HONG KONG – Third-round leader Jin Cheng of China won the Asia-Pacific Amateur championship without hitting a ball on Sunday after the fourth round was abandoned due to heavy rain and high winds at Clearwater Bay Golf and Country Club.

Jin, who led by two strokes after each of the first two rounds, had a 54-hole total of 11-under 199 to edge Australian amateur champion Cameron Davis and his countryman Ryan Ruffels by one stroke.

His win, which assures him a spot in next year’s Masters, was set up by a tournament record 8-under 62 on Thursday. A clutch final-hole birdie on Saturday secured victory for the 17-year-old.

Jin, who plans to play in the Macau Open later this month, was thrilled with the result and the prospect of playing at Augusta.

“This win just came so fast and so sudden,” Jin said. “I was ready for the round today and unfortunately the weather didn’t work out. Going there (the Masters) next year is just amazing for me. I’m so excited and looking forward to it. This win should give me a lot of confidence.”

The final round got under way as scheduled on Sunday but was suspended soon after with only nine groups on the course. Organizers abandoned play just after 11 a.m. (0300 GMT), with the inclement weather caused by nearby Typhoon Mujigae showing no sign of relenting.

If the final round had proceeded, Ruffels, Davis and defending champion Antonio Murdaca of Australia, who shot a 64 on Saturday to surge into contention, looked set to challenge Jin for the title.

Although they knew on Saturday that Sunday’s play may not go ahead, with a Masters berth on the line, it was still tough to take for the runners-up.

“I guess it’s not hard to tell that we are both pretty gutted,” Ruffels said. “Obviously there’s nothing you can do about the situation. The tournament did great in just trying to get us out there. Credit to Cheng, he played amazing this week to back up 8-under with those two rounds in some tough conditions.”

It was Jin’s fourth start in the tournament, with his previous best finish a tie for 12th at Royal Melbourne last year. He is the second Chinese player to win the event after Guan Tianlang’s triumph in 2012.

To go with his Masters berth, Jin, along with Ruffels and Davis, earned a place in the final round of qualifying for the 2016 British Open at Royal Troon.

Taiwan’s Yu Chun-an and Kim Tae-ho of South Korea finished in a tie for fourth, three shots off the pace.

ST. ANDREWS, Scotland – Thorbjorn Olesen of Denmark took a three-shot lead at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship on Saturday after a 7-under 65 at St. Andrews in the third round.

Olesen started with a bogey on the first hole but then had eight birdies the rest of the way – including four on the last five holes – for a 17-under 199 total.

“I started off badly by hitting it in the water on the first but I got over it and played some good golf,” Olesen said. “My putter started to get very hot out there and I holed a lot of great putts. So yeah, it was good fun.”

Florian Fritsch of Germany was second after a 64 at Kingsbarns, with Benjamin Hebert of France another shot back after a 67 at Carnoustie. The players alternated between the three courses on the first three days, with the final round held at St. Andrews.

Fritsch had six birdies and an eagle in his bogey-free round. After starting on the 10th tee, he eagled the par-5 third hole and had three birdies on the next four.

“I hit a couple of good putts and ended up rolling in a few birdies and an eagle,” the German said. “That was a little extra.”

Jimmy Mullen, who held a share of the overnight lead, could only manage a 74 at Carnoustie to plummet down the leaderboard.

Ernie Els, who scuffed a putt from less than a foot out in the first round, continued his resurgence with a 66 at St. Andrews to sit in a tie for eighth, six shots back.

Ernie Muise was elected 62^nd president of the Nova ScotiaGolf Association at the association’s Annual Fall Meeting held October 3^rd at the Glen Arbour Golf Club. Mr. Muise will serve as the NSGA President until the end of the 2016 season.

Muise is the third president of the NSGA to serve from the Clare Golf Club (Dr. Julius Comeau 1986-87 and Roland Deveau 2001-02). Prior to joining the NSGA board in 2006, Mr. Muise was on the board of Clare Golf Club for 12 years and served as president in 2004-2005. He has been very active with both the Clare Golf Club and the NSGA. While with the NSGA he has served as the: Western Zone Representative, Director of Membership and served terms as first and second Vice President. Ernie has also served on the Provincial Council with Golf Canada.

Born in Grosses Coques in Digby County, N.S., Ernie lived and worked with Consolidated Freightways in Stoughton Massachusetts for over 30 years. After retiring he moved home to Nova Scotia where he lives with his wife Lorraine in Little Brook.

The following members will comprise the 2015-2016 NSGA Board of Directors:

President – Ernie Muise, Clare
Vice President – Garry Beattie, Ashburn
2nd Vice President – Katie Brine, Truro
Past President – Shirley d’Entremont, West Pubnico
Secretary/Treasurer – Jen Thompson, Brightwood
Course Rating Director – John Horton, Ken-Wo
Tournament Director – Bill MacMillan, Hartlen Point
Rules Director – Doug McEwan, Greenwood
Player Development Director – Sara Wilson, NSPPC
Membership Director – Sue Mitchell, Brightwood
Handicap Director – David Acker, Ken-Wo
Junior Director -Rob  Collins, Clare

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. – Jordan Spieth was voted PGA Tour player of the year Friday, giving him a sweep of all the significant awards.

The PGA Tour does not disclose how many votes Spieth received from the players, though the 22-year-old Texan removed any suspense last week with his four-shot victory in the Tour Championship to win the Fed Ex Cup.

Spieth had five wins this year, including the Masters and U.S. Open. He is the youngest player since Tiger Woods (21) to win the Jack Nicklaus Award as player of the year. Spieth also won the Arnold Palmer Award by topping the money list with a record $12 million, and the Vardon Trophy for having the lowest adjusted scoring average.

Daniel Berger was voted rookie of the year. He was the only rookie to qualify for the Tour Championship.

Since the FedEx Cup began in 2007, Woods is the only other player to sweep the awards, win a major and capture the FedEx Cup and its $10 million bonus.

Just two years ago, Woods received the Jack Nicklaus Award for a record 11th time. He was presented the trophy at Torrey Pines to start the 2014 season, and he shared the stage that day with Spieth who was the 2013 rookie of the year.

Spieth looked over at Woods’ trophy and said, “Now it’s time to chase this other award.”

It didn’t take long.

Spieth set the 36-hole record at Augusta National and tie Woods’ 72-hole mark at 18-under 270 with his wire-to-wire victory. He became only the fourth player since 1960 to win the first two legs of the Grand Slam when he won the U.S. Open at Chambers Bay. And he was tied for the lead at the British Open through 70 holes until a bogey on the 17th hole. He finished one shot out of a playoff and was runner-up to Jason Day at the PGA Championship.

Woods and Nicklaus are the only other players to not finish worse than fourth in all the majors.

Day got into the conversation late in the year by winning four out of six tournaments and reaching No. 1 in the world. He also had five victories, making it the first time in 42 years that the PGA Tour had two players with at least five wins.

The majors swung heavily in Spieth’s favor, however, along with his scoring average and record earnings. He also led the tour with 15 finishes in the top 10.

Spieth won the award over Day, British Open champion Zach Johnson and Rory McIlroy, who won twice this year but was sidelined for two months with an ankle injury from playing soccer with friends a few weeks before the British Open.

Spieth previously won the PGA of America’s points-based award for player of the year. Because of a bonus for winning two majors, Spieth clinched that award in August.

Berger had two runner-up finishes, losing in a playoff to Padraig Harrington at the Honda Classic and finishing six shots behind Day at the BMW Championship during the FedEx Cup playoffs. Because points are quadrupled in the FedEx Cup playoffs, that runner-up finish was enough to get Berger into the field for the Tour Championship.

He won the award over Justin Thomas, who finished at No. 32 in the FedEx Cup and missed the Tour Championship by five points; Tony Finau, who featured on the weekend at two majors; and Nick Taylor of Canada. Taylor was the only rookie to win this year, but that was at an opposite-field event last fall when the top players were in Shanghai. Taylor was No. 101 in the FedEx Cup.

The 10 best moments from the Presidents Cup, which will be played Oct. 8-11 at Jack Nicklaus Golf Club Korea in Incheon, South Korea:

10. OH, CANADA:
Mike Weir, at No. 20 in the standings, was a captain’s pick for the 2007 Presidents Cup in Canada. Even though the Americans had a huge lead at Royal Montreal going into Sunday, the Canadian faced Tiger Woods with a nation watching. Weir made a birdie to square the match on the 17th. On the final hole, Woods’ tee shot failed to clear the water on the left. It splashed down right in front of a pair of fans holding a Maple Leaf flag. The Americans won the cup. Weir won a match that felt almost as big.

9. NICE GUY NICK:
The Presidents Cup was never more packed with emotion than in South Africa in 2003. The matches were close from the start, particularly on Sunday, and especially Nick Price against Kenny Perry. Perry won three straight holes. Price won the next three holes. It came down to the 18th hole, and Price had a birdie putt to halve the match. He missed, and walking off the green, he broke his putter over his knee.

8. BOOM BOOM:
For the longest time, Fred Couples was the American face of the Ryder Cup. He secured victory in 1996 with a 35-foot birdie putt and a celebration that was vintage Freddie. As he raced off the green, he grabbed a hat off the head of a caddie and threw it in the air, and then butchered a high-five with Davis Love III. Nine years later, Couples made a critical putt to beat Vijay Singh, dropping his putter and walking away. As a captain, he went 3-0.

7. THUNDER DOWN UNDER:
The Presidents Cup was held in Virginia the first two times, and the International team demanded a home game. So it went to Royal Melbourne in 1998, and the Americans were so stacked that International captain Peter Thomson introduced them as the “greatest collection of golfers in the world.” Just not that week. The event was so lopsided that Nick Price secured the winning point by beating David Duval before breakfast had stopped being served. The final score was 20 1/2-11 1/2.

6. AQUAMAN:
Woody Austin tried to play a shot from the bank of a lake on the 14th hole at Royal Montreal in 2007 when he lost his balance, stumbled backward and fell face-first into the water. The one-liners were endless. The fans called out “Marco” and “Polo” the rest of his match. U.S. captain Jack Nicklaus put him in the lineup the next day and announced him as “Jacques Cousteau.” Austin played along and showed up Sunday wearing snorkeling gear.

5. GRAHAM’S OUSTER:
The early days of the Presidents Cup brought controversy that would have made the Ryder Cup blush. Two months before the 1996 matches, the International team met at the British Open for what amounted to a coup. They demanded David Graham be ousted as captain. He resigned, though he felt the players had defamed his character. Some players felt the planning for the matches was being ignored. Others, particularly South Africans and Australians, wanted more say in choosing the captain. Peter Thomson took over, and the Americans still won.

4. DIMARCO’S MOMENT:
More than any of his three PGA Tour victories, the career highlight for Chris DiMarco might have been his 15-foot birdie putt on the 18th hole at Robert Trent Jones Golf Club to win the 2005 Presidents Cup. DiMarco was in the final match against Stuart Appleby, and when the putt went in, he ran across the green and straight into the arms of captain Jack Nicklaus.

3. THE DEPARTURE:
The second Presidents Cup was compelling and not decided until Fred Couples make a 35-foot birdie putt on the 17th hole. But the final day of the 1996 matches was missing a large faction of the national press. That same week, 20-year-old Tiger Woods was playing the Quad City Classic in his third start as a pro, and he had a one-shot lead. Golf writers from the largest national publications left Virginia for a small town in western Illinois to watch Woods. The Americans won. Woods lost.

2. TIGER WHO?:
The Americans rolled to victory in 2000, but Tiger Woods managed to find motivation. He played the Sunday singles match against Vijay Singh, a matchup between the major champions of the year (Singh won the Masters, Woods won the rest). Paul Tesori, the caddie for Singh, thought it would be funny to write “Tiger Who?” on the back of his cap. Woods apparently didn’t. Woods made bogey on the fourth hole and refused to concede Singh’s 10-foot birdie putt, or the 18-inch par putt that follow. Woods beat him on the 17th hole. Asked later what he thought about it, Woods replied, “2 and 1.”

1. THE TIE:
The best Presidents Cup is the one nobody won. The rule for 2003 in South Africa was if the matches ended in a tie, each team would pick one player for a sudden-death playoff. Ernie Els and Tiger Woods were picked, and the tension was thick. Els made a 12-foot putt to halve the second extra hole. On the next hole, when it was so dark it was tough to read the break, Woods made a 15-foot putt that broke two directions for par. Els faced a 6-foot putt with both teams camped around the green. He made it for a halve. Instead of returning Monday morning, captains Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player agreed it was best to end it as a tie and let the teams share the cup. Woods said it was one of the most nerve-racking putts he had ever faced, to which Robert Allenby replied, “Thank god.”

ST. ANDREWS, Scotland – Jimmy Mullen and Anthony Wall shared a one-stroke lead after the second round of the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship on Friday.

Overnight co-leader Mullen, who is making his professional debut, added a 3-under 69 at St. Andrews to his opening 64 at Kingsbarns to finish on 11-under 133 alongside fellow Englishman Wall.

The tournament is split between three courses, with players alternating between St. Andrews, Kingsbarns and Carnoustie.

“I’m just out there trying to enjoy it and learn really, and to be top of the leaderboard I can’t really explain it,” said Mullen, who had five birdies and two bogeys on the Old Course. “I’m still a bit like, ‘There’s (Martin) Kaymer’ and other people like that.”

The 21-year-old Mullen turned professional after contributing four points to September’s Walker Cup victory over the United States, becoming the first Britain and Ireland player to compile a perfect 4-0 record since Paul Casey and Luke Donald in 1999.

Wall shot a 4-under 68 at St. Andrews with seven birdies and three bogeys.

One shot behind Mullen and Wall is Ireland’s Paul Dunne (70), experienced Ryder Cup star Jamie Donaldson (65), Denmark’s Thorbjorn Olesen (66) and American Chris Stroud (66).

The lowest rounds of the day came at Kingsbarns, where Bradley Dredge and Kiradech Aphibarnrat both shot 9-under 63 to finish 8 and 6 under, respectively.

That represented an improvement of 10 shots on his opening round at Carnoustie for 42-year-old Welshman Dredge.

“I’ve been playing golf a long time and haven’t got a clue anymore,” said Dredge, who carded two eagles and five birdies in a flawless round.

Defending champion Oliver Wilson could only card a second consecutive 74 to lie 4 over.

Richard T. Lee of Toronto sits T102 after a second-round 4-under 68 performance.

EGGS HARBOR TOWNSHIP, N.J. – Chip Lutz made his first trip to the final match pay off Thursday when he won the U.S. Senior Amateur over Tom Brandes.

Lutz, a 60-year-old from Reading, Pennsylvania, won the opening hole with a par and never trailed at Hidden Creek Golf Club. He won, 5 and 3.

Lutz made it to the semifinal round in 2010, 2011 and 2013. He advanced to the championship match with a 1-up victory over Tim Jackson, a two-time USGA champion.

Lutz also won the 2011 and 2012 Canadian Men’s Senior titles.

Brandes, from Bellevue, Washington, also was runner-up in the British Senior Amateur two years ago.

The victory means Lutz is exempt into the U.S. Senior Open next year, the U.S. Amateur and U.S. Mid-Amateur for two years, and has a 10-year exemption from qualifying for the U.S. Senior Amateur.

New Zealand will host one of the world’s most prestigious amateur golf tournaments.

The Royal Wellington Golf Club has been awarded the Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship in October 2017 which will be broadcast live around the world.

The tournament is supported by three Founding Partners: the Asia-Pacific Golf Confederation, the Masters Tournament and The R&A.  It is one of the largest tournaments of its type in the world, with the winner getting a place at the following year’s Masters and a spot in The Open Qualifying Series, the final stage to gain entry into The Open Championship.

The top 120 amateur players from the Asia-Pacific region will compete with 10 places available for New Zealanders as host.

Established in 2009, the Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship has quickly become one of the most celebrated amateur golf tournaments in the world with Japan’s Hideki Matsuyama a two-time winner.

ST. ANDREWS, Scotland – Jimmy Mullen and Paul Dunne both marked their professional debuts with an 8-under 64 to grab a share of the lead after the first round of the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship.

Mullen and Dunne went pro after helping Britain and Ireland beat the United States in the Walker Cup last month but looked like seasoned veterans at Kingsbarns. Dunne started with a bogey on the 10th hole, but then had a hole-in-one on the par-3 15th to get his round going. He added another six birdies, including three straight from the second.

“I kind of needed it,” the Irishman said of his ace. “I got off to a bit of a ropey start.”

Mullen, a 21-year-old Englishman had a similar round which also contained eight birdies and an eagle to go with two bogeys at Kingsbarns. They were tied with Kristoffer Broberg of Sweden, who had eight birdies in a flawless round at St. Andrews. The tournament is split between three courses, with players alternating between St. Andrews, Kingsbarns and Carnoustie.

“I’ve been looking forward to getting started as a pro for a while,” Dunne said. “No better place to do it than on a links-style course like this.”

Kingsbarns saw 12 of the 15 lowest scores on the opening day, while Martin Kaymer had the joint-best round at Carnoustie with a 68.

Soeren Kjeldsen, Richard Bland and Anthony Wall were in a tie for fourth, a shot behind the leaders.

Defending champion Oliver Wilson had only managed a 74 at St. Andrews

Cooler temperatures are arriving across Canada and with them come the most colourful portion of the golf season.  This is the time when the leaf rule comes into play in recreational golf and I love a good scramble format after the need to wear multiple layers arises.

Recently, I travelled down through Southern Ontario and spent some time at Norfolk Golf & Country Club – a 9-Hole Stanley Thompson design which is celebrating its 120^th Anniversary this season.  It is certainly worth the drive to Simcoe.

I could envision Stanley Thompson admiring this rolling piece of land: first selecting the par-3 sites with their dramatic natural beauty and then enjoying cutting out all the fairways for the other holes through the dense Carolinian forest.  As the leaves begin to change colour, the already impressive views will become all the more picturesque.  I am never happy to see summer end, but I do enjoy the sights and smells of autumn, the vibrant colours and the crisp leaves – Norfolk certainly sets this very scene.

The club also boasts a friendly membership which is very proud of this club.  Either before or after your, round I recommend you take a little time to enjoy a refreshment in the club lounge or on the trendy patio overlooking the impressive elevation drop from the first tee. There are always a few times open daily for guests to share in this early Stanley Thompson design, and if you only have time for 9 holes, you have seen it all.  Give them a call…you will be glad you did.

I am looking forward to a round with my kind hosts from my visit to Norfolk because I do not want to miss these beautiful colours. I loved the emerald green in September, but I want to see more.  If you cannot make it this fall, the spring flowers and blossoms are also likely to capture your attention as you make your way around the course next season.

Congratulations to all our Golf Canada clubs that are celebrating significant Anniversaries this year!  As a student, I was never much of a fan of History class, but as I share in the Anniversary celebrations of our clubs, I am becoming passionate about Golf History.  There are so many great tales that come out of our golf facilities.  The time, money and friendships taken to create so many fabulous memories…priceless!

Christine Dengel is a PGA of Canada golf professional with more than 30 years of experience in multiple facets of the golf industry, and a lifelong passion for and commitment to the game of golf. Prior to joining Golf Canada, she was a Territory Sales Manager for Callaway Golf Canada for 18 years. During her time with Callaway, Dengel managed the GTA and Southwestern Ontario territory from 1992-2005 and has managed the Southern Ontario territory since 2006.