HONBURI, Thailand – Defending champion Amy Yang carded a 3-under 69 to lead by one halfway through the LPGA Thailand on Friday.

Yang trailed first-round leader Lexi Thompson by two before teeing off at Siam Country Club, then had consecutive bogeys on Nos. 5 and 6, but rallied with four birdies, including on the par-3 12th.

At 9 under overall, the South Korean was one shot ahead of countrywoman Q Baek (71) and Americans Jessica Korda (66) and Thompson (72).

“I struggled a little bit on the front, two bogeys straight, but I stayed patient, got through it well,” Yang said. “Leading by one shot is not much, and two more rounds is still a lot of golf.”

Korda’s low round of the day, matched by Haru Nomura of Japan, was capped by a 12-foot eagle putt on her last hole.

Xi Yu Lin of China hit a hole in one on the 186-yard, par-3 16th, and earned a Honda Accord.

There are no Canadians in the field.

PERTH, Australia – Overnight leader Peter Uihlein of the United States shot a 4-under 68 and was tied for the second-round lead with Brett Rumford at the Perth International, with former British Open champion Louis Oosthuizen a stroke behind on Friday.

Uihlein, who birdied his final two holes after starting on the back nine, and Rumford, who carded 65, had 36-hole totals of 11-under 133 at Lake Karrinyup Country Club.

Oosthuizen, the 2010 British Open champion playing for the first time in Australia, had a 64 for the low round of the day after an opening 70.

Oosthuizen was on track to join Rumford and Uihlein at the top of the leaderboard, but missed a short birdie putt on the final hole.

“I just over-read it,” Oosthuizen said. “It was the first real putt I had in the shadows today. I took my glasses off, and I misread it a little bit. It’s not going to bother me though.”

European Ryder Cup player Victor Dubuisson of France posted a 1-under 71 but was still 4 over overall and missed the cut in the European Tour and Australasian PGA event.

Australian Marcus Fraser, who won the Maybank Championship in Malaysia last week, was at 2 under with veteran Peter Senior.

Other notables beside Dubuisson to miss the cut included defending champion Thorbjorn Olesen (5 over) and 2013 winner Jin Jeong (4 over).

Dubuisson has missed consecutive cuts since making a recent switch in equipment.

Uihlein was grouped with Dubuisson for the opening two days, but he said the Frenchman kept his emotions in check.

“You can never tell with Victor. He’s like the Mona Lisa, you never really know what’s going on,” Uihlein said, smiling. “He’s a great player. He could win Doral next week by 10, he’s that good.”

Temperatures exceeded 36 degrees Celsius (97 F), and Rumford made sure to keep his fluids up after stomach surgery last year which kept him off the tour for four months.

“This is the hottest conditions no doubt I’ve played in …” Rumford said. “But the body’s great. There’s no signs whatsoever. That’s all history now.”

SAN JACINTO, Calif. – Young Pro Squad member August James of Bath, Ont., captured a two-stroke victory at the National Women’s Golf Association (NWGA) event on Thursday at the Soboba Springs Golf Club.

James, 22, caught fire on the back nine of Thursday’s final round, posting four straight birdies to draw even on the day, leading her to victory over long-time friend and five-time Team Canada member Brittany Marchand of Orangeville, Ont.

Both graduates of N.C. State, James finished at even-par (72-72-72) for the two-stroke advantage over Marchand (71-74-73).

With the win, the 2014 Canadian Women’s Amateur champion takes home $1,500 (USD) to follow up on her T8 finish last week at the Symetra Tour season opener.

Click here for full scoring.

PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. – Sergio Garcia made an eagle, avoided an alligator and wound up in a share of the lead Thursday in the Honda Classic.

Garcia holed out with an 8-iron from 142 yards into the wind on the second hole for an eagle, and he narrowly missed an eagle putt on the 18th hole at PGA National. The Spaniard shot 5-under 65 and shared the lead with Michael Thompson, the 2013 Honda Classic winner, who also birdied the last hole.

They were one shot ahead of Rickie Fowler and William McGirt.

Canada’s Adam Hadwin had a 68 and sits tied for 10th.

Graham DeLaet recorded 72 and is tied for 65th place at +2. Mike Weir had a 75 and David Hearn penned a 77 on his card.

The biggest excitement for Garcia was on the par-4 sixth hole, where he made his lone bogey.

His tee shot found the water left of the fairway, shallow enough for him to roll up his pants and try to play it out to the fairway. That part was easy. He looked over his shoulder because of an alligator on the island, making sure it wasn’t going anywhere soon.

“I was more worried about the alligator that was on the other side of the island than getting out of the water,” Garcia said. “The ball, I could see probably half of it, so I knew that I could get it out. Almost made 4, which would have been a great 4. I’m not going to lie, I was happy with a 5.”

And he was happy with other 60 strokes he took on a typical windy day at PGA National.

Garcia missed the cut last week at Riviera, two days in which he said he did nothing well. Hardly anything went wrong for him in the Honda Classic, and even when it did, he managed to avoid trouble. Garcia had to play a 40-yard hook from the rough left of the 10th fairway to just short of the green for a simple par.

Fowler had the only bogey-free round, which included a chip-in for par on the 10th hole. McGirt was more on the wild side by making seven birdies.

“Anything in the red is good around this place,” McGirt said. “At 4 under, I would say it was bordering on great. This place is never easy, even when it’s calm. You can’t fall asleep on any shot out here.”

For the early starters, it was a rude welcome to the Florida swing – chilly and gusts that approached 30 mph.

Phil Mickelson extended his good play from a runner-up finish at Pebble Beach and shot 69, among 10 players who managed to break par in the morning. The wind eased slightly and the warmth returned briefly in the afternoon, and the crowd had a lot more to cheer.

That included the loudest cheer of the day on the par-3 17th, where Alex Cejka made a hole-in-one.

Rory McIlroy, however, wasn’t in a happy place when he finished. Standing outside the scoring area, he smacked his putter on the concrete before going inside to sign for a 72. It wasn’t an awful score, but the finish led to his angst.

He hit the face of a bunker on the 14th hole and went into another fairway bunker, put his third in more sand left of the green and made double bogey. After a birdie on the 15th, McIlroy came up short into the bunker on the 16th for a bogey, and he finished his round with a three-putt bogey from 10 feet.

Fowler was playing for the first time since he lost a two-shot lead with two holes to play and Hideki Matsuyama beat him in a playoff at Phoenix Open. Fowler said he spent a week with friends and played plenty last week to get ready for a big stretch. He opened with two birdies in three holes and was in position most of the day.

“I think we got a good break playing in the afternoon today,” he said. “I think the wind laid down a little bit for us. I know the guys had a tough time this morning and the course was not easy. Still didn’t play easy out there for us. I felt like I swung it really well tee-to-green. Would have been nice to putt a little better, but still a nice, solid round to start off the week.”

Garcia is playing for only the third time this year. He tied for seventh in Qatar and was never close to making the cut at Riviera.

“I didn’t come in with a lot of confidence,” Garcia said. “For sure, you are wondering a little bit, because usually my long game, it’s up there, and even when I’m not playing great, I still can manage to get around it. But last week, I felt out of sorts. I didn’t know what was going on.”

He took four days off, played 10 holes Wednesday in the pro-am before the rain arrived and it all felt good again.

“It’s only the first round,” Garcia said. “We still have three tough rounds to go on a very difficult golf course. But any good round, it’s always welcome.”

At a time when golf in all its facets is facing challenges, there can be no doubt that Paul McLean was the man for the job as he took on the presidency of Golf Canada.

When McLean of King City, Ont., took office as the 112^th president of the national association in February 2015, he did so with impressive and appropriate credentials. Not only is he part-owner of two golf courses and a member of three national associations—Golf Canada, the National Golf Course Owners Association Canada and the Canadian Golf Superintendents Association—but he is the co-founder and president of Maxium, one of the country’s leading privately held leasing companies, with assets exceeding $1 billion. A significant portion of that billion dollars is focused on approximately 800 golf courses, which Maxium supports through leasing, loans and mortgages.

With the support of a Board which he calls “excellent, with a variety of expertise and perspective,” McLean focussed much of his attention on his area of proven expertise.

“There were more financial challenges than I anticipated,” he said, “and those challenges exist throughout golf. But several positives came out of that realization, especially the fact that we really tightened our focus on what we do and how we do it, from top to bottom. We spent a lot of time and went to great lengths to try to achieve a balanced operating budget that gives us a direct line of sight to achieving the goals of our strategic plan.”

That objective has several prongs, says McLean.

One of the most fundamental is a revolutionary new membership structure, introduced in 2015, designed to reflect changing golf demographics and engage all golfers, not just members of private clubs. The previous model, about a century old, was “decaying,” says McLean.

“The new model is designed to connect us and the provincial associations with all golfers in Canada. This is key not just from a fiscal perspective, but even more importantly, to grow the game.”

From the outset of McLean’s presidency, a major theme was to strengthen the bridges between all stakeholders in Canadian golf, from the provincial amateur associations to the other members of the National Allied Golf Associations body. “We need to align ourselves, work together and maximize our resources to grow the game.”

On the professional championships front, the public perception couldn’t have been better, says McLean. “We had a great RBC Canadian Open and a great CP Women’s Canadian Open. Wonderful events, wonderful attendance and wonderful champions. From that perspective, we checked off all the boxes.”

But one important box went unchecked. “The financial results were not as good as they need to be going forward. We have to develop a long-term, financially sustainable plan for our professional championships.”

On the professional front, McLean points out with pride the fact that there are almost 40 Canadians combined on the PGA Tour, LPGA Tour, Web.com Tour, Symetra Tour, PGA Tour Latinoamerica and Mackenzie Tour/PGA Tour Canada.

“Twenty-five of those pros went through Golf Canada programs, so we are having a major impact at the highest levels, and building heroes creates awareness.”

In 2015, awareness of Golf Canada was also spread through the continual successful expansion of grassroots programs such as Golf in Schools (almost 2,800 schools) and CN Future Links (518 clubs).

But the life of a volunteer golf association president isn’t all interminable Board meetings, budget conferences and other related duties.

“I have some unforgettable memories,” says McLean.

“The first, and this may sound like a cliché, but I was humbled and honoured to see first-hand how hard our volunteers work. This year was really the first time I was inside the ropes at so many of our tournaments and it is unbelievable how dedicated these people are. I was in awe of our volunteers and our staff. “

He recalls the excitement of Sunday at the RBC Canadian Open at Glen Abbey. “What drama, what crowds! We were all cheering for David Hearn [of Brantford, Ont., who led after 54 holes and finished third] but Jason Day was such a great champion.”

And, although he had been to previous Open Championships, he was invited inside the ropes at last year’s tournament at the Old Course at St Andrews. “Just in awe of the aura, the history, the tradition. Unforgettable.”

That experience was made even more unforgettable because he was accompanied by his wife and two adult children. “We got to share the game of golf at the home of golf. And then we went to a nearby course so my son, who had a tournament coming up back home, could hit some balls.

“I was standing there, watching three young boys chipping and putting. As I watched them, it brought me back to my own childhood and how I would spend hours doing the same thing. Then a car pulled up and four seniors got out to hit balls. And then another car came with two teenaged girls.

“It brought home just how great and inclusive our game is and how important it is that we take care of it.”

To follow Golf Canada’s 2016 Annual Meeting on Twitter, use #GCAGM16.

CHONBURI, Thailand – Lexi Thompson had two eagles in an 8-under 64 Thursday to take a one-stroke lead over Q Baek at the LPGA Tour’s Thailand tournament.

Amy Yang, the defending champion, shot 66 and was two strokes behind after the first round. Two golfers were tied for fourth after opening 68s – Azahara Munoz and Jenny Shin.

“Two eagles definitely helps out the scorecard,” Thompson said. “We couldn’t have asked for better conditions, weather-wise and golf course, so just happy to be out here.”

The 20-year-old Baek won her first and only LPGA title on home soil in South Korea in 2014. She had an eagle and five birdies in her round of 65.

Currently ranked No. 4, Thompson could overtake No. 3 Stacy Lewis as the top-ranked American with a win this week in Thailand and become the first American to win the event in its 10-year history.

“I think I was just very confident out there,” Thompson said. “I committed to all my shots, just aiming at pins and focused on doing my routine, staying relaxed, and I think that’s what helped me out the most.”

She got off to a quick start with an eagle at the par-5 first hole, followed by two more birdies and another eagle on the par-5 seventh to make the turn in 30.

Thompson bettered her low round at Siam Country Club’s Old Course by two strokes and finished one stroke away from matching the course record of 63 after missing a birdie putt at the last.

Thompson is playing with a new driver this week, and said she used it on nearly every hole, hitting 11 of 14 fairways.

“I’ve been trying to work into it for probably the last few months, and just trying to find a shaft that works for me, and finally found something I’m very comfortable with,” Thompson said.

PERTH, Australia – American Peter Uihlein shot a 7-under 65 on Thursday to take a one-stroke lead after the first round of the Perth International.

India’s Shiv Kapur, recovering from a shoulder injury, and Romain Wattel of France shot 66s, both in morning groups when the conditions were more conducive to low scoring.

Australian Rhein Gibson was in fourth place after a 67, while Australian Brett Rumford and Northern Ireland’s Cormac Sharvin were among those three strokes behind after 68s on the Lake Karrinyup Country Club course.

Uihlein was among the few afternoon starters to move up the leaderboard in tough, blustery conditions. He bogeyed his first hole, the par-4 first.

“When the wind is blowing the way it was, you’ve got to expect to hit a few bad shots,” Uihlein said. “Just accept it and move on.”

Louis Oosthuizen, the 2010 British Open champion playing for the first time in Australia, shot 70. Defending champion Thorbjorn Olesen of Denmark had a 71.

Oosthuizen started strongly with three birdies in his first six holes, but bogeyed his 11th hole to fade from the leading groups in the European and Australasian PGA tour event.

“I hit it really well all day, but just found myself on the front nine in awkward spots on the greens,” Oosthuizen said. “I just need to think a bit better around it. I left myself with a few shockers to try and make birdies. I found the places on the green you’re not supposed to be.”

Kapur almost didn’t play Thursday because of his lingering shoulder injury. He injured his right shoulder while lifting his golf bag at Singapore airport two weeks ago, but some treatment just before his opening round eased the pain enough for him to play.

“I was really struggling on the driving range this morning with my shoulder,” Kapur said. “The first few shots that I hit I couldn’t really hold the club at the top of my backswing. The chiropractor here did a great job to get me fit to play, and I popped a couple of pills. Sometimes when you drop expectations and you don’t think about your golf swing, it seems to work pretty well.”

Australian Marcus Fraser, who won last week’s European Tour event in Malaysia, shot 69. European Ryder Cup player Victor Dubuisson of France birdied his final hole on an otherwise forgettable day in which he shot 77.

GOLD COAST, Australia – Canadian Brooke Henderson birdied her first three holes and the final one Thursday for a 6-under 67 and a share of the early first-round lead at the Australian Ladies Masters.

Henderson, at No. 11 the highest-ranked player in the field, started on the back nine at Royal Pines. She had seven birdies overall and her only bogey came on the par-4 sixth.

Henderson was tied with Denmark’s Nicole Broch Larson.

Jiyai Shin, Taiwan’s Cheng Ssu-chia and England’s Lauren Taylor were a stroke behind and tied for second after 68s.

Australian Su Oh, the defending champion, shot 71. Canada’s Lorie Kane had a 72. Cheyenne Woods, niece of Tiger Woods and 2014 champion, had a 75.

The tournament, which began under sunny skies and virtually no wind, is sanctioned by the Ladies European and Australian Ladies tours.

PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. – Tiger Woods posted a video of him swinging a 9-iron in a golf simulator on Wednesday to shoot down rumors on social media that suggested his recovery from back surgeries had worsened to the point he could not even sit in a chair.

The 13-second video Woods posted on Twitter shows him dressed in shorts and golf shoes, and he takes a smooth swing on a golf simulator.

“Progressing nicely,” Woods wrote.

Progressing nicely. pic.twitter.com/HKnnluR1OW

— Tiger Woods (@TigerWoods) February 24, 2016

If nothing else, it provided the first update on Woods since he spoke at the Hero World Challenge the first week of December. This was intended primarily, however, because of the social media storm that began over the weekend with a Twitter account called “Secret Tour Pro.”

Mark Steinberg, Woods’ agent at Excel Sports Management, released a statement Monday that said the rumors were “ridiculous and absolutely false.”

“With everything that went on this weekend with Twitter exploding and the ridiculous and erroneous discussions – I don’t even want to call it reporting – we were inundated with fans saying: ‘Wow. How can this be true?’ Clearly, it wasn’t true,” Steinberg said Wednesday.

“If I picked up the phone and called you and said he’s doing some chipping and putting and making some swings up to a 9-iron – and that’s what the club was – is that impactful or a visual evidence of that?” he said. “We felt that was a more appropriate way to go.”

Woods first had a microdiscectomy a week before the 2014 Masters, which kept him out nearly three months. He took off another three months to get stronger, but then announced another back surgery in September, and a third one at the end of October.

He has not played since August. He has not won since August 2013.

The tweet Sunday from “Secret Tour Pro” – who claims to be a tour player, though it has never been verified – said that Woods’ condition had worsened since Christmas and that he has to ride in a car with the seat full reclined. The tweet also said Woods has to lay down for the majority of the time and sitting in chair is no longer possible.

Robert Lusetich, who wrote a book about Woods’ 2009 season after returning from knee surgery, tweeted similar information the next day that he attributed to his sources, and talked about it on a national radio show.

Steinberg could not say if Woods would have posted the video without the rumors.

“He does want to keep people in the loop to some degree,” he said.

Missing from the update was anything beyond “progressing nicely.” Woods said in December that he misses competing and wants to return, though he does not appear to be in any rush this time. He has said he tried to come back too early from the first back surgery.

“He’s going to learn from the past,” Steinberg said. “We don’t want to put a timetable on it. He’ll come back when he’s ready.”