Baddeck, N.S. – Syracuse, New York’s Dan McCarthy made history Sunday, shooting a final round 4-under 68 at Bell Bay Golf Club to win the Cape Breton Open and become the first player in Mackenzie Tour – PGA TOUR Canada history to win four times in a season.

The 31-year old rode a streak of three straight birdies on the back nine to finish 18-under and secure a three-shot win over Denver’s Michael Schoolcraft, winning for the fourth time this year and strengthening his hold atop the season-long Order of Merit.

“This one was tough,” said McCarthy. “I played well all day long, and early on I had a lot of opportunities that I didn’t convert. It really didn’t happen until I made a good par save from about six feet on 14, and I just needed to see one go in. It was tight all day long. This was not easy today by any stretch.”

After carding birdies on the first two holes, it looked as though McCarthy would once again run away from the field. The LeMoyne College graduate started the day tied for the lead with Schoolcraft and Burlington, Ontario’s Michael Gligic, and had already converted three 54-hole leads or co-leads into victory this season.

But after a mid-round stall and a charge by Gligic, who took the lead with birdies on the ninth and 10th holes, McCarthy found himself chasing from behind. He found his spark, however, by draining a six-foot par putt on the 14th hole that but the momentum squarely behind him.

“That was a big relief. I had been missing putts all day long, and when you’re missing, you’re a little unsure of your reads. I finally rolled that one right in the middle, and that gave me the confidence going forward,” said McCarthy.

Suddenly, the Order of Merit leader was in control, and with birdies on 15, 16 and 17, the lead ballooned to four shots, clearing the way for a walk up the 18th hole with victory all be secured.

With the win, McCarthy expands his commanding lead atop the Order of Merit to $60,988 over No. 2 Taylor Moore, guaranteeing himself a spot in The Five and Web.com Tour status for next season. The only way McCarthy cannot finish atop the Order of Merit now would be for Moore to win out and McCarthy to earn less than $6,512 in the remaining two events of the season.

“I’ve struggled getting through Q-School and all that, but I’ve played a lot of really good golf over the last couple of years, and I just didn’t do it at the right time. It feels amazing to do it right now at the right time and hopefully seal the deal,” said McCarthy of achieving his goal of reaching the Web.com Tour.

For McCarthy, who has preached a patient approach based on playing his own game for the whole year, the unprecedented season of winning comes thanks to experiences in the past that didn’t turn out as glorious as they have this year.

“I’m a little older than some of the other guys in that top five. I’ve unfortunately screwed up a number of times, and I think we learn the most from our mistakes. I’ve made a lot of mistakes in my career, and tried to learn as much as I could from those,” said McCarthy.

Schoolcraft’s birdie on the 18th hole earned him his best career Mackenzie Tour finish and moved him to eighth on the Order of Merit, while Gligic, Moore and Dillon Rust finish in a three-way tie for third at 14-under.

GLIGIC EARNS FREEDOM 55 FINANCIAL TOP CANADIAN HONOURS

With a total score of 14-under par in a tie for third place, Burlington, Ontario’s Michael Gligic finished as the top Canadian on the leaderboard, earning Freedom 55 Financial Canadian Player of the Week honours and a $2,500 prize. Gligic also captured the honour earlier this year at the Players Cup.

The top Canadian on the leaderboard each week takes home the award, with the top Canadian on the Order of Merit at season’s end earning the Dan Halldorson Trophy, Freedom 55 Financial Canadian Player of the Year honours and a $25,000 prize.

CALGARY – Paraguay’s Carlos Franco rallied to win the Shaw Charity Classic on Sunday at chilly Canyon Meadows for his first PGA Tour Champions victory.

Three strokes behind defending champion Jeff Maggert entering the round, the 51-year-old Franco shot his second straight 7-under 63 to beat Bernhard Langer and Michael Allen by two strokes.

Franco birdied the par-5 18th to finish at 18-under 192. He had three birdies in a four-hole stretch on the front nine, birdied four of the first five on the back nine and made his lone bogey on the par-3 16th. The four-time PGA Tour winner won in his 25th start on the 50-and-over tour.

Langer shot 64. The 59-year-old German star won the Boeing Classic last week for his fourth victory of the year and 29th overall on tour.

Allen closed 64-63 after opening with a 67.

Maggert shot 74 to tie for sixth at 10 under. He opened with consecutive 63s.

Rod Spittle was the top Canadian, finishing 8-under and tying for 14th.

Tom Watson shot 67 on his 67th birthday to tie for 26th. He had a 65 on Friday.

John Daly tied for 53rd at 1 under after a 74.

NORTON, Mass. – Kevin Chappell did just about everything right Saturday, even when making his lone bogey, on his way to a 7-under 64 that gave him a one-shot lead in the Deutsche Bank Championship and another chance at his first PGA Tour victory.

Chappell pitched in for eagle on No. 7 and made a 35-foot birdie putt on the next hole. Even better was the 15-foot bogey putt on the 13th hole, and his great escape from a bad shot when trying to lay up on the par-5 18th.

He was at 11-under 131, one shot ahead of PGA champion Jimmy Walker (64) and Paul Casey (66).

Dustin Johnson was poised to join Chappell in the lead until an approach into the woods led to double bogey on the par-5 closing hole.

David Hearn of Brantford, Ont., stayed in contention with his second-straight round of 68. He’s at 6 under and in a tie for 13th. Adam Hadwin of Abbotsford, B.C., shot a 72 and is 2 over for the event.

CALGARY – Jeff Maggert shot his second straight round of 7-under 63 at Canyon Meadows Golf and Country Club on Saturday to move atop the Shaw Charity Classic leaderboard.

The defending champion has the outright lead at 14 under through two rounds of play at the PGA Tour Champions event.

Maggert is three shots clear of Carlos Franco, who also carded a 63, to get to 10 under. Charles Schwab Cup standings leader Bernhard Langer shot his second straight round of 65 to finish Round 2 at 10 under and in third place.

“Jeff Maggert is a good friend of mine, too, and he played well,” said Franco. “I know he’s a fantastic player, but I’m prepared to come strong tomorrow.”

Michael Allen followed up his opening-round 67 with a 64 on Saturday and is tied for fourth at 9 under with Fred Funk and Jose Coceres. After paring the first hole, Allen reeled off five straight birdies before cooling off a bit on the back nine.

“Maggert’s a tough competitor. When he plays well, he doesn’t make a whole lot of mistakes,” said Allen, who teed off almost two hours ahead of the leaders. “If he’s leading by three or four, it’s going to be hard to catch him, that’s for sure.”

Rod Spittle of Niagara Falls, Ont., had a solid round of 4-under 66 to move into a tie for 18th spot overall at 6 under heading into Sunday’s final round.

“I just hit it in the fairway and probably hit a few more greens today,” said Spittle, who had a chance to get to 7 under, but he missed a short putt for birdie on the par-5 18th hole.

“It would be nice to have a do-over. It wasn’t a very good effort. The third shot was probably closer than the fourth one. I made my fair share today. It would have been nice to finish that way. We’ll see what we can do tomorrow.”

Victoria’s Jim Rutledge and Vancouver’s Stephen Ames are sitting well back in a tie for 66th place at 2 over after shooting rounds of 73 and 72 respectively.

CAMBRIDGE, Ont. – It’s easy to find Brooke Henderson at the LPGA Manulife Classic.

You don’t need a map of Whistle Bear Golf Club or an app on your phone and you don’t even have to ask a course official for help.

All you have to do to follow the crowds that trail the 18-year-old phenom from hole to hole. Even though Henderson’s not the top player at the tournament, not even the low Canadian, the world No. 3 is by far the most popular, with hundreds of fans following her.

“I turned to (sister and caddy) Britt at one point, I was like, ‘it’s going to be boring when we go back to not having this kind of crowd,”’ said Henderson after stepping off the 18th green. “It’s really been so much fun to play in front of, and I just thank everybody for coming out.”

After speaking with reporters, Henderson waded into an area roped off by police and security so she could pose for pictures and sign memorabilia, with one fan even coming away with an autograph on her face.

Even when she struggled on the 18th hole – her tee shot got lost in the woods and she had to settle for a bogey – the fans cheered the native of Smiths Falls, Ont., on. That bogey and another on 17 sank her to 3-under 69 on the day and into a tie for 29th at 6 under.

“I was 5-under through 16 holes and had the whole crowd behind me, and the crowds were amazing today,” said Henderson. “Unbelievable really, and I just love playing in front of them, and I had a lot of fun today, which again, is kind of newer. I haven’t been enjoying it as much, but today I really enjoyed myself.”

Hamilton’s Alena Sharp (70) and Quebec City’s Anne Catherine Tanguay (68) were the low Canadians, tying for 23rd at 7 under. Maude-Aimee Leblanc (72) of Sherbrooke, Que., was tied for 46th.

“I’m just really thrilled,” said Tanguay, who splits her time between the LPGA and Symetra Tours. “I don’t think I made any mistakes today and that was the goal for me this week.”

The crowds may have been focused on Henderson, but all four Canadians have enjoyed the support of the home-town fans. Henderson had the earliest tee time of the four and after she had completed her autograph duties the fans stayed at the 18th green to give a rousing ovation to each Canadian player as they sank their final putts of the round.

“The fans are amazing,” said Sharp. “There are so many people out here watching and it’s great to see for women’s golf. We don’t get a lot of tournaments where we get huge crowds like this so you’ve got to soak it up.”

Sharp, who placed a career-best fourth at last week’s Canadian Women’s Open, hopes to finish the Manulife Classic with a strong performance and contend for her first ever LPGA title.

“Tomorrow that’s my goal, to start from tee No. 1 no matter who’s done what before I tee off and just play one shot at a time and see how it goes,” said Sharp.

South Korea’s Mi Hyang Lee shot a 6-under 66 to take the top spot on the leaderboard at -14. Fellow Korean Hyo Joo Kim, who shot a 68 to sit in second and a shot behind the lead, Lee will be in the same pairing for the fourth and final round.

Lee will have a lot of competition in a very close field, with eight other players within four shots of her, including world No. 1 Lydia Ko.

BADDECK, N.S. – Syracuse, New York’s Dan McCarthy, Burlington, Ont.’s Michael Gligic and Denver’s Michael Schoolcraft all reached 14-under through three rounds on Saturday at Bell Bay Golf Club to share the 54-hole lead headed into the final round of the Cape Breton Open.

McCarthy, the current Mackenzie Tour – PGA TOUR Canada Order of Merit leader, rebounded from an opening double bogey to birdie his final two holes of the day and shoot a 4-under 68, matching Gligic, who blazed through Bell Bay with a 10-under 62, along with Schoolcraft, who fired an 8-under 64.

“I told myself I had 35 more holes to play to get it back together,” said McCarthy, who will go for an unprecedented fourth win of the season on Sunday. “There were just a couple squirrely shots to start – not really nerves or anything, just some boneheaded stuff. Birdies on the last two to get a share and have a chance tomorrow, those were huge.”

Gligic, a 26-year old in his seventh full season on the Mackenzie Tour, produced 10 birdies on the day to shoot 62, marking the new competitive course record at Bell Bay.

“It was tough out there, and I probably made it look a little bit easier, but I played my butt off,” said Gligic, who sits 11^th on the Order of Merit. “I didn’t miss to many shots, and when I did it was in the right spots, and my short game was pretty good. My irons were sharp all day, and I was making a lot of 5- to 15-footers, and it added up pretty quickly.”

“That’s pretty ridiculous,” said McCarthy of Gligic’s round. “That’s outstanding. Mike and I have played together at this event and he’s played well, so it’s about time we see his name up there.”

For Schoolcraft, the day’s highlight came when he nearly aced the 17^th hole for the second day in a row. On Friday, the 24-year old holed a 7-iron from 190 yards and nearly did it again on Saturday with a 9-iron, stopping just inches short of the cup.

“It was actually a better shot today. The one yesterday got a really good bounce, and today was all over it and just a little bit short,” said Schoolcraft.

One shot behind the trio at 14-under was Southlake, Texas’ Brian Dwyer, who carded a 3-under 69, followed by Church Point, Nova Scotia’s Austin Connelly at 12-under thanks to a Saturday 67.

CAMBRIDGE, Ont. – Marina Alex eagled her final hole for an 8-under 64 and the second-round lead Friday in the LPGA Manulife Classic.

Alex played the final five holes in 5 under for the lowest score in her LPGA Tour career, setting up the 18-foot eagle putt with a 5-wood approach on the par-5 ninth.

“Super happy,” Alex said. “Just kind of everything fell together, ball-striking, putting. I actually left a couple of putts out there, but I’m not going to complain about the score that I shot.”

The 26-year-old former Vanderbilt player had a 10-under 134 total at Whistle Bear for a one-stroke lead over Thailand’s P.K. Kongkraphan and South Korea’s Hyo Joo Kim.

Second-ranked Ariya Jutanugarn was four strokes back after a 68 in her bid to win three straight events for the second time this season. Using a driver in competition for the second straight day after shelving it for months, the 20-year-old Thai player had an eagle, six birdies, two bogeys and a double bogey.

She began the streak at the Women’s British Open, and rebounded from a knee injury that forced her to withdraw during the Rio Olympics to win the Canadian Pacific Women’s Open on Sunday in Alberta.

Playing in the second group of the day off the 10th tee, Alex took advantage of calmer conditions than she faced Thursday afternoon in a first-round 70.

“I think we were fortunate,” Alex said. “Right now, it’s totally scorable.”

She had eight birdies and two bogeys.

“It actually is a pretty wide-open course, which is sometimes for me a little challenging because it’s hard to pick out targets,” Alex said. “But I’m trying really hard to focus, be as narrow as possible off the tee and into the green and just be very specific with what I’m trying to do.”

Kongkraphan had a bogey-free 66. She recently went through coaching and club changes.

“I have a problem with my iron pretty bad,” Kongkraphan said. “I tried to get better, so I switched the club and changed the coach. … From last week I have so much more confidence.”

Kim closed with a birdie for a 67. She won the season-opening event in the Bahamas.

South Korea’s Mi Hyang Lee was 8 under after a 67. She had a hole-in-one on the fifth hole.

“I think just less wind and the greens more better condition,” Lee said. “So just everything is perfect.”

U.S. Open champion Brittany Lang, second last year at Whistle Bear after winning the inaugural event in 2012 at Grey Silo, was 6 under after a 71.

First-round leader Chella Choi also was 6 under after a 72. The South Korean player three-putted three times. “Hope tomorrow is better,” Choi said.

Defending champion Suzann Pettersen had a 71 to reach 4 under.

Canadian star Brooke Henderson, playing alongside Jutanugarn, shot 71 and sits 3-under alongside Anne Catherine Tanguay of Québec City. Henderson of Smiths Falls, Ont., eagled the par-5 12th and closed with a birdie.

“Not exactly what I was looking for,” Henderson said. “That birdie on my last hole kind of made me feel a lot better about the day, which is always nice, and 3-under par, I can’t complain too much.”

The 18-year-old Henderson beat top-ranked Lydia Ko in a playoff in June in the KPMG Women’s PGA for her first major title, and successfully defended her Portland Classic title in early July.

Ko was 2 under after a 72.

“I putted much better today, so it was good to see some putts go in,” Ko said. “Without the putter, I don’t think I would have been able to shoot even par.”

Alena Sharp was the top Canadian, shooting a 70 to reach 5 under. She tied for fourth last week at Priddis Greens for her best finish on the tour.

“I didn’t make many putts,” Sharp said. “It was tough to get it close to the pins. I thought they were a little trickier today. The greens are definitely firming up, so you got to hit high shots in.”

Fellow Canadian Maude-Aimée Leblanc of Sherbrooke, Que., holds a share of 22nd at 4-under.

Michelle Wie missed the cut by a stroke with her second 72. She has missed 12 of 20 cuts this season and is 112th on the money list with $55,375.

CALGARY, Alta. – David Frost made two eagles and shot a bogey-free 8-under 62 on Friday to take the first-round lead in the PGA Tour Champions’ Shaw Charity Classic.

The 56-year-old South African player eagled the par-5 11th and 18th holes at Canyon Meadows in the round interrupted by lightning, thunder, hail and heavy rain. He was a stroke short of the tournament record of 61 set by Fred Couples in his 2014 victory and matched by Miguel Angel Jimenez last year.

Defending champion Jeff Maggert and Argentina’s Jose Coceres were a stroke back. Maggert eagled the 12th and birdied 18.

Tom Byrum had a 64, and Tom Watson, Bernhard Langer, Mark Calcavecchia, Mark Brooks, Fred Funk and Kirk Triplett shot 65.

Watson eagled the 18th to break his age by a stroke two days before his 67th birthday. He played alongside Langer, the 59-year-old German star who won the Boeing Classic on Sunday in Washington for his fourth victory of the year and 29th overall on the 50-and-over tour.

John Daly birdied the last for a 67. He has three top-20 finishes in 11 PGA Tour Champions starts since turning 50, with the best a tie for 11th in the Dick’s Sporting Goods Open.

Scotland’s Colin Montgomerie also opened with a 67.

Rod Spittle of St. Catharines, Ont., had a 68 to top the three Canadians in the field. Victoria’s Jim Rutledge posted a 69 for a share of 48th, while Stephen Ames was even on the day in front of a hometown crowd.

Rocco Mediate, the 2013 winner, had a 71.

NORTON, Mass. – Ryan Moore changed his schedule to pile up tournaments at the end of the year with hopes of getting into a rhythm going into the FedEx Cup playoffs.

He has no complaints with the results.

Moore backed up a good start to the playoffs with a 6-under 65 on Friday to share the first-round lead with James Hahn on a day when hardly anyone seemed too far away. After one round at the TPC Boston, 37 players were separated by three shots.

Phil Mickelson would be an exception.

Mickelson, who leads the PGA Tour in adjusted scoring average and said he wanted to win the Vardon Trophy for the first time in his career, took two swipes out of high grass in a water hazard to no avail, finally took a drop and made a quadruple-bogey 8 on the sixth hole. That sent him to 75 and in third-to-last place.

Moore and Hahn played bogey-free on a breezy day that allowed for good scoring, even though no one went terribly low. They were one shot ahead of Paul Casey and Fabian Gomez. The average score was 69.67 as 80 of the 97 players in the field were at par or better.

As usual, there were Ryder Cup implications.

Jim Furyk, J.B. Holmes and Daniel Berger were in the group at 67, all of them to make an impression before Ryder Cup captain Davis Love III starts filling out the U.S. team with three picks in 10 days. Holmes finished 10th in the standings, while Furyk was at No. 15 even though he four months recovering from wrist surgery.

Love has said every American in the Deutsche Bank Championship would be on his radar, though Moore isn’t even thinking about it. His main goal is to get to the Tour Championship for the FedEx Cup finale, and this stacked schedule at the end of the year is working in his favor.

Along with a victory in the John Deere Classic, he tied for seventh last week at The Barclays to move to No. 11 in the FedEx Cup.

“I like how I’ve been feeling with my game,” Moore said. “This is actually the sixth tournament in a row, which I don’t think I’ve ever done in my entire career on the PGA Tour. I’m getting some positive momentum going into these events. How I’ve been doing it these last few years kind of wasn’t working so I decided to change it up and play a lot more and make a final push and then I know I get a little break.

“It seems to be working, whatever that decision was.”

Emiliano Grillo and Adam Scott played together and each shot 67, though they finished differently. Grillo hit a 4-iron into the hazard on the par-5 18th, took a drop and holed out with a wedge for birdie, looking blankly as the crowd roared before throwing down his club in mock surrender. Scott hit into a greenside bunker with his second shot, had a terrible lie and took two shots to get out in saving par.

“I should have chunked a 4-iron. That’s the way to make birdie,” Scott said with a laugh.

Jordan Spieth played with them and shot a 68, saying after his round he somehow was losing some 30 yards off his driver and would try to figure out why. Barclays winner Patrick Reed and Dustin Johnson also were at 68.

Jason Day, the world No. 1, opened with a 70 and then discovered his wife and two children were involved in a car accident near their travel bus. Day said his wife was taken to the hospital as a precaution, though everyone seemed to be OK.

The top 70 in the FedEx Cup advance after this week, and it was a big start for Furyk and Steve Stricker. Furyk is at No. 84, while Stricker barely made it into the field at No. 97. Both opened at 67.

Furyk is more concerned with getting to the BMW Championship next week than his Ryder Cup lot.

“There’s really nothing you can do but go play well,” Furyk said. “So I’m going to try to do my best not to really pay too much attention to the scoreboard and go play golf and worry about the process more than the golf.”

Stricker went to a different putter, a rare move for him, switching to a face-balanced model after his wife noticed last week he had trouble keeping it square. He decided to give it shot on Friday, and it paid off. His hope is that he gets to keep playing for at least seven more rounds.

“My goal this year was just to finish in the top 125 and get back into some of the tournaments that I had been play – The Players Championship, some of the majors. Then once I did that … you know, we’re all competitive. We all want to keep playing.”

David Hearn of Brantford, Ont., and Adam Hadwin from Abbotsford, B.C., opened with matching 68s and hold shares of 20th.

BADDECK, N.S. – Syracuse, New York’s Dan McCarthy made a move towards solidifying his Order of Merit lead on Friday, shooting a 3-under 69 at Bell Bay Golf Club to share the 36-hole lead at the Cape Breton Open with Southlake, Texas’ Brian Dwyer.

The three-time winner on the Mackenzie Tour – PGA TOUR Canada in 2016 carded five birdies against two bogeys, reaching 10-under total through two rounds to share the lead with Dwyer, one stroke ahead of Edmond, Oklahoma’s Taylor Moore, Lake Elsinore, California’s Aaron Wise and Arbuckle, California’s Ben Geyer.

The 31-year old McCarthy, who leads the season-long money list by more than $36,000, is coming off back-to-back missed cuts in his two most recent starts, but said Friday he’s returned to the comfortable state that saw him re-write the Mackenzie Tour record book earlier this year with three wins in his first five starts of the season.

“I’m not going to watch what anyone else does. I can only control what I’m doing and how I play the course. That’s what I did very well early in the year, and I’ve had some time the last couple of weeks to figure that out,” said McCarthy.

Dwyer, meanwhile, recorded seven birdies in Friday’s breezy and often rainy conditions, including a 25-footer on the 18th hole to finish the day tied at the top with McCarthy. The blazing start comes on the heels of four straight missed cuts, a slump the 26-year old said he felt was behind him coming into this week.

“I’m just a little bit more comfortable with my swing. I worked with my coach (John Sinclair) on Monday before I flew out on Tuesday, and so far that’s paid off,” said Dwyer. “My short game around the greens and my putting have made it pretty easy on me when I’ve hit bad shots, which you’re going to do in this wind.”

With Wise and Moore – both currently in The Five and trying to chase down McCarthy for the top spot on the Order of Merit – just a shot back, McCarthy said he’d continue to put the pressure on his pursuers by sticking to the formula that’s earned him more than $100,000 in earnings and three wins this season.

“I’m just going to continue to do what I do well, and if I can continue to do that then I should be fine. The burden is on them to win and come and catch me, but if I do what I do well I should be okay,” said McCarthy.

Team Canada alumnus Austin Connelly shot a 70 and leads the Canadian contingent at 9-under.