Canada’s Austin James advances to U.S. Amateur quarter-finals
OLYMPIA FIELDS, Ill. – Canadian Austin James won his third consecutive match on Thursday to advance to the U.S. Amateur quarter-finals at the Olympia Fields Country Club.
The Bath, Ont., native started out the day squaring off against American Denny McCarthy in the morning’s round of 32. James came out of the gate hot, winning five of the first six holes to put the pressure on McCarthy, who currently holds the No. 10 rank on the World Amateur Golf Rankings (WAGR).
The Charleston Southern junior lost some momentum with a string of four consecutive bogeys, before bouncing back to close out McCarthy with a 3 and 2 victory.
James kept his foot on the gas in the afternoon’s round of 16 match against No. 3 seed Jake Knapp of Costa Mesa, Calif. They traded shots back-and-forth all match, with James holding a slight one-hole advantage at the turn.
The match was squared after a Knapp birdie on the par-4 11th before James took advantage of two bogeys to earn the 2-up victory.
James is gearing up to face No. 22 seed Sean Crocker of Westlake Village, Calif., who is coming off a 20-hole victory. The match will begin at 1:30 p.m. CDT.
The championship will run three more 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 full scoring.
Click here for round of 16 highlights.
Woods opens Wyndham with his best round in 2 years
GREENSBORO, N.C. – Tiger Woods kept saying his game was getting better, even though his results didn’t show it.
On his first day at the Wyndham Championship, his score finally did.
Woods had his best round in more than two years Thursday, shooting a 6-under 64.
Two-time heart transplant recipient Erik Compton, William McGirt and Tom Hoge shared the first-round lead at 62.
Morgan Hoffman, Jim Herman and Derek Ernst followed at 63, and Martin Kaymer, Davis Love III and Carl Pettersson joined Woods at 64.
It was Woods’ lowest score on the PGA Tour since a 61 in the second round of the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational in 2013.
He and the others took advantage of a low-scoring day at what he called a “tricky” Donald Ross-designed course at Sedgefield Country Club that gave up bunches of birdies after morning showers softened the fairways and greens.
“When it’s like this,” Woods said, “you’ve got to throw darts and go low.”
And while Compton and McGirt threatened the tournament record, the clear story of the day was Woods.
That low score couldn’t have come at a better time for the biggest name in the sport.
He set the tone by holing a 54-foot chip shot on his first hole, the par-4 10th, for the first of his seven birdies.
“Finally,” he said, “I got something out of my round.”
Woods arrived insisting he was playing better than his recent results might indicate.
He had missed the cut in three straight majors and had not finished better than a tie for 17th at the Masters. He’s at No. 187 on the FedEx Cup points list and probably needs a win to move into the top 125 and earn a playoff spot.
Yet he said after last week’s early exit from the PGA Championship that those results belied the improvement he was making in his game.
“I know it’s crazy to say, but I wasn’t playing that poorly at PGA,” Woods said. “Any borderline shot (at Whistling Straits) I never got away with it, and that’s the way it goes. I felt like I was hitting the ball good enough and just kept progressing, and today was just a continuation of it.”
Especially on that first hole.
His shot from the left side of the green landed about 8 feet from the cup and rolled in.
“I went for the shot, and instead of playing something more conservative, the greens were hard and fast, and I wanted to play something long,” Woods said. “I got aggressive with it, and I went for it, and I pulled it off. … I could see it going in.”
Hoge, playing in the day’s final grouping, made a late charge up the leaderboard, closing his round with a 5-foot birdie putt on the 18th.
Compton, who started on the back nine, finished with a 29 on the front nine with seven birdies in that span.
“Any time you can break 30 in nine holes, you’re obviously doing something really cool,” Compton said.
It’s the latest positive for a 35-year-old who earned his tour card in 2012 – four years after his second heart transplant.
He’s chasing his first victory, and so is McGirt, who finished in a tie for eighth here last year. At No. 86 on the points list, McGirt is in virtually no danger of missing the playoffs.
Compton – who’s closer to the cutoff at No. 114 – is just trying not to lose any ground.
Meanwhile, for the others closer to the postseason bubble, things are a little more stressful.
Ernst, who’s at No. 178 and is playing in the final tournament of the 2-year exemption he earned for his lone victory – at the Wells Fargo Championship in 2013 – shot the best round of his four-year career.
But perhaps nobody’s dealing with more than Billy Hurley III.
Hurley’s first round came two days after he attended the funeral of his father, who died last week of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
The 33-year-old Hurley is at No. 131 on the points list and is only here this week because he’s trying to secure his PGA Tour card for next year.
“It wasn’t really a hard decision” to play, Hurley said, “but it’s certainly hard to do.”
He said he nearly felt overwhelmed on the putting green, “almost didn’t know what I was doing in some ways” during his first handful of holes, then “scrambled my way around” the back nine.
By the end of his 69, Hurley said he “felt like almost a golfer again.”
Four share lead at suspended National Capital Open
Ottawa, Ont. – Ohio’s Ross Beal, Michigan’s Matt Harmon, and North Carolina’s Zack Byrd shared the clubhouse lead at 6-under when play was suspended due to inclement weather at 6:51 p.m. on Thursday, with co-leader and Mackenzie Tour rookie Mookie DeMoss still to finish the 18th hole.
Byrd, the only of the three clubhouse leaders to have played in the rain, was teeing off on his final hole when heavy rain began.
“We stood on the ninth tee and saw it coming and all just quick-hit it off the tee box,” Byrd said. “My bag was just behind the eighth green with my rain gear, my umbrella, and everything so I hit and took off running and it started dumping after that.”
After struggling with the ninth hole in both of his practice rounds, Byrd went on to birdie it in the rain with a 25-foot putt to tie the leaders with a round of 65. He attributes the last-second birdie to a caddy’s familiar eye.
“Luckily, I’ve got a caddie who really knows the golf course,” Byrd said. “It was so dark that it was almost impossible to read putts and he said ‘trust me’ and he was spot on with the read.”
Harmon is making his first start on the Mackenzie Tour since finishing second on the 2014 Order of Merit and starting the season on the Web.com Tour. Harmon carded four birdies and an eagle for a bogey-free round. Despite the strong first round, the 30-year-old felt he didn’t play his best golf on Thursday
“I was pretty fourtunate to be bogey-free,” Harmon said of his return, adding that he was forced to make a bunker shot for par on the par-3 14th hole.
As with Byrd, Harmon credited the familiarity with the course, having played at Hylands Golf Club and finished T25 last season, as the biggest factor towards a successful round.
“Just playing on courses I know is the biggest thing. I’ve spent three half-seasons up on the Web.com Tour and really haven’t played the same course more than one time. Getting out here, it’s familiar and that helps a lot,” said Harmon, last year’s Cape Breton Celtic Classic presented by PC Financial Champion.
Beal, fresh off victory in Tuesday’s official pro-am with an 8-under 63, was confident he could control the course despite the wind.
“It got pretty blustery but luckily I’m long enough that the down wind holes played short, and into the wind I hit almost every fairway so I was able to control it into the greens,” Beal said following his round of 65.
The Youngstown State University grad wasn’t convinced the Pro-Am success helped give him an extra boost though, noting that previous success in Tuesday outings hasn’t always translated to official tournament rounds.
“Including this one, I’ve won the past four Pro-Ams I’ve played in and I’ve made one cut out of those four,” Beal said, shaking his head.
For the rest of the field, Hylands Golf Club presented some challenges to open this year’s National Capital Open to Support Our Troops, with rain threatening and gusty winds throughout the day.
“It was very tough, very windy. You can’t miss fairways or greens out here, the wind definitely made it harder,” said Order of Merit leader J.J. Spaun of the conditions. “If you’re expecting it to play like how it did yesterday, you’re in for a rude awakening.”
Still, Spaun was pleased with how he managed it.
“You’ve just got to kind of accept it and fight through it,” Spaun said following a round of 67. “I’m very happy with where I’m sitting right now. Anything under par I feel like is really good out there.”
After leaving a 15-foot eagle putt on his final hole of the day short for the solo lead, Beal hopes the weather will calm down so that he can attack the course over the weekend.
“If it’s less windy I don’t see any reason why I can’t just fire at everything even more tomorrow.”
First, DeMoss – among 18 players yet to finish – will have to resume his opening round from the 18th fairway.
The first round will resume at 7:30 a.m., pushing tee times for the second round back 15 minutes.
Consortium of broadcasters to deliver unprecedented coverage of 2015 Canadian Pacific Women’s Open
Coquitlam, B.C. (Golf Canada) – The strongest field in women’s golf will be joined by the strongest team in golf broadcasting as part of live coverage of the 2015 Canadian Pacific Women’s Open, which will bring fans around the world into the action at The Vancouver Golf Club.
Compelling storylines, led by 17-year-old Brooke Henderson who last week became the first Canadian winner of an LPGA event since 2001, will entertain the up to 175 million households worldwide, in up to 160 countries that have the ability to tune-in.
Led by Terry Gannon and Hall of Famer Judy Rankin, the Golf Channel team will bring their first-class, insightful, and informed coverage to fans starting Thursday, August 20 at 3 p.m. PT.
“We are thrilled to partner with Golf Channel in delivering the excitement of the Canadian Pacific Women’s Open and the LPGA Tour to television audiences across the globe,” said Scott Simmons, CEO of Golf Canada. “Together with our partners at Canadian Pacific and the LPGA Tour, we look forward to working with the world’s most watched golf broadcasters to elevate the profile of the Canadian Pacific Women’s Open and showcase our championship to hundreds of millions of golf enthusiasts.”
In a special arrangement for 2015, TSN and RDS partner with Golf Channel to deliver additional domestic reach of the Canadian Pacific Women’s Open. TSN will air full-round, encore coverage of the first three rounds. TSN will then air live, simulcast coverage of the Golf Channel broadcast of the final round on Sunday, August 23 beginning at 4 p.m. PT/7 p.m. ET. TSN’s Rod Black joins Golf Channel’s team as host of the coverage, conducting in-studio interviews and delivering frequent updates on the Canadians in the field. RDS will air daily French-language coverage of all four rounds, hosted by Michel Lacroix and Carlo Blanchard.
The Canadian Pacific Women’s Open features the LPGA Tour’s best golfers – including two-time champion Lydia Ko, top-ranked golfer Inbee Park and defending champion So Yeon Ryu.
Broadcast Schedule
See below for the broadcast schedule for the 2015 Canadian Pacific Women’s Open. The schedule is subject to change.
Thursday, Aug. 20 – First Round Coverage
• Golf Channel: 3:00pm – 6:00pm PST / 6:00pm – 9:00pm EST
• TSN2: 8:00pm – 11:00pm PST / 11:00pm – 2:00am EST
• RDS2: 3:00pm – 6:00pm PST / 6:00pm – 9:00pm EST
Friday, Aug. 21 – Second Round Coverage
• Golf Channel: 3:00pm – 6:00pm PST / 6:00pm – 9:00pm EST
• TSN2: 8:00pm – 11:00pm PST / 11:00pm – 2:00am EST
• RDS2: 3:00pm – 6:00pm PST / 6:00pm – 9:00pm EST
Saturday, Aug. 22 – Third Round Coverage
• Golf Channel: 4:00pm – 7:00pm PST / 7:00pm – 10:00pm EST
• TSN2: 8:00pm – 11:00pm PST / 11:00pm – 2:00am EST
• RDS2: 4:00pm – 7:00pm PST / 7:00pm – 10:00pm EST
Sunday, Aug. 23 – Fourth Round Coverage
• Golf Channel: 4:00pm – 7:00pm PST / 7:00pm – 10:00pm EST
• TSN2: 4:00pm – 7:00pm PST / 7:00pm – 10:00pm EST
• RDS2: 8:00pm –11:00pm PST / 11:00pm – 2:00am EST
Rory McIlroy and Niall Horan of One Direction play The National Golf Club of Canada
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 17th 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.
Horsey tops leaderboard in Denmark
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.
Henderson realizes lifelong dream
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.
Leona Maguire wins Mark H. McCormack medal as leading female amateur
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.
LPGA’s best ready to take on The Vancouver Golf Club
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.
Canada’s Austin James advances to round of 32 at U.S. Amateur
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 19th 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 11th. He held the lead shortly on the 14th 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.