DONGGUAN, China — Vancouver’s Eugene Wong finished fifth on the 2015 Ping An Bank China Tour – PGA TOUR China Series’ Order of Merit, a position that earned him  membership on the 2016 Web.com Tour. Besides Wong other players moving to the Web.com Tour are Australia’s Bryden Macpherson, New Zealand’s Josh Geary and China’s Xinjun Zhang and Zecheng Dou. The players received their membership cards during a ceremony following the final event of the season, the Capital Airlines – HNA Real Estate Championship.

After a disappointing second-place finish to fellow Canadian Justin Shin at the United Investment Real Estate Wuhan Open in May, Wong finally broke through and won in Beijing, at the Ping An Bank Open two months later. Wong earned his PGA TOUR China playing privileges by virtue of his play on the 2014 Mackenzie Tour – PGA TOUR Canada. Wong locked up the fifth position on the Order of Merit with a tie for 27th at the season-ending Capital Airlines – HNA Real Estate Championship. Shin would end up finishing a single spot back of Wong in 6th on the ORder of Merit.

“It’s been a great season. This was a nervous week here in Dongguan, but I got it done. I’m very happy with the way my season has gone,” Wong said.

“Eugene committed himself to this Tour, and he immediately made an impact, showing what kind of game he has. It was fun to see him win, and it is great to have our first Canadian move on to the Web.com Tour,” said PGA TOUR China Series’ Executive Director Greg Carlson. “Eugene joins a strong group of players who will go to the Web.com Tour next year. I’m confident his career will continue to ascend as he moves to this next level of professional golf.”

The 2016 Web.com Tour season, the 26th in its history, begins in late-January at the Panama Claro Championship in Panama City, Panama (January 29-February 1).

SUN CITY, South Africa – Marc Leishman picked up his maiden European Tour title on Sunday with a six-stroke victory at the Nedbank Challenge.

The Australian, who started the final round ahead of Henrik Stenson by one shot, carded a 5-under 67 to finish on 19-under 269. He won $1.25 million.

The 32-year-old Leishman’s previous best finish on the tour was at this year’s British Open, when he lost a playoff to Zach Johnson.

Three straight birdies either side of the turn meant that Stenson trailed by two shots with eight holes to play, but the Swede finished poorly to shoot a par 72 on the day.

“I knew it was going to be a really tough day, I knew I had to play well,” Leishman said. “I’m really pleased that I could play as well as I did and have a little bit of a buffer there at the end.”

The turning point in the final round came at the par 3 seventh hole, when Stenson found a bunker and dropped a shot while Leishman holed a tricky 10-foot putt for birdie.

That opened up a three-shot gap between the duo, and although Stenson pulled one back at the eighth he was still forced into an aggressive game on the back nine.

While Leishman was faultless from that point on, finishing the tournament with just three bogeys in total, Stenson bogeyed Nos. 15 and 18.

“Golf’s a lot easier when you don’t have to make up lost ground, especially on this golf course where there’s trouble everywhere,” Leishman said.

The third member of the final group, Jaco van Zyl, fell away badly after starting the day on 10 under.

The South African opened with a bogey before recovering with an excellent approach shot at the second that brought his second eagle of the week. However, he double-bogeyed the sixth to drop out of contention.

Five further bogeys saw Van Zyl card a 6-over 78 to finish tied for 13th.

Van Zyl’s profligacy opened the door for England’s Chris Wood (68) to finish third on 9 under.

Danny Willett of England and Frenchman Victor Dubuisson also shot 68 to share fourth place with South Africa’s Branden Grace (71) and American Robert Streb (73) on 8 under.

Byeong Hun An of South Koreea (68) was eighth, while South African Charl Schwartzel (70) and Thailand’s Thongchai Jaidee (71) tied for ninth.

GOLD COAST, Australia – Australian Nathan Holman parred the first hole of a three-way playoff with American Harold Varner III and South Africa’s Dylan Frittelli to win the Australian PGA championship on Sunday.

Holman, who shot a final-round 1-over 73, and Frittelli and Varner, who each had 75s, finished with even-par totals of 288 on a tough, wind-swept Royal Pines resort course.

Holman led by two strokes but bogeyed his final two holes. Varner’s birdie attempt on 18 that would have given him the win in regulation slid just wide of the cup.

The Australian was the only one on the fairway in the playoff and hit to the middle of the green, while Frittelli and Varner were off the green after hitting their second shots from the rough.

The 24-year-old Holman ended the playoff with a one-foot par putt after Frittelli and Varner bogeyed. The victory earned him an exemption this season and next on the European Tour, which co-sanctioned the Australian PGA this year.

Zander Lombard of South Africa, who was tied for the third-round lead with Frittelli and Varner, shot 76 and finished fourth, one stroke behind the leading trio.

“It was pretty annoying to almost lose it at the end,” Holman said of his bogey-bogey finish in regulation.

Holman also finished first in the PGA Tour of Australasia Order of Merit, which qualifies him for the British Open and the World Golf Championships.

“It’s huge, I didn’t realize what was on the line,” said Holman, who began the day two strokes off the lead.

“It’s probably a good thing, to be honest. I did think I’d get to those events in the future. I didn’t think it would be this quickly. To do it off the back of a victory is probably going to be better – I’ve deserved it. It’s stuff you dream of playing golf as a kid.”

It was the second straight year that the tournament was decided in a playoff: Greg Chalmers won a marathon seven-hole playoff with Adam Scott and Wade Ormsby in 2014.

Holman’s win continues years of Australian dominance at the PGA, which hasn’t been won by an international player since New Zealand’s Greg Turner in 1999.

Varner’s 66 had pulled him into the third-round lead, but he was nine strokes worse on Sunday.

“That’s just the way it goes sometimes,” Varner said. “I’ll be all right. I’m going to go have a great Christmas and get back to it. Just got to keep working and good things will happen. My time will come eventually.”

The newly designed back nine at Royal Pines by former Australian golfer Graham Marsh had six of the toughest nine holes on the course.

Organizers had a million-dollar “party hole” on the par-3 16th on Sunday, set up with bars and entertainment similar to a hole at the Phoenix Open. The closest anyone came to winning a 1 million Australian dollars ($734,000) bonus was Australian Matt Griffin, whose tee shot landed only six inches away from the hole.

NASSAU, Bahamas – The first time Jordan Spieth saw Albany Golf Club, he predicted Bubba Watson would love the place because it looked so open off the tee.

With virtually no wind, Watson showed just how much he liked it Saturday in the Hero World Challenge. He had seven birdies, holed out a 7-iron for eagle and matched the course record with a 9-under 63 to build a two-shot lead going into the final round.

The record he tied belonged to Paul Casey, who shot his 63 about 10 minutes earlier and was two shots behind.

Tee times were moved up Saturday to avoid a forecast of thunderstorms in the afternoon. With little wind, there was no stopping a world-class field from having their way on the Ernie Els design on the far end of New Providence island.

“The key for me around this golf course, I think for everybody as we’re seeing, when there’s no wind – light wind – we can score,” Watson said. “We’re all good players, don’t get me wrong. We’re all top 50 in the world. But with no wind, this golf course is a little bit easier to make birdies.”

Casey had nine of them through 13 holes, and that wasn’t even enough to get in the lead.

“And then when I started to miss putts, I went back to pars again, which was a shame,” Casey said. “Because obviously, Bubba … I don’t know where Bubba was. I wasn’t thinking too much about a course record, but I was thinking it would have been nice to shoot 10 (under) or more.”

Watson was at 19-under 197, one short of the 54-hole tournament record Spieth set last year on his way to a 10-shot victory at Isleworth.

This is the first time the World Challenge is being played at Albany after one year at Isleworth and 14 years at Sherwood Country Club in California.

Spieth, in a three-way tie for the lead with Jimmy Walker and Bill Haas at the start of the day, had a 68 and fell four shots behind.

“I shot 68 and got lapped,” Spieth said. “It was a day where you really needed to shoot lower. Par for the course is 5 under, especially in these conditions.”

Watson wasn’t even planning to be in the Bahamas. He originally decided to skip the tournament because he didn’t have a passport for his newly adopted daughter, Dakota, and because he’s going to Thailand next week, the two-time Masters champion didn’t want to be away from his kids for two weeks in a row.

But when Jason Day withdrew to stay home in Ohio with his newborn daughter, Watson was able to rush through the documents and play.

Casey wants to support the Tiger Woods Foundation for its work with children and education. He also mentioned the world ranking points and the prize money ($1 million) for the winner. And he would like a trophy to show for his good play this year.

“So there’s multiple reasons, about four really good reasons,” he said about the importance of winning. “Five if you count (Christmas) shopping.”

Even with the low scoring, Watson didn’t get that much separation. Chris Kirk and Patrick Reed each had a 66 and were three shots behind, followed by Spieth and Haas, who also had a 68.

Woods is the tournament host and followed along the final group throughout the front nine, occasionally giving good friend and NBC Sports reporter Notah Begay a lift.

Watson started the third round one shot behind and made up ground in a hurry with birdies on the first two holes. He faced a little wind from 168 yards in the fairway on No. 4 and chose to take off a little on his 7-iron, which turned out to be a wise move when he holed it for eagle.

He never saw it go in, and there isn’t much of a gallery this week.

“I heard a yell,” he said. “At least it wasn’t my mom yelling. I heard somebody.”

Reed was going nowhere with one birdie on the front nine when he saw the scores and figured he better get in gear. Wrapping up his worldwide tour, Reed ran off three straight birdies and then had an eagle on the par-5 15th to get back in the game.

“I finally made a putt and it just kind of propelled me from there,” he said.

Spieth is playing his final round of the year Sunday, and he said he would fire at every flag.

“It will be a sprint,” he said. “And then relief.”

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.