It’s official. Rory McIlroy and One Direction star Niall Horan have hit bromance status.

The two Irishmen played together on Thursday at The National Golf Club of Canada, one of Canada’s premier golf courses.

Great round of golf with @NiallOfficial today at The National Golf Club in Toronto. Thanks for having us guys, course is in great shape!

— Rory Mcilroy (@McIlroyRory) August 20, 2015

Horan caddied for McIlroy at this year’s Masters Par 3 contest and played with the world No. 2 golfer at this year’s BMW PGA Championship Pro-Am.

McIlroy finished in 17^th at last week’s PGA Championship after being sidelined due to injury since July 6. McIlroy, who was supplanted this week as the World No. 1 by Jordan Spieth, has captured two wins this season and is currently ranked ninth in the FedEx Cup standings heading into next week’s first FedEx Cup playoff event.

One Direction is in Toronto for their “On the Road Again Tour 2015” at the Rogers Centre on Thursday night.

AALBORG, Denmark – David Horsey shot an 8-under 63 to secure a one-shot lead after the first round of the Made in Denmark tournament on Thursday.

Starting on the 10th hole, the Englishman shot an eagle on the par-5 11th and five consecutive birdies on Nos. 13-17 to finish the back nine in 28. His one stumble was a bogey on the fifth.

Welshman Oliver Farr was one shot behind and Paul Laurie of Scotland third with a 6-under 65.

Denmark’s Soeren Kjeldsen, who celebrated reaching 500 European Tour appearances, led a field of seven players at 66.

17-year-old Smiths Falls, Ont., native Brooke Henderson dreamed of winning on the LPGA Tour for as long as she can remember. Last week at the Cambia Portland Classic, that dream became a reality, along with earning a coveted LPGA Tour card following her petition to overrule the under-18 membership stipulation.

With the win, all eyes were on Henderson—and rightfully so. The Young Pro Squad member was already a story to follow this season, and the win in Portland has her well on the way to becoming a Canadian household name.

On Tuesday morning, Henderson caught up with CTV’s morning television show, Canada AM, to talk about realizing her dreams in one special weekend. Watch the clip here.

A day earlier on Canada AM, Golf Canada’s Chief Sport Officer, Jeff Thompson, shared some insight into Brooke’s journey with Team Canada and her dedication to becoming one of the world’s elite golfers. Click here to watch the interview.

ST. ANDREWS, SCOTLAND and FAR HILLS, N.J. – Ireland’s Leona Maguire has won the Mark H. McCormack Medal as the leading women’s player in the 2015 World Amateur Golf RankingTM.

Maguire has enjoyed an outstanding season, which she came close to rounding off with a victory in a professional event on the Ladies European Tour when she finished one shot behind the winner, Beth Allen, at last month’s ISPS Handa Ladies European Masters at the Buckinghamshire Golf Club.

The 20-year-old, who attends Duke University in Durham, N.C., has won three events this season: the Darius Rucker Intercollegiate, the ACC Championship and the NCAA South Bend Regional. In May, she received the 2015 ANNIKA Award as the best golfer in American women’s college golf.

Maguire was the leading qualifier after the stroke play stage of the Ladies British Open Amateur Championship at Portstewart Golf Club in Northern Ireland, where she reached the last 16. In June, she was part of the Great Britain and Ireland team which lost to their continental European counterparts in the Vagliano Trophy at Malone Golf Club and was undefeated, securing 3 ½ points out of 4.

The R&A and United States Golf Association (USGA) award recognizes Maguire’s outstanding performances this year and is named after Mark H. McCormack, who founded sports marketing company IMG and was a great supporter of amateur golf.

“It’s a huge honor to win the Mark H. McCormack Medal,” said Maguire. “To be able to call myself the best female amateur in the world is a nice feeling. In the last few years a lot of big names have won it and they have gone on to do great things in the game. It caps a fantastic year for me and it is rewarding after all the hard work I have put in and my family as well.”

Johnnie Cole-Hamilton, Executive Director – Championships at The R&A, said, “I would like to congratulate Leona on her performances in what has been a tremendous season. To secure three victories in such a competitive environment as collegiate golf is a great achievement but to go on and come so close to winning a professional event is remarkable. Leona is a hugely talented golfer and an extremely worthy winner of the McCormack Medal.”

John Bodenhamer, USGA Senior Managing Director, Rules, Competitions & Amateur Status, said, “On behalf of the USGA, it gives me great pleasure to extend our congratulations to Leona for winning the McCormack Medal. Her outstanding play throughout the season in NCAA competition, as well in both the amateur and professional ranks, makes her a very deserving recipient. We look forward to following Leona in the future.”

The World Amateur Golf RankingTM, which is supported by Rolex, was established in 2007 when the men’s ranking was launched. The men’s ranking encompasses more than 2,300 counting events, ranking more than 6,000 players from 96 countries worldwide. The women’s ranking was launched in 2011 and has a calendar of more than 1,370 counting events with over 2,940 ranked players from 71 countries worldwide.

Coquitlam, B.C. (Golf Canada) – So Yeon Ryu will look to defend her crown at the Canadian Pacific Women’s Open this week at The Vancouver Golf Club.

“It always feels special coming back as a defending champion,” Ryu said. “Canadian fans are always really friendly and humble. So I really enjoyed being here. Especially this is really close to Koreatown, so I feel even more comfortable.”

While Ryu is the defending champion her 2014 title was captured at London Hunt and Country Club in London, Ont. Her last time in Vancouver, when the event was here in 2012, she missed the cut.

“Actually, three years ago I didn’t really play well at this golf course,” Ryu admitted. “This golf course feels very different the front nine and back nine. The front nine is very hilly, the greens severe. I do like the back nine more than the front nine. But I think the key point is I would say iron shots because we need to put in like safest positions so like there is no three-putt. So, I would say iron accuracy and of course putting is always every week 365 days that’s key.”

Ryu is more confident in her game and situation this time around and will be looking to capture her first win of the 2015 season after tallying seven top-10 finishes.

“Actually, three years ago I had a lot of problems with my swing,” Ryu explained. “Also it was my rookie year, and I was kind of homesick about at this time because it was about halfway through the season. Right now it feels like home and I’m in the LPGA. I don’t have any home sickness anymore. So for sure I can be playing better than I did last year or three years ago.”

Challenging Ryu will be a top notch field which includes the winner from the last time the Tour was in Vancouver – Rolex Rankings No. 2 Lydia Ko, who won as a 15-year-old amateur, and the runner-up at this event that year Rolex Rankings No. 1 Inbee Park, who is coming off a victory at the RICOH Women’s British Open to complete the career grand slam.

“Definitely feels great to come back to a course where you’ve played well, and you know there are a lot of great memories,” Ko said. “Here I won my first LPGA event. So it’s awesome to be back, but I do feel much older. I saw one of the photos and I looked totally different. So I’m showing signs of age.”

Alena Sharp is one of 14 Canadians competing in our national championship this week at the Canadian Pacific Women’s Open.

“It’s always a great week to come back to Canada no matter where we are,” Sharp said. “I feel very welcomed. I’m from Ontario, but when we play in B.C. or Alberta or Quebec, I still feel like I’m at home, so it’s nice.”

Sharp was on the green last Sunday to celebrate with fellow Canadian Brooke Henderson after winning the Cambia Portland Classic to become the first Canuck to win on the LPGA Tour since Lorie Kane in 2001.

“I’d love to see more Canadians out on Tour,” Sharp admitted. “It’s nice to see the Canadian flags up anywhere you look. And even this year the men have been playing well too. So it’s nice that Canada is getting back on the map of golf.”

This week Sharp, who is coming off her best finish of the season with a T10 in Portland, will be looking to make it back-to-back wins for Canadians.

“I’d be speechless,” Sharp said. “It would be amazing to do that. It’s only Wednesday. I’ll just take it one day at a time, and I’d love to be on those last nine holes and have a chance to win.”

Opening-round action gets underway at 7:04 am PT.

OLYMPIA FIELDS, Ill. – Bath, Ont., native Austin James has emerged as the lone remaining Canadian in the field at the U.S. Amateur after winning his round of 64 match on Wednesday.

James, a junior at Charleston Southern University, jumped out to an early two-hole lead, keeping up the pressure for a steady 4 and 3 victory over Miller Capps of Denver, N.C.

The 19^th seeded James is set to face-off against No. 51 seed Denny McCarthy of Rockville, Md., who currently sits as the No. 10 ranked amateur on the World Amateur Golf Rankings (WAGR). The match is scheduled to begin Thursday morning at 9:10 a.m. CDT.

Canada’s Pan-American Games duo of Austin Connelly and Garrett Rank both ran out of steam in their matches at the Olympia Fields Country Club.

Connelly, a dual-citizen, was involved in a thrilling back-and-forth affair with Maverick McNealy of Portola Valley, Calif. The National Amateur Squad member found himself quickly down four through seven holes. He erased the deficit not long after, squaring the match with a birdie on the par-4 11^th. He held the lead shortly on the 14^th hole before carding back-to-back bogeys, leaving McNealy with the 1-hole victory.

Despite holding a 2-hole advantage through five holes, Elmira, Ont., native Garrett Rank could not hold off Sepp Straka of Valdosta, Ga., who took advantage of three consecutive bogeys by Rank on the back-nine for the 3 and 2 victory.

The championship will run six rounds of match-play, concluding with a 36-hole final on Sunday.

Olympia Fields Country Club, a two-time U.S. Open venue, will host its first U.S. Amateur with stroke-play being conducted on the 7,037-yard South Course and match-play on the 7,234-yard North Course.

In 2014, Canadian Corey Conners of Listowel, Ont., fell in the final 36-hole match to South Korea’s Gunn Yang, 2 and 1. Both finalists are usually invited to compete in the Masters tournament the following April, alongside exemptions into next year’s U.S. and British Opens.

Click here for live scoring.

GREENSBORO, N.C. – It’s now or never for many players at the Wyndham Championship – the last chance to qualify for golf’s postseason.

That group includes Tiger Woods.

The biggest name in the sport is playing the final event of the PGA Tour’s regular season for the first time, in an effort to get his game back on track and make a last-gasp push for the playoffs.

“I’ve started to build. I just need to get more consistent with everything, and start stringing together not just holes, not just rounds but tournaments,” Woods said Wednesday. “That’s why this tournament’s important to me. Hopefully I can win it, get into the playoffs and play a bunch of golf.”

Woods, who missed the cut at the PGA Championship last week, beat last Friday’s deadline to enter the Wyndham but didn’t finalize his commitment until Monday.

He said he had “a blast” playing a pro-am round Wednesday with NBA All-Star Chris Paul – a native of nearby Winston-Salem who starred at Wake Forest.

And now he wants to stick around for a while.

In 10 previous events this year, Woods has missed the cut in four of them and withdrew from another.

He’s had three rounds in the 80s, his best finish was a tie for 17th at the Masters and his best week came at The Greenbrier Classic where he finished just six shots out of the lead.

He’s eager to test his game on the Donald Ross-designed course at Sedgefield Country Club that puts a premium on strong iron play and features fast, undulating Bermuda grass greens that Woods is trying to quickly figure out.

During a soggy pro-am, though, the course played a bit differently with more, well, woods.

“It’s going to be a lot of irons off the tee, but it wasn’t the case because it’s so wet,” Woods said. “Balls are plugging. Lot of mud balls out there.”

The Wyndham has relished its spot as the last chance for the four’s bubble players to force their way into the FedEx Cup playoffs, which begin next week at The Barclays in New Jersey.

Woods – who’s at No. 187 on the points list – is pretty far from the bubble. Only the top 125 players will make it to The Barclays, which means he probably needs a victory in his first visit here.

Recent history seems to be against him: Last year, only one player outside the top 125 – Sang-Moon Bae – earned enough points here to move into the playoffs. A 14th-place tie helped him jump from No. 126 to No. 120. The year before, nobody did it.

“If I don’t win this event,” Woods said, “I’ll have my offseason early.”

Also on the bubble: Luke Donald is 124th, followed by Charl Schwartzel, Scott Langley, Seung-Yul Noh, S.J. Park and last year’s winner, Camilo Villegas. The top 125 in the standings also will earn 2015-16 tour cards.

“There’s so much to play for,” said Webb Simpson, the 2011 winner who’s safely at No. 49 on the points list. “It’s definitely on guys’ minds, I think.”

This would rank as one of the best fields in the 76-year history of the tournament even if Woods hadn’t made his last-minute decision to play Sedgefield.

Adam Scott joins Woods as two of the six former world No. 1 ranked players in the field. Until Woods’ late entry, Scott was arguably the biggest attraction for the event.

He also was in a pro-am foursome that was immediately behind the one with Woods and Paul, and with so much of the gallery following them, Scott could go through his round in relative anonymity.

“There’s no doubt about things created by Tiger,” Scott said. “It happens everywhere he goes. You can tell how passionate the local people and everyone involved in the tournament here are about this tournament, and it means such a great deal to them to have Tiger Woods in the field. I think it’s fantastic.

“We’re in for a great week, no matter what,” he added.

OLYMPIA FIELDS, Ill. – Three Canadians got the official word Wednesday morning that they have advanced to match-play at the U.S. Amateur.

National Amateur Squad member Austin Connelly and 2014 Canadian Junior Boys Champion, Austin James of Bath, Ont., earned their way in as the low Canadians at even-par (T14) through two qualifying stroke-play rounds.

Connelly, a dual-citizen, is slated to take on Maverick McNealy of Portola Valley, Calif. on Wednesday afternoon while James matches up against Miller Caps of Denver, N.C.

Journeyman Garrett Rank of Elmira Ont., came in at 2-over par (68-74) to earn the 52^nd seed, he’ll square-off against 13^th-seeded Sepp Straka of Valdosta, Ga.

Nicholas Ross of Dundas, Ont., and Stuart Macdonald of Vancouver were unable to secure a spot in Wednesday morning’s 18-man playoff for one of 10 remaining spots inside the top-64.

Australian Brett Coletta captured medalist honours and the No. 1 seed after going 7-under (67-66) for the one-stroke advantage over David Oraee of Greeley, Colo.

The championship will run six rounds of match-play, concluding with a 36-hole final on Sunday.

Olympia Fields Country Club, a two-time U.S. Open venue, will host its first U.S. Amateur with stroke-play being conducted on the 7,037-yard South Course and match-play on the 7,234-yard North Course.

In 2014, Canadian Corey Conners of Listowel, Ont., fell in the final 36-hole match to South Korea’s Gunn Yang, 2 and 1. Both finalists are usually invited to compete in the Masters tournament the following April, alongside exemptions into next year’s U.S. and British Opens.

Click here for live scoring.

The Canadian Men’s Mid-Amateur Championship, Canada’s premiere competition for amateur golfers over 25, will make its way to Abercrombie Golf & Country Club from August 24-28.

“Golf Canada is looking forward to returning a national championship to Nova Scotia,” said Tournament Director Russell Mackay. “It is always a pleasure to bring competitions to golf fans across the entire country. The course is in great shape and will provide our competitors with an excellent challenge.”

The town of New Glasgow, N.S., in the heart of Pictou County is home to Abercrombie Golf & Country Club. Situated among the region’s picturesque woodlands, the course offers scenic backdrops across sprawling fairways and well-groomed greens. Throughout its 96 years, Abercrombie has accumulated a wealth of history and has hosted a number of championships at both the provincial and national levels.

In addition to claiming the President’s Cup as Canadian Mid-Amateur champion, competitors will vie for a prized exemption into the 2016 RBC Canadian Open to be held at Glen Abbey Golf Club in Oakville, Ont., from July 18-24.

A field of 152 golfers will take to Abercrombie, including defending champion Garrett Rank. The Elmira, Ont., native will continue a busy summer which has included representing Canada at the Toronto 2015 Pan Am Games and competing in his first RBC Canadian Open, as well as, a five-stroke victory at the Golf Association of Ontario’s (GAO) Investors Group Men’s Mid-Amateur Championship and a T2 finish at the 2015 Canadian Men’s Amateur Championship.

Rank, 27, is currently playing in the U.S. Amateur Championship being hosted by Olympia Fields Country Club in Olympia Fields, Ill.

Joining Rank in the field is a number of players who have seen success at the Canadian Mid-Amateur Championship. The competition’s most decorated winner, Graham Cooke, won the first edition of the event in 1987. The Hudson, Que., native followed the performance with six subsequent victories, including a string of three-in-a-row between 2000 and 2002.

Kevin Carrigan will look to become a three-time winner in this competition. The product of Victoria, B.C., registered back-to-back victories in 2012 and 2013. The 29-year-old’s final-round 7-under 65 at the 2015 Canadian Men’s Amateur Championship propelled him into a tie for sixth place.

Woodbridge, Ont., native Dave Bunker is hoping to add a fourth Canadian Mid-Amateur title to his resume after three consecutive victories from 2008-2010. The 50-year-old is coming off his second of back-to-back GAO Ontario Men’s Match Play Championship titles.

Introduced in 2006, the Mid-Master division will be contested by competitors over 40. Darren Shaw of Stoney Creek, Ont., will return to defend his title following his seven-stroke victory in 2014. First contested in 1992, an inter-provincial competition will be played concurrently with the opening two rounds of stroke play for the prestigious R. Bruce Forbes Trophy. Team British Columbia emerged victorious in 2014 with a combined total of 1-over 289 – four strokes clear of Team Alberta.

Following the first 36 holes of play, the field will be reduced to the low-70 competitors and ties. Additional information regarding the 2015 Canadian Men’s Mid-Amateur Championship can be found here.

Alena Sharp, Canada’s No. 2 ranked golfer on the Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings, conducted a Golf Fore the Cure presented by Subaru clinic on Tuesday at the Seymour Golf & Country Club in North Vancouver, just 20 kilometres from the Vancouver Golf Club—site of this year’s CP Women’s Open.

Sharp, one of three program ambassadors, was on hand to provide instruction to over 50 female members of Seymour Golf & Country Club. The Hamilton, Ont., native has backed Golf Fore the Cure presented by Subaru since 2011—supporting the program’s objective of increasing women’s participation in golf while raising money to fight breast cancer.

Golf Fore the Cure presented by Subaru was created in 2003 by Golf Canada – the National Sport Organization – to drive women’s participation in the game of golf with the use of fun, non-intimidating activities. Through a unique partnership structure with the Canadian Cancer Society (and Québec Breast Cancer Foundation), the program has women across the country participating in golf activities and raising money and awareness for a cause close to Canadian hearts – the fight against breast cancer.

With the help of volunteers across the country, the program has welcomed more than 100,000 women to the game of golf. These women have been able to raise over $5.1 million towards the fight against breast cancer.

Golf Canada’s Golf Fore the Cure program is proudly sponsored by presenting partner, Subaru. For more information on Golf Fore the Cure, visit golfforethecure.ca