Gold River, California’s John Catlin shot a 7-under 63 at Highland Country Club on Thursday to take the first round lead at the Freedom 55 Financial Championship, the final event of the 2015 Mackenzie Tour – PGA TOUR Canada season.

The second year Mackenzie Tour player carded eight birdies to offset a single bogey on Thursday to build a three-shot advantage over six players, including Order of Merit leader J.J. Spaun, Canadians Max Gilbert and Riley Wheeldon and Americans Ben Geyer, Michael Miller and Logan McCracken.

“I tried to go out and have fun today. I think I’ve been taking it too seriously, and I just tried to enjoy every shot and take it all in. I hit a lot of good shots and made some good putts,” said Catlin, who enters the week 42nd on the Order of Merit with two top-10s to his name.

The 24-year old University of New Mexico grad said the pristine greens at Highland freed him up with the putter and helped him build his lead, the largest first-round lead of the PGA TOUR era on the Mackenzie Tour.

“Putting was definitely the key. It’s good to be on some really good greens. I was seeing the lines really well and they happened to go in for me,” said Catlin.

For much of Thursday, it appeared Order of Merit leader J.J. Spaun would keep pace with Spaun and take control of his money list lead, reaching 7-under with a birdie on the 14th. Spaun tumbled with a bogey and double bogey over his final three holes, however, to drop back into a tie for second at 4-under.

“I just made some dumb errors coming in, but there’s nothing I can do about it. At least I’m in a good position heading into the next three rounds,” said Spaun.

Gilbert, the 2013 Freedom 55 Financial Championship winner, posted his lowest opening round of the year with a 66 to share second place through one round.

NUMBERS YOU NEED TO KNOW

3: John Catlin’s 18-hole lead, the largest first round lead of the PGA TOUR-era on the Mackenzie Tour.

34: Players within three shots of second place after one round.

2: Bogey-free rounds on Thursday: Mike Miller (66); Ethan Tracy (68).

QUOTABLES:

“I was hoping to have a good week last week and it went well, so it was perfect. After the break before Calgary, I was 80-something [on the Order of Merit]. I knew I had four tournaments to play well. It’s so good to be here and I’m having some fun.” – Max Gilbert on playing his way into London this week with a T10 finish at the Cape Breton Celtic Classic, moving from 69th to 55th on the Order of Merit.

“I know the guys in front of me and the guys behind me are the ones I need to beat. You want to beat everybody, but that’s my main goal – to stay inside the top-20 this week. I know if I play well that should look after itself, and if I find myself in contention at the end of the week then that’s a bonus.” – Riley Wheeldon, who enters the week 20th on the Order of Merit. The top 10 on the Order of Merit earn an exemption into the second stage of Web.com Tour Q-School.

“It’s exciting that I’m playing the way I know I can play, especially this late in the year when it means something. It was playing so tough today. I don’t know how John Catlin shot 7-under; that’s a good round.” – Michael Miller, who opened with a 4-under 66, his fourth straight opening round of 68 or better.

Notes:

• Weather: 27 degrees Celsius (30 with Humidity). Sunny. Winds 25 km/h.
• Ben Geyer played as a single in the day’s first group, shooting a 4-under 66 in 2 hours and 26 minutes.
• Taylor Pendrith, who owns a $3,919 lead over Albin Choi in the race for Freedom 55 Financial Canadian Player of the Year and a $25,000 prize, opened with a 3-under 67, the same first round score as Choi.
• Order of Merit no. 2 C.T. Pan opened with a 2-over 72 to sit T48. Pan must finish in at worst solo third to pass Spaun for the top spot.
• Other players who can pass Spaun with a win: Taylor Pendrith 67/T8, Sam Ryder 73/T54
• Logan McCracken’s 66 was his lowest opening round of the season on the Mackenzie Tour.
• Round 2 tee times will run from 8:00 a.m. to 12:50 p.m. with players re-grouped according to first round score.

LAKE FOREST, Ill. – Jason Day already had seven birdies on his card and one eagle, courtesy of a shot he holed from 79 yards out of a fairway bunker. He was walking across a bridge Thursday at the BMW Championship when someone asked him during an exchange of greetings, “How are you doing, Jason?”

Jordan Spieth was a few steps ahead of Day, and he could hardly contain his laughter.

“Really? You’re asking him THAT?” Spieth said.

Day has never been better. He powered his way around Conway Farms and was at 10-under par through 17 holes when thunderstorms halted the opening round. His final shot was a 346-yard tee shot with the wind at his back that settled in light rough and left him 44 yards away from a front pin on No. 9.

Day has to hole that Friday morning for a 59. And he didn’t even know it.

“I thought it was a par 72, so I’m sitting there going, `10 under, there’s no chance at all I can get it.’ But if it goes in, it goes in,” he said. “Right now, I’m just trying to play the best I can. I’m just trying to get off to a good start.”

He is playing better than anyone at the moment, a winner in three of his last five tournaments, including his first major. A victory in the third FedEx Cup playoff event would send him to No. 1 in the world for the first time, and not many would argue with that.

Day was four shots ahead of PGA Tour rookie Daniel Berger, who had a 6-under 65. Brendon Todd had a 66. Only 17 players completed the opening round.

Spieth finally got on track. Coming off consecutive missed cuts that eventually cost him the No. 1 ranking, he had a hole-in-one on the par-3 second hole to end a peculiar drought. It was the first time in 72 holes that he was under par during any round in a tournament. And then he chipped in from 80 feet for birdie on the next hole.

Little good that did him.

Walking to the fourth tee, Spieth pointed behind him at Day and said, “He’s still the clinic. I’ve barely got the (honors on the) tee.”

Spieth made a hole-in-one and Day poured in a 20-foot birdie putt. Spieth chipped in for birdie on No. 3 and Day matched it with a 5-foot birdie. The play was spectacular.

The 27-year-old Australian was as sharp as he has been all year.

He is 89-under par dating to the British Open. Day is playing so well that he said every round feels like practice.

“No matter what you do, even if you hit a bad shot, it’s going to be all right,” Day said. “That’s kind of the way it feels. It’s hard to explain because I’m just out there and I’m not really paying attention to the score and I’m hitting it down the middle and hitting it on the greens and holing putts.”

It was the best show of the PGA Tour’s postseason, even for a Thursday that was interrupted by a dark and stormy sky north of Chicago. The group of Day, Spieth and Rickie Fowler – Nos. 1-2-3 in the FedEx Cup – attracted an enormous gallery and the players delivered one great shot after another.

Fowler, coming off his third win of the year at the TPC Boston two weeks ago, must have felt like a third-wheel at the end, though he produced four straight birdies on his front nine. When they made the turn, the hits kept coming.

Day’s shot from 79 yards in a fairway bunker on No. 1 landed beyond the hole and spun back a few feet for eagle to get him to 6 under. On the par-3 second, Spieth’s tee shot just covered the bunker, hopped once in the first cut and rolled into the cup for an ace, the second of his PGA Tour career. Day holed a 20-foot birdie putt.

Both made birdie on No. 3, Spieth with his long chip-in and Day with a wedge to 5 feet. Spieth found his groove with a shot into 4 feet on No. 3 for another birdie.

Day’s power was evident on his final few holes.

He tried to drive the green on the 352-yard 17th hole and landed in the collar, 60 feet away. He nearly holed the chip for eagle. On the 600-yard eighth hole into a strengthening wind, he hit his drive 305 yards and then powered a 3-wood high and into the wind. It landed just short of the green, 30 feet from the hole, and he nearly chipped that one in for eagle.

Day gets one more try for an eagle when he gets back Friday morning, a 44-yard pitch for a shot at 59 to tie the course record Jim Furyk set two years ago.

The way things are going, it’s hard to rule him out.

David Hearn was 3-over-par when play was suspended.

DIVOTS: Rory McIlroy, back to No. 1 in the world, was at 3 under through 12 holes. … Jim Furyk withdrew after six holes with a wrist injury, leaving it doubtful he can play in the Tour Championship next week, and possibly the Presidents Cup depending on the severity of it.

DAVIDSON, N.C. – Brett Stegmaier played his first 10 holes in 8 under and shot a 9-under 63 on Thursday to take the first-round lead in the Web.com Tour Finals’ Small Business Connection Championship.

Stegmaier eagled the par-5 18th – hitting a 3-wood to 2 feet – for a 7-under 27 on his first nine and added birdies on Nos. 1 and 18 at River Run.

“I was thinking about a 59 after the 18th hole,” the 32-year-old former University of Florida player said. “I don’t look at leaderboards, but I always know where I am. Maybe I got a little tight and that’s understandable I think. I played the same way I would have played if I was 2 over.”

Stegmaier made a 50-foot birdie putt on his first hole, and holed a 20-footer on the next. He chipped in from 30 feet for birdie on No. 14, made a 20-footer at 15 and a 35-footer at 17.

The four-event series features the top 75 players from the Web.com Tour money list, Nos. 126-200 in the PGA Tour’s FedEx Cup standings and non-members of the tour who earned enough money to have placed in the top 200 had they been eligible to receive points. The top 25 players on Web.com regular-season money list earned PGA Tour cards. They are competing against each other for tour priority, with regular-season earnings counting. The other players are fighting for another 25 cards based on earnings in the series.

In position to have to return to Q-school, Stegmaier finished seventh in the regular-season finale in Oregon to jump to 69th on the Web.com Tour’s money list. He earned $31,000 last week with an eighth-place finish in the series opener in Fort Wayne, Indiana.

“I felt relaxed in Portland. It was going to be OK if I played badly. I accepted having to go back (to Q-school),” Stegmaier said. “Then, I had a really good practice and found something with my setup and it’s carried over. … Playing well in Portland gave me a lot of confidence, especially playing well when I really, really needed it.”

Zack Fisher was second after a 65. He was 48th on the Web.com Tour money list.

Ryan Spears, Argentina’s Emiliano Grillo, Australia’s Rhein Gibson and China’s Hao Tong Li were tied for third at 66. Li was 49th on the Web.com Tour money list, Gibson 33rd, and Spears 38th. Grillo would have been in the top 200 in the FedEx Cup standings if he had tour membership.

Sweden’s Henrik Norlander, the Fort Wayne winner to earn a PGA Tour card, opened with a 73.

Canadian Brad Fritsch opened with a round of 1-under 71 and sits T56. He is one shot ahead of fellow countryman Roger Sloan who is T71.

Any doubt about the credibility of the World Junior Girls Golf Championship is immediately erased when you realize just how many of the top NCAA women’s golf coaches are in attendance.

“I was shocked when I saw how many were accredited when we had the first championship last September,” says Jim Clark, who was the tournament director for the inaugural event at Angus Glen in Markham, Ont. “I imagine there might be twice as many this year.”

Ann Carroll, head coach for Team Canada’s national girls’ development squad, will be Team Canada’s head coach when the second annual championship is staged at The Marshes Golf Club in Ottawa from Sept. 20 to 25. “It is really one-stop shopping for the college coaches,” she says, “because, in reality, the world of golf is coming here.”

Even with relatively short advance notice, the first World Junior Girls Golf Championship was a success. The joint initiative of Golf Canada and the Golf Association of Ontario could be viewed as a dry run for the 2015 Pan Am Games golf event, but it also showcased some of the best young female golfers in the world.

As the host country, Canada is entitled to have two teams in the event. In 2014, Team Canada One finished third behind the U.S. and Sweden, thanks to Brooke Henderson, Grace St-Germain and Naomi Ko.

Although Henderson has gone on to become a rising star on the LPGA and Ko is a freshman at North Carolina State, St-Germain of Orleans, Ont., will be back. At 17, she is the oldest member of Team Canada. She will partner with Hannah Lee of Surrey, B.C., and Tiffany Kong of Vancouver to form Team Canada One.

At 13, Euna Han of Coquitlam, B.C., is the youngest Canadian. Other Team Canada Two members are Alisha Lau and Kathrine Chan, both of Richmond, B.C.

“These six athletes have demonstrated some fantastic results throughout the season,” said Jeff Thompson, Golf Canada’s Chief Sport Officer. “The performances of Canada’s junior female athletes as a whole have been very strong this year, which made this selection process far from simple. That difficulty speaks to the wealth of golfing talent that Canada possesses. We look forward to seeing this group learn and grow in international competition.”

But to identify the World Junior Girls Golf Championship as just a tournament, albeit an important one, is to devalue the concept.

It truly is a celebration of girls’ golf from many perspectives.

A coaching summit is set to take place on Sunday, Sept. 20, at The Marshes. During the competitors’ practice rounds, PGA of Canada coaches will be paired with international coaches to exchange ideas and share in coaching methodology. Following the practice rounds, the PGA of Canada coaches will gather with Team Canada Women’s Head Coach Tristan Mullally and PGA of Canada Technical Director Glenn Cundari in a round-table discussion.

A junior girls’ skills development clinic will be conducted with PGA of Canada coaches introducing and developing golf-specific skills with junior golfers invited from the community. The junior-amateur fundraiser will see World Junior Girls Golf Championship competitors play with local golfing enthusiasts to raise funds towards the development of golf in Ontario.

“Our hope is that this event will help the development and growth of girls’ golf,” says Tournament Director Mary Beth McKenna, who is the Manager of Rules and Competitions for Golf Canada. “We want it to provide inspiration for the next generation of players.”

But continuing to develop that inspiration will take more than bright ideas and enthusiasm.

For years, a similar event has been conducted for boys in Japan. With title sponsorship by Toyota supported by other corporate donors, it continues to be a success.

It would be gratifying to see corporations provide the same sponsorship support for future World Junior Girls Golf Championships.

For more on the World Junior Girls Golf Championship, visit www.worldjuniorgirls.com.

Going into the Solheim Cup, both teams seem to be fighting for the status of underdog.

The Europeans and Americans have both been trying to dampen expectations before the tournament gets underway Friday.

It’s the biggest prize in women’s team golf and the U.S. can point out that Europe is playing at home and going for three in a row, having captured back-to-back titles for the first time in 2013.

But Europe team captain Carin Koch insists the past will have no bearing at all on this weekend’s competition at the St. Leon-Rot Golf Club near Heidelberg in Germany, and she pointed to the strength of the American team based on the rankings.

“They’re so much higher-ranked than we are,” Koch said. “This is Solheim Cup 2015 and we start from scratch.”

Veteran Scottish player Catriona Matthew agreed.

“World ranking-wise their average would certainly be a lot higher than ours. They’re going to go in here as favorites,” said the 46-year-old Matthew, who will be making her eighth Solheim Cup appearance.

Ten of the American players are in the top 40, while Europe have three, but Angela Stanford believes the Europeans’ point is moot.

“People say, `on paper.’ Well, paper doesn’t play,” the 35th-ranked Stanford said. “When you get out on the course it’s golf and it’s match play, and absolutely anything can happen. And you can’t put on paper somebody’s heart. It’s hard to say (whether) there’s a favorite or not.”

Both teams feature a mixture of youth and experience. Alison Lee, who played her way onto the U.S. team as an LPGA rookie this season, is the only newcomer on either team.

“I’ve played more golf this year than I’ve ever played in my life,” the 20-year-old Lee said.

U.S. captain Juli Inkster picked Brittany Lang and Paula Creamer to join automatically qualified Lee, Stanford, Stacy Lewis, Lexi Thompson, Cristie Kerr, Michelle Wie, Brittany Lincicome, Morgan Pressel, Gerina Piller, and Lizette Salas.

“This team is really connected,” said Inkster, a seven-time major winner. “They’re older. They kind of get what this is about. It’s not about them. It’s about . this is a lifetime experience in one week. And I want them to have a good feeling about this week.”

Lincicome, Kerr, Thompson, Pettersen and Nordqvist all have LPGA Tour victories this season.

Wie, who is 6-5-1 in three previous appearances at Solheim, has overcome a frustrating season hampered by injuries, but she appears to have put the problems behind her. She tied for 16th last week in France at the Evian Championship, her best finish since returning from a left ankle injury. For a time, it wasn’t looking good.

“There are some conversations when I talked to Juli, honestly I told her I don’t know if I could play or not. But the past month, it really has been night and day. I played last week with no pain, knock on wood. And this week, too,” Wie said on Wednesday. “I feel great. I feel really good this week. I’m excited to be here. I’m just ecstatic to be here.”

Koch brought Caroline Hedwall of Sweden, Karine Icher of France, Caroline Masson of Germany and Matthew back to the European team with her four picks. They all played in Colorado in 2013, when Hedwall became the first player to win five out of five matches. She retained the cup for Europe by winning the 14th point.

“For the last year I’ve been hitting the ball really well but I just haven’t putted that well. It kind of was the same situation when I came into the Solheim in 2013 – I didn’t make many putts and all of sudden it works. I’m kind of hoping for some magic this week, too,” said the 26-year-old Swede. Hedwall was also on the winning team in 2011.

The rest of the European team is made of Suzann Pettersen of Norway, Charley Hull and Melissa Reid of England, and Gwladys Nocera of France, who qualified from the Ladies European Tour points list, as well as Anna Nordqvist of Sweden, Azahara Munoz of Spain, Sandra Gal of Germany and Carlota Ciganda of Spain, who earned their spots through their world rankings.

The U.S. leads the series 8-5 overall. The 2017 matches will be played at Des Moines Golf and Country Club in Iowa.

MONZA, Italy – Nicolas Colsaerts matched the European Tour record of eight birdies in a row Thursday on his way to an opening-round 9-under 63 to take the clubhouse lead at the Italian Open.

The Belgian made a solid start on the back nine, parring his first four holes before five consecutive birdies from the 14th to the 18th saw him make the turn in 31.

Colsaerts, who is ranked 218th, also birdied the next three but then narrowly missed from 20 feet on the fourth. The European Tour said Colsaerts was the 11th player to make eight straight birdies but that he won’t officially be given a share of the record as the tournament was using preferred lies.

“It all felt pretty easy to be fair,” Colsaerts said. “We all know what it’s like when you get on fire and you keep going. I didn’t know how many it was, they were just coming. I stopped (counting) at six and it kept going for a while which was good. … I was waiting for a round like this where everything clicks together.”

The 32-year-old Colsaerts, who is seeking his first win since the World Match Play Championship in 2012, had a two-shot lead over former champion Francesco Molinari and India’s Shiv Kapur.

Kristoffer Broberg was also on 65 after a late surge. The Swede was two under through 13 holes after two bogeys and four birdies but birdied the final five holes to move joint second.

Molinari’s last win also came in 2012, in the Spanish Open. He became the first home winner of the Italian Open since 1980 – as well as the youngest winner of the tournament – when he won in 2006.

“I have prepared well the last few weeks to get here in good form and it showed today,” the 32-year-old Molinari said. “It always gives me that extra motivation to play in front of my home crowd. I wish I could do it more often than once a year.”

LAKE FOREST, Ill. – This is one of those weeks where Jordan Spieth felt confident enough to make a guarantee.

He wasn’t talking golf. He was talking hotels.

“When they ask what day I’m checking out I can say, `I’m checking out on Sunday.’ It’s nice,” Spieth said.

He was joking. Maybe.

Spieth missed the cut in the opening two FedEx Cup playoff events, the first time in his career he has gone home early in back-to-back events. He managed to go back to No. 1 in the world for one week before returning the ranking to Rory McIlroy during an off week. The slow start in the PGA Tour postseason did cost him No. 1 in the FedEx Cup, though he still has a clear shot at the $10 million bonus next week in Atlanta.

The BMW Championship starts Thursday with a 70-man field and no cut at all. So the 22-year-old has that going for him.

The third FedEx Cup playoff event is the final stop before the top 30 advance to the Tour Championship next week at East Lake. It’s important to get into the top five because those players only have to win the Tour Championship to claim golf’s biggest payoff. The top three – Jason Day, Spieth and Rickie Fowler – are assured of that.

Most of the drama figures to be at the bottom.

This is how the final stop before Atlanta is shaping up:

THE TOP: Henrik Stenson has moved from No. 41 to No. 4 in two weeks without winning. He was runner-up to Day at The Barclays and runner-up to Fowler at the Deutsche Bank Championship. Another runner-up finish at Conway Farms could move him all the way up to No. 2.

Winners of FedEx Cup playoff events usually only have to win to assure going into the top five. But there has been so much dominance this year – Day, Spieth and Fowler have combined for 10 wins on the PGA Tour – that down to No. 29 has a mathematical chance to get into the top five. That spot belongs to Russell Knox, who says his best club right now is the putter.

THE BUBBLE: Louis Oosthuizen is holding down the 30th spot, and he’ll have to play decent to keep it.

The trouble might be right above him. There’s a history in the BMW Championship of players just inside the top 30 having a poor week and falling out. Bill Haas is at No. 27, and he knows the sting of narrowly missing out. Haas finished at No. 31 in 2010 and at No. 32 in 2012.

Harris English is No. 32 and has bad memories of this event. He wound up No. 32 a year ago and No. 31 the year before that.

The last time the BMW was at Conway Farms, Matt Jones missed a 7-foot putt on the last hole that cost him a trip to East Lake.

THE BOTTOM: George McNeill is at No. 70 and needs a great week to advance.

The focus is on Hunter Mahan at No. 52, mainly because he has never missed a playoff event since the FedEx Cup began in 2007. He tied for fourth in Boston to advance, but needs another big week to keep his streak alive.

Jerry Kelly had to make a 3-foot birdie putt on his final hole in Boston just to get to Chicago. His clock is ticking.

THE LATE ARRIVAL: Sergio Garcia would like to get to the Tour Championship, though the Spaniard is not losing sleep over it. Otherwise, he would have played much sooner than the BMW Championship. Garcia sat out The Barclays and the Deutsche Bank Championship, and his standing dropped from No. 31 to No. 54.

He still earned as many points as Spieth (no points for two missed cuts), although Spieth could afford it.

MICKELSON: Phil Mickelson was planning to shut it down for the year until he was picked for the U.S. team at the Presidents Cup. He is No. 61 and will be done for the year unless he finishes around third. But his enthusiasm for the game suddenly picked up.

“This is the most excited I’ve been this late in the year because I’m looking forward to being on the team,” Mickelson said. “It’s meant a lot to me to be a part of that team, and I want to play well and I want to get some momentum.”

LAKE FOREST, Ill. – The best remaining players on the PGA Tour are north of Chicago for the third straight tournament that features an $8.25 million purse and a chance to claim the $10 million bonus for winning the FedEx Cup.

The rest are in North Carolina for the second event in the Web.com Tour Finals, which offers a $1 million purse and a chance to keep their jobs.

Sean O’Hair knows both worlds.

Less than a year ago, O’Hair finished another fruitless season and was relegated to trying to earn his full card back at the Web.com Tour Finals. He missed two straight cuts, and then came through in the third event with a tie for third that effectively locked up his job status.

And now he’s at the BMW Championship with Rory McIlroy, Jordan Spieth, Jason Day and the rest of golf’s biggest stars. O’Hair is No. 38 in the FedEx Cup, on the cusp of moving into the top 30 and advancing to the Tour Championship, which would get him into the majors next year and give him a mathematical chance at golf’s biggest payoff.

“This is not pressure,” O’Hair said Wednesday. “Pressure is trying to keep your job. This is opportunity.”

Pressure was what he endured a year ago after finishing 160th in the FedEx Cup and being relegated to the Web.com Tour Finals, his world ranking at No. 513 and his doubts about his future starting to fill his head.

It was his second straight year at the tour’s new version of Q-school. It wasn’t much fun.

“I had to ask myself, `Do I still want to do this?’ And then I had to ask myself, `Do I still have the drive to do what it takes?’ And I was able to answer both those questions,” O’Hair. “I had to remind myself that I wasn’t a Web.com player.”

The secret was to keep his game simple.

O’Hair realized that for too long, he was relying on too many people who offered advice and instruction on his game. He began leaning more on them than his own instincts, which ran against how he reached this stage in the first place.

He works with a club pro in Philadelphia, though more as a second set of eyes. O’Hair puts in the work on his own.

Wednesday was no different. He stuck to a strict schedule nearly three hours before his tee time in the pro-am at Conway Farms – a putting drill for 30 minutes, a visit to the physical therapist for stretching, range time and the pro-am. The time was filled more with concentration than chatter.

That’s the work ethic that made this year such a strong recovery.

It started in March when O’Hair made four birdies over the last six holes and saved par on the final hole for a 67 to get into a three-way playoff with Spieth and Patrick Reed in the Valspar Championship. He had a 12-foot putt to win on the second extra hole to win only for the ball to spin hard out of the lip, and then Spieth won it on the next hole with a 35-foot birdie putt.

Still, it was a boost that brought some stability to O’Hair’s game. He had another chance at the Greenbrier Classic, and he started the final round of the Deutsche Bank Championship on Labor Day two shots out of the lead and tied for fourth.

One more week like that and he’ll be at East Lake.

But that’s the goal of so many others this week at Conway Farms. Day, Spieth and Boston winner Rickie Fowler are virtually certain to be in the top five in the FedEx Cup going to Atlanta, meaning they only have to win the Tour Championship to claim the $10 million prize.

Henrik Stenson is at No. 4 after runner-up finishes in the opening two playoff events. Hunter Mahan is at No. 52 and is trying to keep alive his streak of never missing a playoff event since the FedEx Cup began in 2007. Harris English is No. 32. He missed the Tour Championship by one spot in 2013 and by two spots a year ago.

So there’s a lot at stake in an event that has no cut. It just doesn’t feel that way to O’Hair, who has turned one corner by getting into the FedEx Cup playoffs, which sure beats where he was at this time a year ago.

DIVOTS: BMW has become an official partner of USA Golf Federation for golf’s return to the Olympics next year in Rio. … The top three in the FedEx Cup will be grouped together – Day, Spieth and Fowler. They have combined for 11 wins worldwide and three majors this year, and Day (27) is the oldest in the group. … Sergio Garcia is playing in the FedEx Cup playoffs for the first time after sitting out the last two events. He fell from No. 31 to No. 54.

Although Team Canada’s Tristan Mullally can recite every line of Caddyshack, his busy days on the course are very far from Journey songs and chasing gophers.

Rather, he relates more to giving the game everything you have, and in turn it will give it back to you—a philosophy he passes on to the women of Team Canada’s National Squad.

Mullally, a native of Straffan, County Kildare, took over the reigns as Team Canada Women’s Head Coach in 2011. Since that time, the PGA of Canada Class ‘A’ member has imparted his work ethic to five different National Squads (with a sixth to be announced in late September).

Among the athletes, Mullally has shared many successes that helped pave the way for Canada’s next generation of elite golfers. Most notably, Mullally is recognized for helping Canadian teen sensation Brooke Henderson of Smiths Falls, Ont., in her journey to the LPGA—something he doesn’t take lightly.

“Brooke is a special player; we knew that ever since she joined our program in 2011. It’s been a privilege to coach her, along with all the other girls on our National Squads, who have racked up many impressive results of their own.”

In the 2014/15 season alone, Team Canada notched two victories on the Symetra Tour from Young Pro Squad member Sue Kim of Langley, B.C., and National Squad graduate Augusta James of Bath, Ont. Rebecca Lee-Bentham of Richmond Hill, Ont.—also on the Young Pro Squad—followed suit with her first professional win on the Canadian Women’s Tour in June.

Mullally’s role expanded to accommodate the newly introduced Young Pro Squad—which includes Henderson in addition to Kim and Lee-Bentham.

“The program extends the support of the National Team staff to our elite young amateurs as they make the difficult transition to the professional ranks,” said the 2014 Petro Canada Coaching Excellence Award winner. “Sure, my schedule got busier, but I am behind the initiative one-hundred percent—it is a big part of the goal of placing our athletes amongst the world’s best.”

On top of Team Canada’s professional success, Mullally’s strategy continues to focus on developing the National Amateur Squad—which also garnered impressive results this year, including wins at the Ontario and Alberta Amateur Championships, as well as on the Cactus Tour.

As anticipated, both Brittany Marchand of Orangeville, Ont., and Jennifer Ha of Calgary turned professional in late August—following the upward trend outlined for Team Canada’s athletes. It also signifies a transition period for the team, with the selection process underway for 2016/17.

“It’s always an exciting time of year for the coaches, as we get to reflect on the success of the athletes and look forward to welcoming new players, new personalities and new challenges into our program,” said Mullally.

Details on next year’s Team Canada are expected to be announced in early October. Selection criteria can be viewed here.

LONDON, Ont.—Highland Country Club isn’t your obvious venue to contest a modern championship among a group of golf’s rising stars.

Hidden off one of the main roads in the heart of London, Highland is an old school country club that this week plays host to the Mackenzie Tour/PGA Tour Canada’s Freedom 55 Financial Championship, which will see the tour’s top 59 golfers compete for a spot on the Web.com Tour. The tour’s best players—JJ Spaun, Cheng Tsung Pan,  and the likes of Canadian bomber Taylor Pendrith and breakthrough rookie Adam Svensson—will battle it out on a golf course that is nearing its century mark.

Vancouver’s Ryan Williams knows the level of competition on the Mackenzie Tour well. He’s been competing on the tour for eight years, and last year won the Freedom 55 Championship when the tournament was at Sunningdale, a private club that hosted the tournament the first two years it was in London.

“The tour is so much better and deeper than when I first started,” Williams says. “No one is scared of anyone else and everyone is trying to kick everyone else’s ass.”

One of the keys is the fact there’s no cut at the Mackenzie Tour finale. On one hand Williams says that removes some of the pressure, but it also pushes players to make as many birdies as they can.

“When you come into the tour championship and you know there’s no cut, you just get up and go for it,” he says.

Ian Andrew, a golf architect from Brantford, Ont., knows the course this week’s tournament will be contested on exceptionally well. He renovated the course, and continues to consult to the club, making slight changes to some tees and rebuilding the par 3 sixth hole. An acknowledged expert in the work of Stanley Thompson, Andrew says Highland may not have the length many expect from a modern design, but compensates for it with some devilish holes and tricky greens.

“I do think it is a place where a lot of players aren’t just going to hit driver off the tee all day,” Andrew says. “It is going to be won or lost on the par 3s, especially holes like the second, the 12^th and the 15^th.”

The course was designed by two of Canada’s most famous golfers—the Thompson brothers, Nicol, who was the longtime pro at Hamilton Golf and Country Club, and Stanley, Canada’s most noted golf designer. In the early 1920s the brothers, along with Toronto Golf Club professional George Cumming, operated a design firm, which is how they became involved with Highland.

The course’s nines will be flipped for the Mackenzie Tour’s final event of the year so the championship ends on a relatively unconventional hole, the current short ninth. Playing at just over 300 yards, the hole has a small raised green that pitches steeply from the back to the front. Players will surely challenge it, but those missing it with a driver are going to struggle if approaching from anywhere but the fairway.

Andrew thinks it will be Highland’s final holes—which will end the front nine in the touring being used for the tournament—that will prove the biggest challenge for anyone hoping to post a low score. The current 15^th hole is a par three measuring over 230 yards that plays to a tricky green with a steep slope on the right that falls away to rough below. It is followed by the 16^th hole, a unique roller coaster par four where trouble looms throughout. The hole’s fairway shifts to the right and runs down a hill, leading to a steep slope with the green perched at the far end of a valley.

“It is an all-world hole, maybe the best out there,” Andrew says. “You have a couple of ways of playing it—you can attack it and try to get down into the valley, but that has a lot of trouble. Or you can lay back and go at the green with a long iron. That takes the trouble out of play.”

For Williams, he believes the Mackenzie Tour is still under-recognized, despite the fact alumni Nick Taylor went from playing on the tour to winning on the PGA Tour in just over a year. Spectators coming out to London could well be following a star on the verge of a breakthrough. The likes of Stuart Appleby, Steve Stricker, Mike Weir, and more recently players like Tony Finau, have all emerged from the Mackenzie Tour (or its previous incarnations like the Canadian Tour.) But in Williams estimation, the level of competition continues to improve.

“There are so many great players out here, so many great Canadians in the group, that it is just really difficult,” Williams says. “Everyone is playing better, hitting it farther. Maybe people forget all the players that got their start out here.”

Come Sunday, five players will punch their ticket to the Web.com Tour and the next step in their careers. Williams hopes to be among them.

Dates: September 14-20

Course: Highland Country Club (London, Ont.)

Par/Yards: 34-36—70/6,754 yards

Field: 59 (Top 60 on the Order of Merit eligible)

2014 champion: Ryan Williams

Purse: $200,000/$36,000 (winner)

Format: 72-hole stroke play

Website: freedom55financialchampionship.com

Hashtag: #F55FChamp

The Thames Valley Children’s Centre (TVCC) is the official charitable beneficiary of the Freedom 55 Financial Championship. Fifty-five per cent of ticket proceeds will go towards the wide range of services provided to more than 8000 children, youth and their families through the organization’s London Centre and its 15 regional office locations across Southwestern Ontario. Clients range in age from birth to 19 with services supporting a range of special needs including physical disabilities, communication disorders, developmental delays and autism spectrum disorders.

Children aged 17-and-under get in free all week at the Freedom 55 Financial Championship. Free junior tickets are available for download here. Additional details, including ticket information, can be found at www.freedom55financialchampionship.com.