GREAT EXUMA, Bahamas – Eight Canadians will be among the 132 competitors teeing it up in Sunday’s Web.com Tour season opener at Sandals Emerald Bay.

The Bahamas Great Exuma Classic at Emerald Bay takes place at the Greg Norman-designed Emerald Reef Course and will run from Jan. 8-11.

Canadians in the field:

• Ryan Yip (Calgary)
• Adam Svensson (Surrey, B.C.)
• Justin Shin (Maple Ridge, B.C.)
• Corey Conners (Listowel, Ont.)
• Taylor Pendrith (Richmond Hill, Ont.)
• Roger Sloan (Merritt, B.C.)
• Albin Choi (Toronto)
• Adam Cornelson (Langley, B.C.)

Click here for live scoring.

KAPALUA, Hawaii  – Ryan Moore and Justin Thomas finished strong Friday and shared the lead going into the weekend at the SBS Tournament of Championship.

Moore birdied four of his last five holes, including a pair of wedges that he stuffed into tap-in range on the 16th and 18th holes that carried him to a 6-under 67. He played in the same group with Thomas, who birdied his last two holes for a 67.

They were at 12-under 134, one shot ahead of Patrick Reed (65) and Jimmy Walker (70).

As many as six players were tied for the lead at one point on another picturesque afternoon along the rugged coast of Maui. One of them was Hideki Matsuyama, going for his fourth straight victory worldwide, until he tried to clear the gorge on the 17th from thick rough and paid for it. He made double bogey, and a birdie on the last hole for a 68 – his 12th straight round in the 60s on the PGA Tour – left him three shots behind.

Reed is still struggling with an illness and learned the limits of what he can do when not playing so well. He hit every green in regulation, missed only one fairway and posted a 65.

Walker, who had a two-shot lead after the opening round, saw too many putts burn the edge of the cup. He finally dropped a shot on the 17th when he choked down to the shaft of a wedge from thick rough and didn’t reach the green. A birdie on the final hole still kept him right in the mix to atone for a playoff loss at Kapalua two years ago.

Jordan Spieth also was in the mix, but only briefly. The defending champion ran off nine birdies, five of them after taking a double bogey on the par-3 eighth hole. But he hooked a tee shot into the hazard on the 17th, hit his next into another hazard and missed a 4-foot putt to take triple bogey. Spieth shot a 69 and was seven shots back.

Jason Day, the world No. 1 who is playing for the first time since September, had a 69 and was five shots behind.

Moore is coming off the best part of his career last season. He won the John Deere Classic, lost in a playoff at the Tour Championship, was the final captain’s pick for his first Ryder Cup and made the putt that clinched the cup for the Americans.

He still feels like the same player, though the narrative has changed. He’s now a Ryder Cup player, and he’d like to pile up more victories.

Moore had a pair of three-putts early in the round, both from long range and one of them on a par 5, but he found his groove with a 25-foot birdie putt on the 12th hole. That carried him to his big finish. The only hole he didn’t birdie was at No. 17, where his 12-footer lipped out.

Thomas, determined to be more accurate off the tee this year, tied for the lead with a tee shot into 3 feet on the par-3 11th, and he appeared to escape trouble on the par-5 15th when he was able to slash his second shot out of the hazard. But he came up short of the elevated green and still left with a bogey, which feels worse as long as he hits it.

But he holed a 15-foot putt on the 17th, and his pitch from short of the 18th green settled 6 feet away for another birdie.

As many as six players were tied for the lead at one point. One of them was Hideki Matsuyama, going for his fourth straight victory, until he took double bogey on the 17th. He settled for a 68 and was three behind.

Canada’s Mackenzie Hughes of Dundas, Ont., carded a 72 (-1) to remain in a tie for 28th. Hughes, the lone Canadian in the field, will tee-it-up Saturday alongside Jordan Spieth at 10:40 am (local time).

KAPALUA, Hawaii – With a chance to take the lead at Kapalua, Jimmy Walker missed in the one spot he was trying to avoid.

The way he was hitting his wedges Thursday, it really didn’t matter.

Walker hit a tough pitch to a tight pin on the elevated green to 3 feet for birdie on the par-5 15th, and he nearly holed a lob wedge from 78 yards on the final hole for an 8-under 65 that gave him a two-shot lead in the SBS Tournament of Champions.

He’s still three days away from atoning for a playoff loss to Patrick Reed two years ago at Kapalua, though it was an ideal start for the PGA champion in ideal conditions on the west end of Maui, except for a short burst of pineapple showers.

Jim Herman got in one last round with his former employer – President-elect Donald Trump – a few days before Christmas, then came out to the Plantation course where he once got in a round of golf in tennis shoes and rental clubs while on his honeymoon.

Herman, a former assistant at Trump National, was 6 under through 13 holes when his round stalled. Even with four wedges in hand over the final five holes, he had to settle for pars and a 67.

Justin Thomas and Ryan Moore also were at 67.

In his first PGA TOUR tournament of 2017, Canada’s Mackenzie Hughes finished with an opening even-par 73 to sit in a two-way tie for 28th. The Dundas, Ont., native will tee-off Friday at 10:20 am local time alongside Cody Gribble.

In his first competition in three months, Jason Day had a pair of three-putts but still managed a 70. Defending champion Jordan Spieth wasn’t so fortunate. He never got his putter going, turned a birdie into bogey on the 15th and had to birdie the final hole for a 72.

Walker had the Tournament of Champions in hand two years ago until Reed holed out from a fairway to start an unlikely rally and won in a playoff. Walker won the following week on Oahu at the Sony Open for the second straight time.

“I love the scenery. I’m a very visual person, so I enjoy looking out and watching the whales when I’m walking around. Just a pretty place,” Walker said. “Everybody’s in a good mood. I love stepping off the plane and the air is just awesome. Something does it for me here.”

Walker was curious about a short club in his bad when he came to Kapalua, though it wasn’t any of his wedges or his putter.

He was so determined to be more accurate off the tee that Walker cut 2 inches off his driver while at home at Texas during the off-season. He liked the way it felt and had Titleist make him one without the duct tape. Hitting fairways is not a big issue on the expansive Plantation Course, though it showed his willingness to go old school to fix a longtime problem. This driver is 42 inches, just an inch shorter that a typical driver a generation ago.

“I didn’t bring anything else, so this is the club I’ve got with me,” he said. “This is a tough golf course for that because it’s such a big place and you want to just kill it, and I had to keep reminding myself today why I put it in and why did it to hit the fairway, hit the middle of the fairway.”

He was in the middle of the fairway on the 15th with caddie Andy Sanders reminding him to hit it hard, that through the green was better that leaving it at the bottom of a deep swale to the right. But with the ball below his feet, and the wind coming out of the left, he wound up bailing out.

“That was probably my favourite wedge shot,” Walker said.

Daniel Berger made bogey on the par-5 18th and was at 68, along with Jason Dufner. The group at 69 included Dustin Johnson and Hideki Matsuyama, who is going after his fourth consecutive victory worldwide.

Herman qualified by winning the Shell Houston Open and brought back strong memories.

He abandoned the mini-tours, took a job at Trump’s course in Bedminster, New Jersey and got married. The honeymoon was a cruise around the Hawaiian Islands, and he had seen enough of Kapalua that when the ship stopped on Maui, Herman headed for the Plantation course.

“I see the pictures on our computer all the time,” he said.

Herman never imagined returning as a PGA Tour winner, but what a journey. He became Trump’s regular partner, Trump encouraged him and helped back one last bid to play professionally, he finally got to the big leagues and made it back to Kapalua.

The round with Trump was just before Christmas. They were partners. They won. Not much changed.

“He’s the same guy to me,” Herman said. “But now I get to call him Mr. President.”

SAN DIEGO – Tiger Woods is starting the new year at a familiar place – Torrey Pines, where he has won eight times as a pro.

The Farmers Insurance Open announced Wednesday that Woods has committed to playing Jan. 26-29. It will be his first official PGA Tour event since he tied for 10th in the Wyndham Championship in August 2015.

Woods also committed to the Honda Classic, which is near his home in Florida.

Woods missed all of 2016 recovering from two back surgeries, returning last month at the Hero World Challenge. He finished 15th in a 17-man field in the Bahamas.

He won the PGA Tour event at Torrey Pines seven times, and his last major victory was at Torrey Pines in the 2008 U.S. Open.

Woods previously announced he would play in the Genesis Open at Riviera, three weeks after Torrey Pines. Still to be determined is whether he makes an overseas appearance, and how much he will play before the Masters.

He likely will return to the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill, but Woods isn’t eligible for two World Golf Championships during the March run to Augusta National.

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. AND SAN FRANCISCO – Following a successful live streaming collaboration during the 2016 FedExCup Playoffs, the PGA TOUR has announced that Twitter will be the exclusive global platform to distribute, on a free basis, more than 70 hours of live competition coverage across 31 tournaments through the remainder of the 2016-17 Season.

Twitter will begin live streaming at the CareerBuilder Challenge on January 19 and conclude at the season-ending TOUR Championship. Coverage typically will include the first 60 to 90 minutes from the early Thursday and Friday morning hours of PGA TOUR LIVE’s Over-The-Top (OTT) subscription window, on a global basis. This coverage will include pre-game analysis, interviews, range coverage, and live competition from the first two holes of each day’s PGA TOUR LIVE Marquee Groups.

The live streams will be available globally to Twitter’s logged-in and logged-out audience on Twitter and connected devices and can be found at www.PGATourLive.twitter.com and on @PGATour. The partnership also includes opportunities for advertisers, including packages with television style mid-roll spots, combined with original clips produced by the PGA TOUR, available for sponsorship and promotion on Twitter.

The partnership also includes an extension of the PGA TOUR and Twitter’s Amplify program, with PGA TOUR increasing its highlight videos and regular content creation across Twitter and Periscope.

“Twitter and the PGA TOUR have been working together on Twitter Amplify for many years now, and the program has been a tremendous success for both companies,” said Rick Anderson, Chief Media Officer of the PGA TOUR. “Streaming PGA TOUR LIVE programming to Twitter’s global audience, as well as the millions of users who follow @PGATOUR and hundreds of PGA TOUR player accounts, will provide new and innovative ways for sports fans to engage with our premium OTT offering.”

The PGA TOUR teamed with Twitter to offer portions of PGA TOUR LIVE’s premium window during the opening rounds of the first two events of the 2016 FedExCup Playoffs.

For more information on the RBC Canadian Open, visit www.rbccanadianopen.com. 

KAPALUA, Hawaii – Bubba Watson gazed toward the blue Pacific on the first tee at Kapalua and unleashed a big drive with his pink golf ball.

Next up likely will be a lime green ball.

The two-time Masters champion is even thinking of a two-tone ball.

“If we’re going to challenge ourselves, let’s challenge ourselves to make something that’s really off the wall, that’s still playable,” Watson said. “Companies I want to be with are ones that let me have an influence and let me in on the decision-making.”

That company is South Korea-based Volvik, with whom Watson signed a multiyear deal. The Volvik ball mainly has been used on the LPGA Tour in recent years, and Watson represents its first big player on the PGA Tour.

Watson said he initiated the interest after watching the World Long Drive Championship in which the finalists used colored Volvik balls. He previously heard about it from Craig Stadler during the Champions Dinner at the Masters.

“They used a pink one and they used an orange one,” Watson said. “I was watching this, and I’d never looked at the company. So I Googled the website, I looked at it, and read about. It’s a small company. You can’t just come out here and just start boasting and spending advertising dollars and things, because you’ll hurt your company real fast. … They’re doing things differently, and that’s how I noticed them.”

Watson said it wasn’t long after the Long Drive that he acquired some Volvik golf balls to give him a try. He also asked his caddie, Ted Scott, to experiment with them. He tried the S3 model – “it was pretty cool to watch it fly,” he said – and eventually settled on the S4.

Watson also will use a white ball, which Volvik calls the “Blue Pearl” because it has a hint of blue when slightly rotated. Early reports out of South Korea said that Watson wanted to play a green ball at the Masters, which is not entirely true.

“It’s not the same green,” he said.

Watson has always been about color, even the year he wore all white the first time he won the Masters. He had Ping make a hot pink shaft for his driver, and then the club head in pink, which he used to raise money for charity.

He thinks colored golf balls, which haven’t been in style on the PGA Tour in 30 years, could help in other ways.

“You talk about growing the game, why would you not want people to have more fun, make the game more fun, interesting and creative?” Watson said. “Same thing that Ping let me do with a pink driver.”

Watson said he wants to talk to the USGA about using a different colored ball on different holes, though that would be unlikely. The USGA has a “Conforming Golf Ball List” in which each ball is listed separately, sometimes based on the markings. Carter Rich, the USGA’s director of equipment rules and conformance, said each ball color would be a separate listing. As long as the PGA Tour adopts the “One Ball Condition,” Watson would have to stick with the same color for an entire round.

Nike Golf has signed world No. 1 Jason Day to a multi-year contract. The agreement covers footwear, apparel, headwear and gloves. Day will first wear Nike this week at the Tournament of Champions in Kapalua, Hawaii.

“Joining Nike is a dream come true,” Day said. “The brand is synonymous with the world’s best athletes. I’m honored and can’t wait to be part of the team and working closely with Nike to take my game, and the sport of golf, to even higher levels.”

The partnership comes on the heels of back to back stellar years for Day. The 28-year-old Australian closed 2015 with four wins in his final seven starts, including his first major title with a record-breaking 20-under-par performance at the PGA Championship. That momentum carried over into 2016, with Day notching three wins — including coveted titles at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, the WGC-Dell Match Play and THE PLAYERS Championship.

Since turning pro in 2006, Day has secured ten PGA Tour titles – including the RBC Canadian Open – and 57 top-ten finishes.

When he’s not on the course, Day enjoys spending time at home with his family in Ohio, where he and his wife Ellie have established the Brighter Days Foundation which benefits local charities.

TORONTO – Brooke Henderson won twice on the LPGA Tour in 2016, and before the year ended, she added two more honours to her ever-growing trophy case.

The Golf Journalists Association of Canada (GJAC) is proud to announce Henderson, Mackenzie Hughes, Jared du Toit, and Naomi Ko are the 2016 Players of the Year as voted by GJAC members across the country. Henderson’s two-win season was also named the Canadian Golf Story of the Year.

“GJAC is happy to honour these wonderful golfers and their accomplishments in 2016,” said Grant Fraser, GJAC President. “The accomplishments of the winners – and each of the nominees – show that Canadian golf is in very good hands.”

Henderson captured her first major championship – the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship – in a playoff over Lydia Ko. She became the second-youngest female major championship winner in history, and was the second Canadian to win a major championship after Sandra Post. She then went on to successfully defend her 2015 title at the Cambia Portland Classic. All told, Henderson notched 15 top-10 finishes and earned more than $1.7 million, finishing third on the money list. She peaked at No.2 in the Rolex Rankings, eventually ending the year at No.8.

She also represented Canada at the Olympics in Rio, and her success around the world was named the Canadian Golf Story of the Year. She was the unanimous choice for Female Professional of the Year.

Meanwhile Mackenzie Hughes  – whose stellar year was also a nominee for Canadian Golf Story of the Year – was named Male Professional of the Year. Hughes is Canada’s highest-ranked male golfer, and won twice in 2016. First, he captured the Price Cutter Charity Championship presented by Dr. Pepper on the Web.com Tour thanks to a clutch birdie on the 72nd hole. After earning his PGA Tour card by finishing within the Top 25 on the Web.com Tour money list, he went on to win the RSM Classic on the PGA Tour this fall in a playoff.

Jared du Toit was named the Male Amateur of the Year, on the heels of his fabulous season as the captain of the Arizona State University’s men’s golf team but also thanks to electrifying the Canadian golf world during the RBC Canadian Open. He would eventually finish 9th and won Low Amateur that week, after playing in the final group on Sunday. He also represented Canada at the World Amateur Team Championships in Mexico and is Canada’s highest-ranked male amateur.

Naomi Ko was named the Female Amateur of the Year in a close battle over Maddie Szeryk. Ko, who is the second-ranked female amateur in the country, represented Canada at the World Amateur Team Championships in Mexico. She was also the winner of the 2016 Canadian Junior Girls Championship and the 2016 Cambia Portland Classic Amateur Open. She was the medalist at her U.S. Women’s Open Qualifier as well.

ORLANDO, Fla. – Hugo Bernard, a second-year Amateur Squad member with Team Canada, carded a final round 74 (+2) to outlast Ben Griffin in the second playoff hole on Friday to capture the Orlando Amateur at the Orange County National Golf Club.

The Mont-Saint-Hilaire, Que., product carded a tournament-low 66 (-6) on Wednesday to jump out to an early lead over the field. Bernard struggled to maintain his advantage during his final round, recording a five-over stretch through his first nine holes to set him back of the lead behind with Griffin of Chapel Hill, N.C.

The 22-year-old reigning Canadian Amateur champion battled back on his final nine with three birdies to force the playoff with Griffin, where he went on to win in the second extra hole.

Canadian Jean-Michel Paré of Victoriaville, Que. was the only other countryman to make the men’s cut at Orange County. On the women’s side, Noemie Paré—also of Victoriaville—was the lone Canuck to make the cut; she finished alone in 17^th. Jessica Porvasnik, a senior at Ohio State, took home the hardware with an even score of 216 (68-73-75)—good for a three-stroke victory.

Click here for full scoring.

Canada’s top-ranked LPGA star Brooke Henderson of Smiths Falls, Ont., went behind the scenes with RBC – who have supported her career since she joined Team Canada at 14.

Inspired by her sister and coached by her dad, Brooke has benefitted from a strong support network that includes not only family, but also Golf Canada national team coach Tristan Mullally, the Golf Canada Foundation, and RBC.

Click here to watch the “Team Brooke” video and learn how RBC is helping Brooke reach her full potential.