PRETORIA, South Africa – Charl Schwartzel made a charge up the leaderboard at the European Tour’s Tshwane Open on Friday, going 6 under in his second round to sit two shots off the lead.

Schwartzel had four birdies and an eagle in his 64 to move to 5 under overall and second behind South African compatriot Anthony Michael.

Michael carded a 1-under 69 to set the clubhouse target before a thunderstorm and then hail forced a suspension in play at Pretoria Country Club.

Daniel Im of the United States (68) and Theunis Spangenberg (71) of South Africa were tied for third on 4 under alongside Haydn Porteous, who won the tour’s Joburg Open last month.

Overnight leader Justin Harding appeared to have revived his challenge with a hole-in-one on the par-3 No. 14 after starting with successive bogeys. But he had four more bogeys and a double bogey for a 5-over 75 to slip down to a tie for seventh.

PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. – Justin Rose, a U.S. Open champion and the No. 7 player in the world, shot a 6-under 66 his first time playing Spyglass Hill and spent a gorgeous day listening to the fans call out his name. Except they weren’t calling for him, and he knew it.

His partner in the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am is Justin Timberlake.

“I’ve never seen a demographic like that on a golf course where you’re sort of running the gauntlet from one tee to the other. Everyone was under 21 and 80 percent female,” Rose said. “I said, ‘OK, that moved the needle a little bit there.'”

Rose did OK himself Thursday.

He got off to a strong start is his debut at the Pebble Beach Pro-Am, where Chez Reavie had the low score at a tournament that needs three days to sort out because of the variety of courses.

Reavie made an eagle on the 16th hole and shot 8-under 63 at Monterey Peninsula, which played just more than 1 1/2 strokes under par and was the easiest of the three courses. Freddie Jacobson made five birdies in a six-hole stretch and shot 7-under 65 at Pebble Beach, the only course to play over par (72.06) on Thursday.

Cameron Smith of Australia and Bronson Burgoon each had a 7-under 64 at Monterey Peninsula.

Rose is among six players from the top 10 in the world, and the only one of them to break 70. This is his first time playing the Pebble Beach Pro-Am, partly because he chose not to play in the Middle East swing on the European Tour, and partly because of a partner (Timberlake) that he has come to know over the years.

Both did well at their crafts.

Rose strung together seven birdies, holing out from the bunker on No. 10 and ending his round with a 50-foot birdie putt that banged into the back of the cup. He played Pebble Beach and Monterey Peninsula for his practice rounds and realized he should have been at Spyglass “because it’s a pretty tough course.”

“There’s some strong holes on it,” Rose said. “And I heard some strange reports about Spyglass, like the first few holes are great, then it disappears into the hills and it’s not that good. That’s not what I saw. That’s a pretty stellar golf course to me and really enjoyed playing it.”

Timberlake played too – the guitar.

He didn’t contribute any shots to their pro-am score, but Rose said the highlight was on the 16th tree when Timberlake grabbed a guitar for an impromptu performance, with Alfonso Ribeiro chipping in.

“That was a cool moment,” Rose said. “Not many people saw it, because there was only like 20 people back there. That’s obviously when you really appreciate how someone can grab a guitar, go a cappella and sound so awesome. You have a better appreciation. You see him hit not maybe so many great golf shots, but then you realize, ‘Ah, that’s pretty damn special right there.’ So we all have our own skill set.”

Reavie enjoyed the pure weather almost as much as he enjoyed watching putts go in. Golf has been a grind for Reavie since he missed nearly all of 2014 because of surgery on his left wrist and had to return to the Web.com Tour Finals last year just to get his PGA Tour card back.

“Even on days I putt well, I still don’t make as many putts as I made today,” Reavie said.

Some of the biggest stars had to settle for enjoying the weather.

Jordan Spieth, the No. 1 player in the world, chipped poorly by his standards and three times failed to get up-and-down for birdies on the par 5s at Spyglass Hill. He opened with a 71, along with PGA champion Jason Day. Dustin Johnson had a 70 at Spyglass, while Bubba Watson had a 73. Patrick Reed had a 72.

All of them are among the top 10 in the world and were at Spyglass with the celebrity rotation.

“A bit weak,” Spieth said about his round. “I played the hardest holes on this golf course 4-under par, and then I played all the easy ones over par. Just kind of a bit odd. I just was not quite dialed in with the wedges or short game. But all in all, to actually shoot 1 under with what I felt like I should have shot today is promising, considering we’re going to the two easier courses in my mind.”

J.B. Holmes also shot a 66 at Spyglass Hill, while David Hearn lead the four Canadians in the field after a 67.

Mike Weir, playing his first PGA Tour event in nearly seven months, had a 77.

Phil Mickelson had a 68 while playing with a different setup in his driver that he regretted changing.

“Like an idiot, I switched drivers,” Mickelson said.

He said his driver has weight ports that can be adjusted to affect the spin rate and he didn’t think he was getting as much as he wanted last week in Phoenix. So he made an adjustment and “hit some shots I didn’t care for today.”

“So I’ll go back to my other driver,” he said.

The Board of Directors of Alberta Golf is pleased to announce the appointment of Phil Berube as its Executive Director/CEO effective February 16, 2016.

Berube comes to Alberta Golf with over 20 years of experience in the golf industry having led the PGA of Alberta as Executive Director for 12 years from 2002 to 2013. Most recently Phil was Vice President, Corporate Partnerships for Junior Achievement Canada where he was responsible for ensuring necessary funding for all aspects of its strategic plan.

Berube holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree (double major in Finance and MIS) from McGill University and is a member of the Canadian Society of Association Executives. His extensive experience in leadership, human resources, fundraising, finance, communications and sponsorship will bring additional depth to the Alberta Golf management team.

The enthusiasm and passion that Berube has shown for the game of golf will be invaluable as he fulfills Alberta Golf’s commitment to realizing the positive impacts of golf on individuals and communities across Alberta.

ACTON, Ont. — The PGA of Canada is proud to announce the launch of its newest national event, the Hyundai PGA Scramble of Canada.

The Hyundai PGA Scramble of Canada is a new national series of events taking place at more than 200 golf facilities around the country in 2016, culminating with regional finals and a national final later this year.

The series of events expects to draw nearly 20,000 amateur golfers—who will form their own team of four players—from across the country. Teams will look to make it through local and regional qualifying with the ultimate goal of playing in the national final later this year with a PGA of Canada professional playing on their team at some of Canada’s finest golf courses.

“The PGA of Canada and its 3,700 members from across the country are extremely thrilled with the launch of our newest national event, the Hyundai PGA Scramble of Canada,” said PGA of Canada CEO Gary Bernard. “We look forward to working alongside the team at Hyundai Canada for many years to come and showcasing their fantastic vehicles through our events.”

Each golfer who plays in a Hyundai PGA Scramble of Canada local event will receive impressive gifting and prizing from supporting partners.

“Hyundai is proud to help bring the PGA Scramble to Canadian golfers,” said Don Romano, President and CEO for Hyundai Auto Canada Corp. “This grassroots, amateur-level tournament gives golfers everywhere the opportunity to compete, play with professionals, and challenge themselves to raise their game like no other series in the country.”

Individuals and teams may attempt to qualify in as many local events as they want with the carrot of reaching the regional and national finals. For many, the series of events will provide an opportunity to tee it up at golf courses they wouldn’t normally have an opportunity to play.

For those qualifying to play out of their regional qualifier, the Hyundai PGA Scramble of Canada national final promises to be a golf trip of a lifetime. The 36-hole championship scramble at one of Canada’s premier venues will be part of a festival of special events, prizing, activations and a chance to interact with the latest Hyundai vehicles.

As the Official Vehicle of the PGA of Canada, Hyundai Auto Canada will also offer a fleet program to the 3,700 PGA Professionals in Canada during the partnership.

The European Tour has made a fast start in its effort to combat slow play.

The revised Pace of Play policy, introduced before the Abu Dhabi Championship last month, has helped to reduce average round times and may result in an increased size of fields for tournaments, the tour said on Thursday.

Recently hired chief executive Keith Pelley has made cracking down on slow play a priority, in a bid to make the game more entertaining. Monitoring penalties have been implemented that could lead to fines for repeat offenders.

Since the new policy was introduced last month before the Desert Swing, times for the first and second rounds compared with the 2015 events were reduced by five minutes at the Abu Dhabi Championship, and 10 and four minutes respectively at the Qatar Masters. At the Dubai Desert Classic last week, the tour says the timings of the last match out were reduced by an average of 13 minutes.

“It is terrific to see the policy has had an immediate effect, even though we are still in the early stages of its implementation,” said Pelley, who wants to shave off 15 minutes from rounds. “I am also pleased that our members have reacted positively to this change.

“We are continually striving to make our product even more appealing and entertaining for our fans, and this is a good starting point.”

Top-ranked Jordan Spieth, who competed in Abu Dhabi, was one of five players to have been given monitoring penalties during those three events. These players will be fined the next time they receive a monitoring penalty during this season.

“Our players are now more aware than ever that slow play is unacceptable,” Pelley said.

The tour said saving time in rounds “could conceivably mean larger field sizes in the long term, meeting another of the European Tour’s key priorities of increasing playing opportunities.”

PRETORIA, South Africa – Justin Harding fired a 7-under 63 to take a one-shot lead after the first round of the European Tour’s Tshwane Open in South Africa on Thursday.

Harding’s round featured eight birdies and a single bogey as only 22 players managed to go under par at Pretoria Country Club.

Harding was at the head of five South Africans at the top of the leaderboard. Anthony Michael was 6 under par, Theunis Spangenberg 5 under, Jaco van Zyl 4 under and Merrick Bremner 3 under. Charl Schwartzel was in a tie for 38th after opening with a 1-over 71.

The Tshwane Open is the fifth European Tour event in South Africa this season. Home players have won three of the other four.

Oakville, Ont. and Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla. – The Mackenzie Tour – PGA TOUR Canada’s 2016 schedule will include 12 events from May to September, highlighted by two new tournaments and 10 returning events from 2015, as players look to make the next step on the path to the PGA TOUR.

The season will once again begin in May with the Freedom 55 Financial Open (May 23-29) at Point Grey Golf and Country Club in Vancouver, B.C., with purses of $175,000 (CA$) for the first 11 events and a $200,000 (CA$) purse for the season-ending Freedom 55 Financial Championship (Sept. 12-18) at Highland Country Club in London, Ont.

“Thanks to the hard work of our host organizations and tremendous support from our sponsors, especially our umbrella sponsor Mackenzie Investments, we’re in a great position to play 12 fantastic events across Canada this season,” said Mackenzie Tour President Jeff Monday. “We look forward to seeing another season of outstanding play from our players while making a positive impact in each of the communities where we play.”

Mackenzie Tour players will look to make the next step on the path the PGA TOUR by leveraging their performance into advantages to reach the next level. The Order of Merit winner will be fully exempt on the Web.com Tour for the following season, with players 2-5 earning conditional status and each player 2^nd through 10^th earning an exemption into the Final Stage of the Web.com Tour Qualifying Tournament. Players 11 through 20 earn an exemption into the second stage.

Players will look to follow in the footsteps of Nick Taylor and Tony Finau, who went from the Mackenzie Tour in 2013 to being finalists for PGA TOUR Rookie of the Year for the 2014-15 season, along with 37 members of the Mackenzie Tour from 2015 who went on to earn 2016 Web.com Tour status.

Also announced was the introduction of a new look and logo for the Mackenzie Tour, symbolizing the innovative approach taken in concert with Mackenzie Investments.

“We are thrilled to support another great season of golf, helping the players build the confidence they need to succeed, while raising the profile of the Mackenzie Tour both on and off the course,” said Jeff Carney, President and Chief Executive Officer of Mackenzie Investments.  “Last season the Mackenzie Tour raised a record amount of money for charities across Canada and we look forward to building on that momentum and driving additional support, especially in the two new tour stops this season, Kelowna B.C. and Edmonton Alta., which are exciting additions to an already outstanding roster.”

After kicking off the season with the Mackenzie Tour’s first event in Vancouver, the Tour will head to Victoria, B.C. for the 34^th playing of the Bayview Place Island Savings Open presented by Times Colonist (May 30-June 5) at Uplands Golf Club, followed by the inaugural GolfBC Championship (June 6-12) at Gallagher’s Canyon Golf and Country Club in Kelowna, B.C. The SIGA Dakota Dunes Open, which features a ‘Graham Slam’ event hosted by Graham DeLaet and supports the Graham and Ruby DeLaet foundation, takes place at Dakota Dunes Golf Links in Saskatoon, Sask. June 20-26, and after an off week, the Tour heads to Winnipeg, Man. for The Players Cup (July 4-10) and Thunder Bay, Ont. for the Staal Foundation Open presented by Tbaytel (July 11-17), after which the top three players on the Order of Merit earn exemptions into the RBC Canadian Open on the PGA TOUR.

The season resumes with three straight events in Alberta, with the inaugural Oil Country Championship in Edmonton (July 25-31), the Syncrude Boreal Open in Fort McMurray (August 1-7) and the ATB Financial Classic in Calgary (August 8-14), followed by the National Capital Open to Support Our Troops in Ottawa, Ont. (August 15-21).

The newly-rebranded Cape Breton Open moves to Bell Bay Golf Club in Baddeck, N.S. August 29-4, after which the top 60 players on the Order of Merit will retain exempt status and play their way into the season-ending Freedom 55 Financial Championship at Highland Country Club in London, Ont.

Click here to view the schedule.

The Canadian three-peat did not come to be at the Jones Cup Invitational, but Blair Hamilton emerged in a share of the runner-up spot. Hamilton’s 71-73-76 showing at Ocean Forest Golf Club was six short of Beau Hossler’s winning total, and the Canadian’s performance didn’t match that of fellow countrymen Corey Conners and Austin Connelly, the 2014 and 2015 Jones Cup winners, respectively. But the second-place finish was still quite an accomplishment after a hectic month…

Read the full story on Golfweek here.

PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. – Caddies lost their class-action lawsuit against the PGA Tour when a federal judge in California ruled they signed a contract with the tour that requires them to wear bibs as part of their uniform and cannot claim that corporate sponsorship on the bibs makes them human billboards.

U.S. District Judge Vince Chhabria dismissed the lawsuit Tuesday night without prejudice, which typically means it cannot be refiled.

The decision came just over a year after caddies filed the lawsuit in northern California, the same federal court where former UCLA basketball star Ed O’Bannon successfully sued the NCAA for keeping college players from selling their marketing rights.

The lawsuit began with 81 caddies and had grown to 168 caddies.

Chhabria dismissed all seven of the contractual claims.

The caddies and the tour had been odds for the last several years over what they perceive as poor treatment. They are not allowed in clubhouses and at some tournaments are not allowed in the locker room.

At the heart of the lawsuit was a claim that the tour was using them as “human billboards” because the bibs they wore on the course, which featured the logo of the title sponsor, amounted to advertising to which they received no compensation. Lawyers for the caddies estimated the value of the advertising at $50 million a year.

Chhabria suggested in his ruling that the caddies’ own complaint worked against them.

The contract a caddie signs to work a PGA Tour event says that caddies are to wear uniforms and identification badges prescribed by the tournament and the tour. Chhabria said the caddies in their brief acknowledge that “the PGA Tour has required caddies to wear bibs for decades.”

“In other words, for decades, the bib has been the primary part of the ‘uniform’ that the Tour requires caddies to wear,” Chhabria wrote. “The only reasonable interpretation of the contract is that the caddies agreed the Tour could make them wear bibs.”

Chhabria also found no merit to claims of antitrust and trademark law, along with complaints of publicity rights and that contracts were signed under duress.

“The caddies overall complaint about poor treatment by the Tour has merit, but this federal lawsuit about bibs does not,” Chhabria said.

The PGA Tour said in a statement it was pleased by the decision.

“We look forward to putting this matter behind us and moving forward in a positive direction with the caddies,” the statement said.

Lawyers for the caddies were preparing a comment. One option would be to appeal the ruling.

Toronto – The University of the West Indies has announced that Canadian Golf Hall of Fame honoured member Stephen Ames will be one of five leaders of Canadian and Caribbean origin to be honoured at its annual Toronto Benefit Gala on Saturday, April 2, 2016, at The Ritz-Carlton.

Ames will be awarded with the University’s Vice Chancellor’s Award, which is given to people of Caribbean heritage who have made significant contributions within their organizations and communities.

Ames, 51, was born in Trinidad & Tobago. He turned professional in 1987. In 2004, he enjoyed his first PGA Tour victory, reached the top 20 in the Official World Golf Ranking, and was awarded the Chaconia Medal, Trinidad & Tobago’s second highest honour. He initiated the Stephen Ames Cup, an international Ryder Cup style competition that pits CJGA Team Canada against Team Trinidad & Tobago. He also co-hosts an annual charity golf tournament for kids and owns the Vintage Chophouse in Calgary.

Under the theme “Light, Learning and Liberty”, The University of the West Indies Toronto Benefit Gala provides funds for scholarships -awarding nearly in the past six years.

For tickets and a full list of honourees, please visit www.uwitorontogala.com.