DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – China’s Simin Feng shot a 3-under 69 on Saturday on the Hills Course to take a five-stroke lead into the final round of the LPGA Tour Qualifying Tournament.

The 20-year-old Feng shot had a 15-under 272 total at LPGA International. The top 20 finishers Sunday will earn full LPGA Tour cards, and Nos. 21-45 and ties will receive conditional status.

Cydney Clanton and South Korea’s Julie Yang were tied for second. Yang had a 71 on the Jones Course, and Clanton shot a 72 on the Hills Course.

Canada’s Maude-Aimee LeBlanc moved four spots up the leaderboard into a tie for 4th thanks to a 3-under 69 Saturday.

The top 20 at the end of Sunday’s fifth and final round earn full-time status on the tour. Five Canadians will take part in Sunday’s play after four missed the 72-hole cut after Saturday’s round.

Cheyenne Woods, Tiger Woods’ niece, had a 73 on the Jones Course to drop from a tie for 16th into a tie for 24th at 3 under.

SUN CITY, South Africa – Marc Leishman birdied the last two holes to capitalize on Henrik Stenson’s slip-ups and move into the lead on the third day of the Nedbank Challenge.

The Australian began on 8-under par, trailing Stenson by three shots, but a strong back nine saw him close Saturday on a 6-under 66 that left him 14 under and a stroke ahead of the Swede.

Stenson’s birdies at the 14th and 15th put some daylight between himself and the chasing pack, but a three-putt on No. 16 brought a bogey and he went on to drive his tee shot at the 18th into the bunker.

The 2008 champion lost his cool at that point, throwing his bag down, and another bogey saw him sign for a 70.

The 32-year-old Leishman is chasing his first European Tour win after coming close at this year’s British Open, when he lost a playoff to Zach Johnson.

“I saw Henrik was getting away a little bit so I had to try to do something to make it interesting for tomorrow,” Leishman said. “I’ve been in this position a few times in big events so it’s great to draw on that experience.”

Jaco van Zyl drained a long putt at the last to finish with a birdie and end the day on 10 under, while American Robert Streb matched the South African’s 72 to sit a shot behind in fourth place.

Van Zyl’s compatriots, Branden Grace and Louis Oosthuizen, both enjoyed good days to ensure a strong South African presence in the top 10.

Grace’s 67 left him tied for fifth with Austrian Bernd Wiesberger on 7 under, while Oosthuizen was a further shot back in seventh after his 68.

GOLD COAST, Australia – American Harold Varner III shot a 6-under 66 Saturday to move into a three-way share of the lead after three rounds of the Australian PGA championship.

Varner, who bounced his approach shot off the 18th-hole grandstand but scrambled to make par for the best round of the day, had a 54-hole total of 3-under 213.

He’s tied with two South Africans – Dylan Frittelli and Zander Lombard – who each shot 71.

They and fourth-place Australian Nathan Holman, who shot 70 and is two strokes behind, are the only players under par on the wind-swept Royal Pines course.

Second-round leader David Lingmerth shot 75 and was tied for fifth, three strokes behind. American Peter Uihlein, a stroke from the lead after two rounds, fell out of contention with a 79 and is tied for 25th, eight strokes behind.

Lombard held a late lead by one stroke but missed a six-foot par putt on the 18th. Lingmerth had double bogeys on the par-4 10th and 14th holes.

Varner shot a bogey-free round and birdied 14, 15 and 16 despite the gusty conditions in the joint Australian and European Tour event.

“The wind’s a pain right now,” said Varner, who joins Tiger Woods as the only player of black heritage on the PGA Tour this year.

“I haven’t played in that much wind in a long time. When bad things happen, you’ve just got to shake it off and go onto the next one. Today I did that really well.”

Dear Friend in Golf,

As we close the book on the 2015 golf season, I would like to thank you for your support of golf in Canada as a member of Golf Canada and Golf Association of Ontario.

Your dues support programs like the following:

• National Golf in Schools – 2,795 schools across Canada (2,501 elementary, 12 intermediate and 282 high schools)
• CN Future Links – Canada’s national junior golf program: 518 participating clubs in Canada
• Golf Fore the Cure – 145 participating sites in Canada
• National, Provincial and Regional golf competitions
• Course and Slope Rating; Rules and Handicap seminars; coach training and certification

In an effort to keep you up to date on the many programs and services provided to both clubs and members, I am pleased to share the following statistics that that reflect the engagement of member golfers:

• Canada’s #1 website for golf – Golfcanada.ca – had over 6.7 million views this year
• Over 7 million rounds were posted the Golf Canada Score Centre by Golf Canada members

Golf Canada is committed to investing in the growth and overall health of the game. As always, it has been a pleasure to work with our Provincial Golf Associations to deliver the grassroots programs that have filled the pipeline with elite athletes and recreational golfers all across Canada.

We are confident that your support through membership dues are helping to create a new generation of golfers that will contribute to the vitality of the game.

I would like to wish you a safe and healthy winter season and look forward to celebrating our great game together in 2016.

Sincerely,

Scott Simmons
Executive Director/CEO
Golf Canada

NASSAU, Bahamas – Jordan Spieth feels like he’s on vacation in the Bahamas. On the golf course, he’s all business.

Spieth rallied from a rugged start Friday with three straight birdies, and then a surge on the back nine carried him to a 6-under 66 and a share of the lead with Jimmy Walker and Bill Haas going into the weekend at the Hero World Challenge.

“The grind is still there,” Spieth said.

He had to work hard just to keep pace on a calm, muggy afternoon is the islands, where the wind wasn’t strong enough to blow out a match and it showed in the scoring. Rarely has this holiday event with an 18-man field featured so many players near the lead.

For one brief moment on the back nine, there was a seven-way tie for the lead.

Walker, who began working on a new move in his swing just over a week ago, drove the ball as well as he has all year on his way to a 67. Haas, who received one of the two sponsor exemptions to the tournament hosted by Tiger Woods, had a 66.

They were at 11-under 133.

Patrick Reed (65), Chris Kirk (65) and Bubba Watson (67) were one shot behind.

Spieth is wrapping up a big year, and he seems intent on going out in style. He traveled from Sydney to the Bahamas (with a brief stop at home in Dallas to do laundry) and began his push up the leaderboard with an eagle on the par-5 11th hole from about 30 feet. He followed with two more birdies to get a share of the lead.

“It’s still all about rest,” Spieth said. “Coming off how much golf we’ve been playing, I’m still going to be about making sure I’m resting. … But on the golf course, I’m still getting as intense and upset and highs and lows that I experience at a normal PGA Tour event.”

Spieth also was at 11-under 133 a year ago in the Hero World Challenge at Isleworth in Florida. That was good for a two-shot lead, and a 63-66 weekend allowed him to win by 10 shots. This is far different. Half of the field was separated by only three shots.

“The scores are just really good, which makes for an exciting weekend, and I’m just happy to hold my own weight for two days,” Haas said. “I think if I shoot 11 under on the weekend, then I’ll have a really good shot. Simple as that sounds, that’s the way you’ve got to keep it. If I play well, I think I’ll have a chance. But if I don’t, there are so many players that are playing well, the best players in the world, I’ll fall back pretty quickly if I don’t.”

Walker went to see Butch Harmon at the start of last week in Las Vegas to start working on a move where his head moves at impact, which keeps him from having to rely so much on timing. It’s coming together nicely – and quickly.

“Driving the golf ball today, I haven’t had that much fun in a long time, to be honest,” Walker said.

No one has been playing more than Reed, or more places. And he’s been playing well. He has recorded top 10 finishes in five tournaments since the Tour Championship in Hong Kong, Malaysia, twice in Shanghai and Dubai. He’s happy with his performance, though far from satisfied.

“I know to get to all my goals I need to get Ws,” he said. “Top 10s, top 5s aren’t going to cut it where I need to get to. Those are good fill-in weeks, but we need to get in contention a little more. We need to close some tournaments off.”

Not everyone took advantage. Billy Horschel had eight birdies and no bogeys on his card, which ordinary would please him greatly – except that he took a double bogey on the par-3 second hole, and a quadruple-bogey 9 on the par-5 11th hole without hitting into the water. He had a plugged lie under the lip of a bunker that he shanked into a bush, and his troubles ended with what he called a “good putt for a 9.”

“This round today is very much how my year went,” Horschel said with a grin.

Anirban Lahiri of India, who also received a sponsor exemption, was a little more exasperated. Lahiri felt as though he hit the ball well enough to be double digits under par. Instead, a double bogey on the 18th hole gave him a 70 and he was six shots behind. It felt worse.

“If my mom had putted, she would have shot 65,” Lahiri said.

Justin Rose couldn’t get home fast enough after his round of 72, which didn’t take long because Albany is now his primary residence. That made it even more frustrating.

“You’d think I had never seen these greens before,” Rose said.

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – For the third consecutive night, Simin Feng (Beijing, China) will sleep on the lead at the Final Stage of LPGA Qualifying Tournament. After a bogey at the 17th hole, Feng finished with an exclamation point, an eagle at the 18th, to take the outright lead heading into the weekend.

“It’s a great feeling to play good early,” Feng said. “It feels great to be in the lead but there’s still two more days to go and many more holes to come so I just have to keep going.”

Feng, who finished in a tie for sixth at Final Stage of Qualifying Tournament in 2014 to earn her LPGA Tour card, sits at 12-under for the tournament to lead Cydney Clanton (Concord, N.C.) by two-shots.

“I kind of tried to tweak my practice a little bit before this tournament,” Feng said. “I decided to focus on my wedge game and the scoring part of the game which has really helped me here. I’ve been able to save some shots and make some birdies on par-5s.”

The new approach was keyed by Feng’s father who noticed some holes in his daughter’s game during LPGA and LET tournament rounds in China.

“My dad helped me with planning the practice a little bit before I came down here,” Feng explained. “He saw some weaknesses during my tournaments with the LPGA and LET in China. He made some suggestions to work and it turned out to be pretty good. I just need to keep it going and keep it as simple as possible. It will make life a lot easier if I can.”

Feng was the 2014 SEC Freshman of the Year at Vanderbilt before turning professional.

The top 20 players following fifth round play on Sunday will earn LPGA membership in category 12 on the priority list. There are currently 17 players at 4-under, 212, or better and eight players in a tie for 18th at 3-under, 213.

Of the 13 players T8 or better, six have had LPGA Tour status in the past including the top three and Canada’s Maude-Aimee LeBlanc (T8). Of the remaining seven, four are 20 years old or under.

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. – Brandt Jobe won the Champions Tour qualifying tournament Friday to earn one of five fully exempt spots next year, closing with a 2-under 69 for a one-stroke victory.

Jobe, a six-time winner on the Japan Golf Tour, had an 18-under 266 total on TPC Scottsdale’s Champions Course. Tom Byrum, Willie Wood and Jose Coceres tied for second, and Mike Grob was another stroke back to take the last fully exempt spot. Byrum shot 63, Wood and Coceres 67, and Grob 69.

The next seven players – John Riegger, Gibby Gilbert III, Jean-Francois Remesy, Stan Utley, 1996 U.S. Open champion Steve Jones, Chien Soon Lu and Miguel Angel Martin – are conditionally exempt. The top 30 finishers – including Canada’s Jim Rutledge – and ties are eligible to compete for spots in open qualifiers.

Canadians Stuart Hendley (-4) and Rick Gibson (-2) finished T53 and T59 respectively.

The Western Canadian Golf Champion University of British Columbia Thunderbirds Women’s golf team (47 points) are ranked No. 1 in the Golf Coaches Association of Canada (GCAC)-Golf Canada Annual Fall Top-10 Coaches Poll. The RSEQ Champion Montréal Carabins finished a close second (45 points), while the OUA Champion Toronto Varsity Blues and Victoria Vikes tied for third place (47 points). The Waterloo Warriors claimed fifth place (28 points) and the Humber Hawks (27 points) completed the top-six.

The Laval Rouge et Or (20 points) placed in seventh overall, followed by the Queen’s Golden Gaels (13 points).  The UBCO Heat came in ninth place (16 points), and the Alberta Pandas (8 points) round out the Top-10. The Western Ontario Mustangs and Lethbridge Pronghorns also received votes in the women’s rankings.

On the men’s side, the Western Canadian Golf Champion University of Victoria Vikes Men’s golf team (49 points) are ranked as the top University/College golf team in Canada based on the vote conducted by the GCAC on December 4.  The British Columbia Thunderbirds (39 points) are ranked second, while the OUA Champion Waterloo Warriors (38 points) complete the top-three.

The RSEQ Champion Laval Rouge et Or (36 points) claimed fourth place in the poll and the CCAA champion Camosun Chargers ranked fifth (34 points). The University of Toronto Varsity Blues (22 points) took sixth while the Alberta Golden Bears and Fraser Valley Cascades were knotted at No. 7.  The Niagara College Knights and the Concordia Stingers (12 points apiece) rounded-out the Top-10 in a tie for ninth, following play in the fall portion of the season.

The Manitoba Bisons, Laurier Golden Hawks and UBCO Heat also received votes in the men’s rankings.

The 2016 University/College Golf Championship will be hosted in conjunction with the University of Victoria and will run May 30 to June 3 at Morningstar Golf Course in Parksville, B.C.

2015 Women’s University-College Fall Rankings

2015 Men’s University-College Fall Rankings

SUN CITY, South Africa – Henrik Stenson made five birdies on his back nine to shoot a 5-under 67 Friday and take a one-shot lead after the second round of the Nedbank Golf Challenge.

After bogeying three straight holes before a two-hour rain delay, the Swede came back out to pick up five shots between the 11th and 17th holes for an 11-under total of 133. Jaco van Zyl of South Africa was second after a 68, with American Robert Streb shooting the best round of the day for a 66 to sit another shot back in third.

“I was not on a good run before the break,” Stenson said. “I didn’t do too much wrong but managed to string three bogeys in a row, so at that time it was probably good to have a break, and it really cooled down afterward for the back nine.”

Van Zyl, who shared the overnight lead with Stenson, birdied his first two holes after the rain break to move to 10 under, but could only par the last seven.

“It felt a little like a duel between me and Henrik,” Van Zyl said. “I looked at the leaderboard and I think we were two or three clear of the rest of the field. I don’t feel that there’s too much expectation, so I’ll go out over the weekend and try and get a couple of low ones in there.”

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. — The Shaw Charity Classic, conducted annually at Canyon Meadows Golf & Country Club in Calgary was awarded with the Champions President’s Award at the PGA TOUR’s Tournament Meetings on Thursday, December 3 in Miami, Fla.

“On behalf of the Champions Tour, I am honored to congratulate the Shaw Charity Classic for their efforts in securing a second straight President’s Award,” said Miller Brady, the Champions Tour’s Chief Operating Officer. “In a short period of time, Sean Van Kesteren and his staff have put forth one of our Tour’s premier events, delivering on all applicable fronts to create a fantastic tournament week for players, fans, and most importantly, the community.”

The Shaw Charity Classic became the first international event to win the President’s Award in 2014, which captures the criteria of all Champions awards, as well as the intangibles that make it stand out amidst a plethora of successful tournaments.

In 2015, Jeff Maggert claimed his third of four PGA TOUR Champions titles at the Shaw Charity Classic with a four-shot victory over World Golf Hall of Fame member Colin Montgomerie.

“It’s an honor. To be honest, I’m quite surprised as I didn’t think we’d have a chance to win this award two times in a row,” said the tournament’s Executive Director, Sean Van Kesteren. “We’re very happy for our ownership group, for Shaw, but most importantly, for all of the charities we support. Charity is why we’re doing this. We have a great team up in Calgary, and the community has really embraced the event. We have a good thing going, so hopefully we’ll be around for a long, long time.”

The 2016 Shaw Charity Classic will again be played at Canyon Meadows Golf & Country Club on September 2-4.