was among three players wearing superhero capes on a hotel roof, suspended by ropes a few feet in the air against a backdrop of downtown Shanghai at night.

“I should have pushed him off the platform,” Henrik Stenson said with a laugh.

That might have been the only way to stop the world’s No. 1 player from more domination in the World Golf Championships.

All it took was one hole Saturday for Johnson to seize control on a blustery day at Sheshan International, along with some help from Brooks Koepka. A four-shot swing on the par-5 eighth hole – a birdie for Johnson, a triple bogey for Koepka – sent Johnson on his way to a 4-under 68 and a six-shot lead going into the final round.

His only big number was not all his doing.

Johnson’s drive down the right side of the 10th hole hit a cart path and took a hard bounce over a wall and into the bushes, leading to double bogey. Otherwise, it was the same recipe that took him to No. 1 in the world – big tee shots, control of his short irons and just enough putts to make him look tough to catch.

“I’m not going to change anything – play the golf course just how I’ve been playing it,” said Johnson, who has 22 birdies in 54 holes and was at 17-under 199. “I’m in a good position going into tomorrow, but I’m still going to have to go out and play a really solid round if I want to get it done.”

At stake is a chance to become the first player to win three World Golf Championships in the same year, a feat not even Tiger Woods with his 18 World Golf Championships managed to accomplish.

Johnson won the WGC-Mexico Championship and the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play in Texas.

He has made this look like a formality.

“He’s going to wake up in good shape and go ahead and play a solid round of golf. If he does that, the tournament is over,” said Justin Rose, who played in the final group with Johnson and stumbled to a 72 to fall eight shots behind. “Other than that, playing for second barring something crazy from him.”

The crazy part belonged to Koepka.

Koepka, the U.S. Open champion and Johnson’s close friend and neighbour, ran off three straight birdies to start the third round and built a two-shot lead. Johnson answered with a 15-foot birdie putt on the par-3 fourth. His drive on the par-4 seventh came up just short into the rough, and he hit a nifty flop-and-run to about 3 feet for another birdie to tie for the lead.

And then after a lengthy wait on the tee at No. 8, it all changed.

With the wind at the players’ backs, and with sheer power of Johnson and Koepka, the line of the tee shot was over trees that have grown so tall in recent years they block the view of the landing area. Johnson hammered his tee shot and knew from experience he was fine.

Koepka caught his drive on the toe and it turned over from right-to-left and knew he was in trouble.

His caddie ran down toward the area to see if he had a shot, and quickly realized it was gone. Koepka hit his third shot from the tee, and then his fourth turned left into the hazard again. Koepka thought about a high-risk attempt out of the mess, but figured his best option was to take another penalty and go back to the fairway. It worked well until Koepka missed a 6-foot putt and took his 8.

Koepka had company in making a big number. Patrick Reed opened with a triple bogey and had four double bogeys on his way to an 82. Si Woo Kim made an 11 on No. 8.

More bothersome to Koepka was missing birdie chances on Nos. 9 and 11 and par chances on Nos. 10 and 12, which he felt could have helped him stay close.

“It was definitely windier today,” he said. “I didn’t think it was playing that difficult. Definitely should be able to shoot 4 under out here, minus a triple and whatever else I had, a lot of bogeys.”

There were too many bogeys to keep up with Johnson, who never let anyone closer to him the rest of the day.

Koepka went from the bunker into the water on the 18th and had to scramble to save bogey, giving him a 73. He’s still in the final group with Johnson, just like he had hoped. They have never competed against each other down the stretch, and barring a great start by Koepka or a stumble by Johnson, that probably won’t be the case Sunday.

Stenson, who is finally starting to round into form, birdied three of his last five holes for a 69.

“If Dustin keeps on playing the way that he’s done this week, I think it’s going to be a one-man show tomorrow,” Stenson said. “But you never know. Tough wind, and this golf course has a couple of holes where you can certainly have a number. It’s never over until it’s over.”

JACKSON, Miss. – Ryan Armour shot a 4-under 68 to take a one-shot lead at the Sanderson Farms Championship on Friday.

The 41-year-old Armour has never won on the PGA Tour and has only four top 10s in 104 career events. He made four straight birdies on the back nine and finished just before a wave of thunderstorms swept over the Country Club of Jackson and suspended play for the day.

There were 30 players still on the course when play ended. They’ll finish their second rounds on Saturday in what’s expected to be much colder weather.

Armour is at 10-under 134. Tyrone Van Aswegen is one back after shooting a 65 on Friday. Vaughn Taylor shot 66 and is two shots back, along with Seamus Power, who has two holes left to play.

Canadian duo of David Hearn (Brantford, Ont.) and Ben Silverman (Thornhill, Ont.) sit tied for 9th at 6 under par.