BEAUMONT, Calif. – Three Canadians finished inside the Top-19 on Friday at the Oak Valley Golf Club to advance to the third and final stage of Web.com Tour Qualifying School.

The Canadian trio were led by Vancouver product Seann Harlingten, who fired four rounds in the 60s to capture sole possession of second place at 17-under par (67-67-68-69). Three strokes back of Harlingten was fellow countryman Aaron Cockerill, who carded a bogey-free final-round 69 en route to punching his ticket to the final stage. The Teulon, Man., native is coming off a full season on the Mackenzie Tour – PGA Tour Canada in which he posted two Top-10 finishes.

Rounding out the Canucks to advance was Calgary’s Ryan Yip, who closed at 8-under par for the tournament, highlighted by a second-round score of 65 (-7). Yip played on the Web.com Tour last season, where he recorded two Top-25 finishes.

Andrew Yun of Chandler, Ariz., took home medallist honours at 21-under par on the heels of an opening-round, tournament-low 62 (-10).

Canada’s David Rose, Robbie Greenwell and Ryan Williams fell short of the T19 cut-line required to advance at Oak Valley.

There are three stage II qualifying sites remaining, all taking place from Nov. 8–12 at various sites across the United States. Seven Canadians will tee-it-up in the remaining events, all looking to join Harlingten, Cockerill and Yip in the final stage where at the very least they will earn conditional status on the Web.com Tour in 2017.

The final stage will commence from Dec. 8–11 at the Orange County National in Winter Garden, Fla.

Click here for scoring.

RICHMOND, Va. – Bernhard Langer shot a 5-under 67 on Friday in his return from a left knee injury, and Tom Byrum had a 65 to take the Dominion Charity Classic lead.

Langer missed the PGA Tour Champions’ playoff opener last week in California after re-aggravating the injury at home doing routine spinning.

The 59-year-old German star leads the 50-and-over tour with four victories and has wrapped up the season money title with $2,697,459. He tops the Charles Schwab Cup Playoffs standings, 1,038,941 points ahead of second-place Colin Montgomerie.

Byrum birdied three of the final four holes on The Country Club of Virginia’s James River Course.

“My putter was really good,” Byrum said. “I didn’t hit a putt that I didn’t feel good about other than the first hole. The first hole, I three putted. I made a bad stroke at the second putt. After that everything kind of settled down and everything got going and it was good. Drove it in the fairway, which you need to do. Hit my irons on the greens because you can hit the greens from the fairways, the rough is tough.”

He had a one-stroke lead over Miguel Angel Jimenez.

“Played well, played solid all day long and no mistakes,” Jimenez said. “One stroke behind the leader, two rounds to go. Nice.”

Langer birdied the final two holes.

Jay Haas, Rocco Mediate and Scott McCarron matched Langer at 67. The 62-year-old Haas won a month ago in Newport Beach, California, to become the second-oldest winner in tour history.

Tom Pernice Jr., the winner last week at Sherwood, topped the group at 68.

Canada’s Rob Spittle was opened with a 70.

The playoff field was cut from 72 to 54 for the event, and Tom Lehman dropped out because of an elbow injury. The top 36 after the week will qualify for the season-ending Charles Schwab Cup Championship next week in Scottsdale, Arizona.

Each dollar earned in the first two events is worth two points – first place is worth $305,000 and 610,000 points this week – and is added to the regular-season total. At the Charles Schwab Championship, points will be reset so that the top five only have to win to capture the Charles Schwab Cup.

LAS VEGAS – Rod Pampling followed an opening 11-under 60 with a 68 on Friday to keep the lead in the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open.

The 47-year-old Australian rebounded from two early bogeys to get to 14-under 128 at TPC Summerlin. He won the last of his two PGA Tour titles in 2006 at Bay Hill.

“The hole looked really big yesterday,” Pampling said. “I started out today and I didn’t think they’d cut them (the greens) early on. I changed ball markers, and I knew I was playing good, so I just kind of threw out a new vibe, and it started to work. I knew it wasn’t bad, it’s just like it happened, so just let it go. Corrected myself and played nice after that.

Brooks Koepka had two eagles in a 67 to pull within a stroke. He won the Phoenix Open last year for his first tour title and was 3-1 in the United States’ Ryder Cup victory over Europe.

“The ball seems to be finding the hole once we get it on the green, so just get it on the green as quickly as possible,” Koepka said.

Aaron Wise, the NCAA champion last season for Oregon, was two shot back at 12 under with four holes left when play was suspended because of darkness. He eagled the par-5 13th and 16th on his front nine.

Adam Hadwin of Abbotsford, B.C., was six back after shooting a 64. Nick Taylor, also of Abbotsford, was tied for 26th place while Mackenzie Hughes of Dundas, Ont., and Graham DeLaet of Weyburn, Sask., tied for 66th.

Pampling bogeyed two of his first five holes, failing to get up-and-down from a greenside bunker on the par-4 11th and from the rough over the green on the par-3 14th. He rebounded with birdies on four of the next seven holes, birdied the par-4 seventh, three-putted the par-3 eighth for bogey and two-putted for a closing birdie on the par-5 ninth.

“You’ve just got to trust yourself that you’re playing well,” Pampling said. “I knew I had been, not just yesterday, the form had been good before that. I was confident in myself. I didn’t panic. You can easily panic out there, and you shoot 2, 3 over, and at the end of the day you’re just scratching your head. I just relaxed. I knew it was good, so I let it come to me, and it thankfully did.”

Koepka eagled the par-5 ninth and 16th, and had five birdies and five bogeys – the last a three-putt from the fringe on the par-4 18th to drop out of the lead.

“It was kind of sloppy at points, but I felt like I played pretty well,” Koepka said. “The putter was hot, but just got to clean a few things up.”

Chez Reavie had the round of the day to make the cut, shooting a 61 after opening with a 76. He had six birdies in a seven-hole stretch that ended on the par-4 10th, added birdies on 13 and 15 and chipped in from 60 feet for eagle on 16.

“The biggest challenge for me was just to mentally be in a position to even have a chance of playing well today,” Reavie said. “Fortunately, I was. I was positive and just said I was going to go try and shoot as low as I can and see what happens.”

Chris Kirk was 11 under after a 66.

“Kind of felt better and better as the day went on and was able to roll a few in there on the back nine,” Kirk said.

Keegan Bradley had a 65 to join James Hahn (66) and Pat Perez (66) at 10 under.

“My game feels really good,” Bradley said. “I’ve been playing good for a while now. It’s nice to see some results.”

Defending champion Smylie Kaufman was 4 under after a 67. Fifty-two-year-old Davis Love III also was 4 under after a 70.

Oakville’s Town Council voted unanimously this week to extend an Interim Control By-law (ICB) that restricts the use of the Glen Abbey Golf Club to its existing uses for an additional year. The ICB was originally passed February 1, 2016 and with a one-year extension, will now remain in effect up to and including January 31, 2018.

In the meeting, Mark H. Simeoni, with the town’s planning services department, updated Council on the status of key planning studies underway and explained the town’s reasons for recommending an extension to the ICB.

A first draft of the study is expected in the spring of 2017 with public consultation, revisions if any, and implementation to follow as required. A draft of a cultural heritage assessment is also expected to be completed in the spring of 2017.

Section 38 of Ontario’s Planning Act permits a municipality to pass an ICB for up to a year (with the right to extend the by-law for a further year) in order to complete a review or study of land use policies in the municipality.

ClubLink, the owners of Glen Abbey, has appealed the town’s ICB to the Ontario Municipal Board (OMB). A appeal hearing is scheduled to begin January 30, 2017 at Oakville’s Town Hall.

Canada’s only PGA TOUR event, the RBC Canadian Open, will take place July 18-24, 2017 at Glen Abbey Golf Club.

IBARAKI, Japan – Ariya Jutanugarn chipped in for birdie on the final hole Friday for a 6-under 66 and a share of the lead in the TOTO Japan Classic, the LPGA Tour’s first tournament in the Tokyo area since 1991.

Jutanugarn birdied six of the last 11 holes in a bogey-free round at fan-packed Taiheiyo Club, holing out from 35 feet on the par-4 18th to join Soo-Yun Kang atop the first-round leaderboard. The 20-year-old Thai star also chipped in on the par-4 10th.

“I played good,” Jutanugarn said. “I missed a few tee shots, but I made some putts and those chips.”

She leads the LPGA Tour with five victories and has a 13-point lead over Lydia Ko in the player of the year standings, not that she’s looking that far ahead.

“Right now, no,” Jutanugarn said “I just try to have fun and enjoy every shot that I hit the ball. That’s what I’m trying to do.”

After a week in steamy and stormy Malaysia, the players wore jackets and sweaters in cool conditions on the pine tree-lined Minori Course. Jutanugarn tied for 43rd in Kuala Lumpur after finishing third the previous week in China.

“Last week, I was just a little bit off with my tee shot,” Jutanugarn said. “Today, I just tried to be a little bit more positive and not think about last week and try to have more fun.”

Kang birdied three of her final four holes

“I had really good putting,” Kang said. “Only 22 putts.”

The 40-year-old South Korean player won the LPGA Tour’s 2005 Safeway Classic and is now a regular on the Japan LPGA. She won the Suntory Ladies in June for her second Japanese title.

“I like Japan, people here, foods, and everything,” Kang said.

Stacy Lewis and Jenny Shin shot 67. Lewis won the 2012 event at Kintetsu Kashikojima

“I think you have to be a good ball-striker to play well here,” the Texan said about Japan.“ I just like being here. It’s one of my favourite countries that we visit. I think you just kind of come with good vibes.”

Wearing a jacket and rain pants to keep warm on the sunny day, Lewis rebounded from a bogey on the par-4 15th with a birdie on the par-5 17th. The 11-time tour champion is winless in 61 starts since June 2014.

She tied for 33rd in Malaysia in her first start since September.

“I took five weeks off,” Lewis said. “I didn’t play a lot this fall and only played two over in Asia. I just needed a break. It was like starting the year again.”

She married University of Houston women’s golf coach Gerrod Chadwell in August.

“Things definitely are changing,” Lewis said. “I’ve changed my schedule. Changed the way I do things. You just have different priorities and kind of realize there are other things to life other than just playing golf all the time. The schedule is going to change because of it, but that doesn’t change how you play on the golf course. You can still win. You just have a little bit more enjoyment off the course.”

Ha Na Jang and Sandra Gal were two strokes back at 68 in the sixth and final event on the LPGA Tour’s fall Asian swing. Jang won last month in Taiwan for her third victory of the year.

China’s Shanshan Feng, the winner in Malaysia, topped the group at 69 along with Minjee Lee, Suzann Pettersen, Cristie Kerr, So Yeon Ryu and 2008 and 2010 winner Jiyai Shin. Lee won two weeks ago in China for her second victory of the year. Shin won the JLPGA event last week in Saitama.

American Lexi Thompson birdied the final hole for a 73. In May in Japan, she won the JLPGA’s World Ladies Championship Salonpas Cup.

The top-ranked Ko had a 74, making two birdies and four bogeys.

“I didn’t strike the ball very well,” Ko said. “The driver and irons, nothing was really clicking and when it’s like that overall it’s really hard to give yourself a lot of birdie opportunities. I struck the ball a little better on the back nine, but still it wasn’t great.”

Gary Matthews caddied for Ko and also will carry her bag in the season-ending CME Group Tour Championship. Ko fired Jason Hamilton and used Sargunan Suntharaj last week in Malaysia. Hamilton teamed with Jang after his firing.

“We had a few days to work with each other and I think it’s been going pretty good,” Ko said. “I think when I’m out there I need to trust him and he trusts me. It’s been fine. I need to do my role better. Hit the ball better and all that, but it’s been good and he’s got a lot of experience and he brings that to the game.”

LAS VEGAS – Rod Pampling shot an 11-under 60 on Thursday in the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open, missing a chance for a 59 when he parred the final two holes.

The 47-year-old Australian had two eagles and seven birdies in his morning round to match the TPC Summerlin record. He left a 22-footer short on the par-3 17th, and missed from missed from 12 feet on the par-4 18th.

“The putt on 17 just fell short in the jaws and on 18 I gave myself a bad read,” Pampling said. “I thought it was straight, but it just had that little left to right.

“I studied the hole a lot, and I looked at the book – all these new books have the slopes and everything in it. I was looking at it and making sure I was spot on. My eyes were telling me it was pretty straight. I hit it straight. It was on line when it started. It just had a little tail on it. I’m glad I gave it a chance. It didn’t come up short. I just picked a bad line.”

Brooks Koepka and John Huh shot 62, and Billy Horschel opened with a 64. Luke List and Matt Jones shot 65, and Jon Rahm also was 6 under with two holes left when play was suspended because of darkness.

Nick Taylor of Abbotsford, B.C., shot a 68, Graham DeLaet of Weyburn, Sask., shot a 69 and Adam Hadwin, also of Abbotsford, shot a 70. Mackenzie Hughes of Dundas, Ont., was 2 under through 15 holes and David Hearn of Brantford, Ont., was 1 under through 16.

Pampling hit a 3-iron for a tap-in eagle on the par-5 16th.

“Just one of those as soon as I hit it, I knew it was good,” Pampling said. “Didn’t know it was that good where I could just tap it in, but I knew it was good.”

Pampling had the lowest score in his PGA Tour career that features two victories. He had a 10-under 61 late last year in the final round of the Australian Open. Chip Beck set the tournament record of 59 in 1991 at Sunrise.

Pampling chipped in from 70 feet for birdie on the par-4 third, holed a 9-footer on the par-4 fourth and holed out with a 9-iron from 134 yards for eagle on the par-4 sixth. He hit a 95-yard shot to 2 feet on the par-4 seventh, and two-putted for birdie on the par-5 ninth.

“The front nine came around quickly, chipping in and then holing out,” Pampling said.

He hit a 127-yard shot to 2 1/2 feet on the par-4 11th, chipped to set up a birdie on the par-5 13th, made a 10-footer on the par-4 15th, and eagled the 16th.

“I’ve been hitting it quite well for at least two or three months,” Pampling said. “I just haven’t been driving it super. And I had my coach come yesterday and we just fixed up a little bit of that. So that was good. And the irons were great. We hit a lot of close shots. It was just nice and solid. There was nothing that was extraordinary, but it was just very good.”

Koepka birdied his final two holes in a bogey-free round. He won the Phoenix Open last year for his first tour title and was 3-1 in the United States’ Ryder Cup victory over Europe.

“I obviously made a lot of putts today,” Koepka said. “I feel like I was striking the ball well. Speed was a lot better than it was last week. So grinded hard early on in the week making sure the putting was right, and it showed today.”

Huh also had nine birdies, five in a row on Nos. 13-17 on his first nine.

“If you put yourself in position, I think you can score low,” Huh said. “If you don’t, then you’re going to struggle. I was able to put myself in a good spots.”

Horschel is making his first start since the BMW Championship in early September.

“Been working really hard,” Horschel said. “It was nice to see the putter working.”

Ram birdied Nos. 13-16 and was facing a 20-foot birdie putt on 17 when play was stopped.

Fifty-two-year-old Davis Love III had a 68, and defending Smylie Kaufman finished off a 71 just before dark.

Oakville, Ont. and Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla. – The Mackenzie Tour – PGA TOUR Canada Qualifying Tournament will take place at five separate sites next spring, with fields of 120 players competing for Mackenzie Tour membership for the 2017 season.

The five 72-hole, no-cut Qualifying Tournaments will take place at: Carlton Oaks Country Club in Santee, Calif., March 13-17; The Country Club at Soboba Springs in San Jacinto, Calif., March 20-24; Sun ‘N Lake Golf Club in Sebring, Fla., April 10-14; PGA Village’s Wanamaker Course in Port St. Lucie, Fla., April 17-21; and Crown Isle Resort and Golf Community in Courtenay, British Columbia, May 1-5.

Players will have an opportunity to qualify at one of the five sites, with official details on the number of membership cards and playing status to be announced at a later date.

“The interest from players in qualifying to compete on the Mackenzie Tour has grown in each of our first four seasons, and we felt it was important to add a fifth site in response to give as many players as possible the opportunity to qualify,” said Mackenzie Tour President Jeff Monday. “We look forward to hosting players at each of these five tremendous venues next spring as they take the first step on the path to the PGA TOUR.”

Carlton Oaks, which has hosted PGA TOUR and Web.com Tour Q-School, returns as a host from 2016 Mackenzie Tour qualifying in addition to a second California site at Soboba Springs, which hosted the Web.com Tour’s Soboba Golf Classic from 2009-2012.

Sun ‘N Lake, which annually hosts PGA TOUR Latinoamérica qualifying, joins PGA Village’s Wanamaker Course, a past host of PGA TOUR and Web.com Tour Q-School as well as the PGA of Canada Assistants’ Championship, as Florida sites.

The spring’s final Qualifying Tournament will return to Crown Isle Resort and Golf Community in Courtenay, British Columbia, as part of a deal to host Mackenzie Tour Qualifying through 2020.

The application to enter Mackenzie Tour qualifying will be open to the public live at www.pgatour.com/MackenzieTour on January 19th, 2017. Entry fees will once again be $2,750 USD.

The full 2017 Mackenzie Tour schedule will be announced in early 2017.

UXBRIDGE — Six players are returning to Team Ontario in 2017 and will be joined by 10 new faces as Golf Ontario is pleased to announce the newest installment of the squad. The 2017 team will see an even split of eight boys and eight girls. 

After the 2016 season, the provincial team program was pleased to hear that a pair of team members had been selected to move up to Golf Canada’s National Development Squad. Golf Ontario is proud to see Richmond Hill’s Monet Chun and Langton’s Peyton Callens take the next step in their playing careers. Chun had been a member of the team since 2013, while Callens was a 2016 team member. Chun had numerous top finishes in 2016 including a win at CN Future Links Quebec. As for Callens, he too had a great season, highlighted by a win at the Investors Group Ontario Junior Boys’ Championship.

Returning to the team in 2017 are: Dunrobin’s Jake Bryson, Long Sault’s Ty Celone, Ontario Junior Girls’ Match Play Champion Markham’s Hailey McLaughlin, CN Future Links Ontario winner London’s Isabella Portokalis and Ontario Bantam Girls’ Champion Maple’s Alyssa DiMarcantonio. Also rejoining the team is Toronto’s Tyler Nagano who was a member in 2014.

New to the team in 2017 on the boys’ side will be: Ontario Juvenile Boys’ Champion Stoney Creek’s Johnny Travale, Mississauga’s Matthew Anderson, Mississauga’s Robbie Latter, Toronto’s Zack Mason and Guelph’s Anthony Occhuito. As for the girls, new to the squad are: Ontario Peewee Champion Markham’s Victoria Zheng, Niagara Falls’ Emily Ward, Tilbury’s Hailey Katona, Toronto’s Cynthia Zhao and Toronto’s Sarah Beqaj.

Once again Reggie Millage will coach the team, his fourth season as Head Provincial Coach. He is joined by Strength and Conditioning Coach Nick Martichenko, Athletic Therapist Andrew Hoermann, and Mental Skills Coach Charles Fitzsimmons.

The team will once again be training throughout the winter at Peak Performance Golf in Vaughan. They will have a pair of fall camps, followed by winter warm weather camps and will conclude their off season with the Can/Am Matches, during March Break with the South Carolina Junior Golf Association at the Wachesaw Plantation Club in Murrells Inlet, South Carolina.

“Golf Ontario is excited to put forward this year’s Team Ontario squad,” said Andrew Moss, Golf Ontario Director of High Performance. “Our expanded support of junior golf through Team Ontario activities builds on the ongoing local development being delivered by home PGA Professionals and personal coaches.”

2017 Team Ontario

Tiger Woods said Tuesday he is playing his Hero World Challenge in the Bahamas the first week of December, which would be his first competition in more than 15 months if he follows through with it.

Woods left himself open to doubt by entering the Safeway Open last month, only to pull out three days later when he said his game was not ready.

“I am excited to make my return at the Hero World Challenge at Albany and play in this terrific tournament,” he said in a news release that announced the 18-man field for the unofficial tournament that awards world ranking points but is not part of any tour.

Woods is the tournament host of a holiday event that began in 1999. He is a five-time winner, all of those victories coming at Sherwood Country Club in Thousand Oaks, California, before the tournament moved to Isleworth in Florida and then to the Bahamas.

Woods, now at No. 831 in the world ranking, last played in the Wyndham Championship in August 2015 when he tied for 10th. He had two back surgeries over the next few months and has said he would not return until fully healthy.

He initially said in early September that he planned to play the Safeway Open and Turkish Airlines Open. Woods withdrew on the Monday before the Safeway Open, saying his health was good and his body felt strong but that “my game is vulnerable and not where it needed to be.”

He also pulled out of Turkey.

The Hero World Challenge features players from the top 50 in the world, with an exception made for Woods as the tournament host. The 16 qualifiers came from the top 25 in the world ranking that was published the week after the Tour Championship.

The lone sponsor exemption was given to Zach Johnson, who won the event in its last year at Sherwood by holing a shot for par from the drop area on the 18th hole to force a playoff that he won against Woods.

The tournament will be missing at least the top two players in the world – Jason Day, who is taking the rest of the year off to rest his back, and Rory McIlroy.

Still to be determined is whether U.S. Open champion Dustin Johnson plays.

Johnson, who is No. 3 in the world, will be in the Philippines on Tuesday of the tournament week (Nov. 29) for an exhibition with McIlroy. He would have to fly straight from there to Los Angeles and then the Bahamas, arriving in Nassau on Wednesday morning in time for the pro-am. His manager said Johnson has not decided if he will try to play.

With dedicated support from volunteers, corporate sponsors and industry partners, Long-Term Player Development programming was delivered at over 3,400 Canadian facilities during the 2016 season.

A special thanks to all parties involved in helping us shape the future of golf by raising participation numbers across the country. The below infographic outlines a summary of what we were able to  accomplish collectively in 2016: