SANTO DA SERRA, Madeira Islands – Antonio Hortal of Spain carded a 9-under 63 to take a one-shot lead in the first round of the Madeira Islands Open on Thursday.

Hortal had a bogey on the second hole but made it up by hitting an eagle and eight birdies, including one on the 17th, to overtake countryman Nacho Elvira, whose 64 featured eight birdies.

Ryan Fox of New Zealand and Sebastian Gros of France tied for third on 65.

Scott Henry of Scotland, runner-up last year to Daniel Brooks of England in a playoff, was in a group of eight tied for fifth on 66.

ABERDEEN, Scotland – Former British Open champion Paul Lawrie advanced to the last 32 of the European Tour match play event he is hosting in northern Scotland with a 5-and-4 victory over Romain Wattel on Thursday.

The most comprehensive win in the first round of the inaugural Paul Lawrie Match Play in Aberdeen belonged to Spain’s Alejandro Canizares, who was a 7-and-6 winner over Lucas Bjerregaard of Denmark.

James Morrison, the top seed from England, beat Pelle Edberg 2 and 1 to progress from the last 64.

The second round is on Friday.

CALGARY – Jupiter, Florida’s Olin Browne, Jr. and Antibes, France’s Julien Brun carded a pair of 7-under 63s on Thursday at The Links of GlenEagles to share the first round lead at the Mackenzie Tour – PGA TOUR Canada’s ATB Financial Classic.

Browne, the son of three-time PGA TOUR winner Olin Browne, carded seven birdies, an eagle and two bogeys while Brun, a three-time first team All-American at Texas Christian University in his first season as a pro, was bogey-free with seven birdies.

“I got off to a good start. I had my putter working really well and hit some good shots,” said Browne, who birdied the difficult par-4 10^th to start the day. “Right out of the box. It was a nice start. I had about 15-feet down the hill and it happened to go in.”

The 27-year old finds himself in Calgary one week before his dad Olin Sr. is set to compete at the Shaw Charity Classic on the Champions Tour, and said he’d love to stick around town if not for the opportunity to spend time at home during next week’s off week with his young family.

“He’s playing next week. He wanted me to caddie for him, but I have a six-month old at home and have to get home to the wife and baby,” said Brown, who admitted it was tempting to stay around in Calgary. “I went fishing in the bow river on Monday and had a great time. It’s a wonderful town and the weather’s perfect.”

Brun, who earned medalist honours at the California Q-School earlier this year, said he was pleased with his 63, the lowest round of his promising young pro career.

“Overall it was a really good round. I played well and I’m satisfied. Today I drove the ball really well and was in the fairway most of the time,” said Brun, who has posted finishes of T11, T8 and T14 in his last three starts.

The 23-year old said he’s becoming more comfortable as the summer goes on in his first season as a pro, and that the transition from team golf to playing for a living has taken some time to adjust to.

“It’s a little different for sure. In team golf, if you shoot even par every round you’re going to help the team and might finish Top-20 or -30. Out here, you don’t do anything. The cuts are super low. You need to play well to win, but the cuts are definitely a big difference,” said Brun.

One shot back of the lead through Thursday’s play was a group of six players at 6-under 64, including 2012 ATB Financial Classic champion Michael Gligic and Alberta native Danny Sahl along with Jeff Rein, Joey Garber, Cameron Peck and Daniel Miernicki.

SASKATOON, Sask. – The second round of the 2015 Canadian Women’s Amateur Championship concluded Thursday afternoon at Riverside Country Club with Team Alberta emerging as the Inter-Provincial Women’s Champions.

Day three of competition started with half of the players teeing off in their second round after play was suspended on Tuesday.

The team was led by Team Canada National Amateur Squad member Jennifer Ha who shot a 1-under 71 to contribute to her team’s even score on the day. The second to count towards the standings came from Team Canada Development Squad member Jaclyn Lee who shot 1-over par.

The final member of the team, Sabrine Garrison, notched a 78. The trio of Calgarians finished 8-over 296 for the two-round competition.

Taylor Kim (Surrey, B.C.), Michelle Kim (Surrey, B.C.) and Gloria Usu Choi (Langley, B.C.) of Team British Columbia finished as the runners-up with a two day total 303. The third place finishers were Team Ontario comprised of Brittany Marchand of Orangeville, Ont., Thornhill, Ont., native Elizabeth Tong and Grace St-Germain of Ottawa.

In the individual contest, Lakareber Abe of Angleton, Texas and benefited from late rounds Wednesday night to take a share of the lead. Also sharing the lead is Peru’s Lucia Gutierrez who fired a 68 in her second round on Thursday. At 1-under par for the tournament, both players sit one shot clear of Mariel Galdiano of Pearl City, Hawaii who finished her second round Thursday afternoon at 3-over par.

Seventy-one players who shot 15-over par or better through the opening two rounds have advanced to the third round of play. For more information including third round tee-times and live-scoring click here.

Ten years ago, Golf Canada began their partnership with the Canadian Cancer Society to support breast cancer research and support programs while increasing women’s participation in the sport. Since then, Golf Fore the Cure presented by Subaru has raised more than $4 million toward the Society’s mission work. The Canadian Cancer Society thanks Golf Canada, program sponsor – Subaru, every site coordinator, participant and donor who has invested in Golf Fore the Cure these past 10 years.

To get involved, or run a program at your club, please visit golfforethecure.ca

YORKTON, Sask. – The nation’s top junior female golfing talents will be on display at the Canadian Junior Girls Championship, August 3-7, at Deer Park Golf Course in Yorkton, Sask.

The 61^st edition of the championship will showcase over 100 of Canada’s top juniors.

“There is so much anticipation for this year’s Canadian Junior Girls Championship,” said Tournament Director Dan Hyatt. “The field is strong and it will make for a very exciting four days of action. Deer Park is in very good shape and we are looking forward to having Canada’s best compete for this prestigious title.”

Defending her 2014 Canadian Junior Girls title will be Team Canada Development Squad member Grace St-Germain. The 17-year-old captured last year’s championship by seven strokes. The Ottawa native has seen early success to start the season, capturing the CN Future Links Pacific Championship and carding a runner-up finish at the Québec Women’s Amateur Championship.

Development Squad member Michelle Kim of Surrey, B.C., who finished 6^th in last year’s event, will look to add to an already impressive 2015. The 18-year-old claimed the Flumerfelt Cup as 2015 B.C. Women’s Amateur Champion and also took the B.C. Junior Girls Championship title, finishing nine strokes clear of her nearest competitor.

Also in attendance as provincial champions will be Alberta’s Katy Rutherford, Veronica Vetesnik of Manitoba, Chloe Currie who claimed the Ontario crown, and New Brunswick champion Laura Jones. Playing in their home province will be Saskatchewan Junior Girls co-medalists Brooke Hobson and Kayla Sawchuk.

A number of CN Future Links champions are hoping to add a national title to their seasons. Allison Chandler of Chester, N.S., claimed the Nova Scotia Junior Girls title and the CN Future Links Atlantic Championship. Alyssa Getty of Ruthven, Ont., who claimed the Ontario and Québec CN Future Links titles, will be in the field alongside Calgary native Kenna Hughes who took the Western title and Team Canada Development Squad member Alisha Lau of Richmond, B.C., who was crowned at the championship’s Prairie edition.

The remaining members of the National Team’s junior contingent will also convene at Deer Park Golf Course. Victoria, B.C., native Naomi Ko, who finished tied for runner-up at the 2015 Ontario Women’s Amateur, will be joined by Jaclyn Lee of Calgary who claimed victory at the 2014 Alberta Ladies Amateur and the 2014 Alberta Girls Championships.

This year’s Canadian Junior Girls Champion will receive an exemption into the 2016 Canadian Women’s Amateur Championship, as well as, each of the 2016 Canadian Women’s Tour events.

Practice rounds will be held Monday, August 3, while championship play will begin Tuesday, August 4 before concluding on Friday, August 7 with 18 holes of stroke play each day.

The Juvenile Championship, which is open to female amateurs 16-years-old and under, will be played concurrently with the Junior Girls Championship. An inter-provincial team championship will take place in conjunction with the first two rounds of stroke play; Team Quebec enters the tournament as the defending champion.

More information on the tournament, including the full field and tee-times, is available here.

For my money, it stands shoulder-to-shoulder with Mike Weir and Lorie Kane being named to the Order of Canada and right alongside Marlene Streit’s induction into the World Golf Hall of Fame.  Unique about the honour amid the aforementioned group is Thompson’s resume: the Canadian design legend crafted courses, he didn’t play them.

For this ‘builder’ —whose landmark career favourably compares to Donald Ross, Alister MacKenzie, Harry Colt, A.W. Tillinghast, C.B. MacDonald, Seth Raynor or even his former partner Robert Trent Jones Sr.  —having the spotlight shine his esteemed body of work is an occasion to celebrate.  It also impacts the sport on multiple levels.

Any time golf crosses over from its often tucked away corner of the sporting mainstream the game wins.  Those moments happen all too infrequently within the riveted confines of a hockey-centric, baseball and basketball infused nation so expect the Toronto native’s posthumous entrance into the national sporting shrine in Calgary to hopefully garner meaningful attention for the game and on Thompson’s illustrious golf architecture career.

What a career it was.  From 1921 up to his untimely passing in 1953 Thompson put his signature on 117 Canadian courses. They traverse the nation from Capilano, Banff and Jasper Park in the west to St. George’s, Westmount, St. Thomas and Cataraqui in Ontario; then they make their way east to Quebec’s Beaconsfield and on to his crowned jewel – in my opinion – Cape Breton, Nova Scotia’s Highlands Links. One mustn’t overlook what Thompson accomplished outside Canadian borders either.  He fashioned 20 courses in the United States and eight more in Central and South America.

For all the polish he put on this golfing nation Thompson was inducted into the Canadian Golf Hall of Fame in 1980.  In 2005 he was named, ‘a person of national historic significance’ by the federal government.

Today, his legacy for this and future generations is being preserved by the Stanley Thompson Society which formed in 1998.  I’m happy to say I’m a proud new member of that society.

What one can also hope for with the grand master’s national sports hall of fame induction is a measure of heightened awareness to trickle-down to the talented, esteemed design group that has followed in his footsteps.

Canadian golf is truly blessed with great architects.  From Thompson understudies Robbie Robinson, Howard Watson, Geoffrey Cornish and Bob Moote the baton was passed to a present day visionary group of Doug Carrick, Tom McBroom, Graham Cooke, Les Furber, Ian Andrew, Daryl Huxum, Rod Whitman and now, by extension, is moving along to the likes of Jeff Mingay, Riley Johns, Gary Browning, Wade Horrocks and even 2003 Masters champion, Mike Weir, the next generation of aspiring Thompson’s.  Wonderful it would be to see all of them recognized more for the work they’ve done.

In Jim Barclay’s book The Toronto Terror, this Cornish excerpt nicely frames the kind of influence Thompson had, not only on his stable of associates, but on the game across Canada and beyond.

“(Thompson) made an exceptional contribution to golf, what with his handsome memorials coast-to-coast, his yearning for beauty that manifests itself even in his most modest creations, his international reputation, his dedication to educating those who worked for him, and his goal of creating an energetic society of golf course architects,” Cornish wrote.

Stanley Thompson changed the paradigm of golf course architecture in this country.  His concept of risk-reward playability continues to be a bedrock principle of modern course architecture. It’s a concept that has made the game more thoughtful, engaging and has helped put our inventory of courses across the country on a pedestal with the best anywhere.

Of his forthcoming induction into the Canadian Sports Hall of Fame in Calgary Thompson aficionados everywhere will agree: it merely adds another exclamation point to a storied, celebrated career that has had so many.

SASKATOON, Sask. – Mariel Galdiano of Pearl City, Hawaii carded a 3-under 69 at Riverside Country Club in Saskatoon, Sask., to take the lead as play began at the 2015 Canadian Women’s Amateur Championship.

After unplayable conditions forced the postponement of the first round, play commenced on Wednesday with sunny skies and high winds. Nearly half of the field completed 36 holes, while the remaining players will tee off Thursday morning prior to the 36-hole cut.

Galdiano, who has yet to play her second round, established a two-shot advantage over her nearest competitor. The 17-year-old, who has one more year of high school remaining, carded four of her six birdies on the front nine. She entered the tournament ranked No. 29 on the World Amateur Golf Rankings, including a T42 finish at the 2015 U.S. Women’s Open. It was her third U.S. Women’s championship after qualifying for her first at 13.

Angleton, Texas native Lakareber Abe tallied seven birdies in her second round en route to a tournament-low score of 5-under 67 to sit in solo second. The 19-year-old’s afternoon-round was highlighted by a bogey-free front nine that featured four birdies. After opening with a round of 76, the University of Alabama product now sits at 1-under for the tournament.

Three players are tied for third and chasing the lead. The No. 5-ranked Bethany Wu of Diamond Bar, Calif., shot 1-over par in her first round. Joining Wu with a score of 73 was Plano, Texas native Dylan Kim. The 18-year-old is ranked No. 37 in the world and placed fourth in this year’s NCAA Women’s Medal Championship playing for Baylor University.  Both Wu and Kim will tee off for their second rounds tomorrow morning.

The remaining player tied at 1-over par is Sarah Burnham of Maple Grove, Minn. The Michigan State Spartan strung together three straight birdies on holes 11 through 13 to register a second round of 3-under par. The 19-year-old carded a 76 during her first round for a total of 145.

Two Canadians are within the Top-15 after their first rounds. Taylor Kim of Surrey, B.C., shot an opening-round 2-over par and sits tied for sixth. Team Canada National Amateur Squad member Maddie Szeryk holds a share of twelfth at 3-over.

The inter-provincial competition coinciding with the first two tournament rounds will conclude on Thursday. Team Alberta is comprised of Team Canada’s Jennifer Ha, National Development Squad member Jaclyn Lee and Sabrine Garrison. The trio of Calgarians are ahead of the competition and sit three-shots clear of Team B.C.

The remaining players needing to play their second rounds will start off the first and tenth tees on Thursday morning, beginning at 7:30 a.m. CST. The top 70 players and ties will make the 36-hole cut and advance to the third round of play on Thursday afternoon.

For full details on tee times and scoring, click here.

Apologies to the few ardent fans of Seven Days in Utopia and The Legend of Bagger Vance but in the past 15 y ears the intersection of golf and pop culture cinema has been paved with cliches as well tread as the Swilcan bridge at St. Andrews and swing thought whisperers so hokey you can bet a screenwriter or two is pining for a mulligan.

HOOK THEM YOUNG

The Squeeze, the latest golf movie to hit theaters and premium cable aims to christen a brand new sub-genre: the golf thriller.  There’s a scene in the trailer where after securing a bet to the contrary, Friday Night Lights’ J.D. McCoy ( Jeremy Sumpter), standing 200-odd yards from the dance floor, smoothly flips his ball into the air with his putter and then with a carefully timed one-handed baseball swing proceeds to wallop it all the way to the green.

“The Squeeze is a wonderful golf movie because it’s so authentic.  It hooks you in the beginning and stays interesting and entertaining right to the end.  I’m looking forward to seeing it again,” chimes in Phil Mickelson in the film’s marketing materials.  An endorsement from Lefty, one of golf’s ultimate insiders and a player known for making friendly wagers with his PGA brethren to make practice rounds a little more interesting, carries a lot more weight than a positive review from a film critic.  Adding to the film’s TOUR cred, Tom Watson is an investor in the movie and Jack Nicklaus is yet another notable giving it two-thumbs up.

Sumpter plays a +1.1 handicap in real life nipping the niggling yet accurate complaint about the preponderance of actors in golf movies who appear to have never picked up a club before the cameras started rolling.  Happy Gilmore’s Shooter McGavin (Christopher McDonald) co-stars as Riverboat, a hustler that hooks a rural phenom into the world of high stakes golf gambling.  While a small indie flick and a mere blip on the entertainment radar, compared to the overly sentimental fare that proceeded it, the film is a step in the right direction as far as sparking golf interest in younger generations.

BIG SCREENS TO NIGHT OUT

When it comes to keying into the pulse of the millennials, the fresh “fun required, skills optional,” mantra espoused by burgeoning golf entertainment goliath TopGolf has hit on a winning formula that has vaulted the company to the top of the golf entertainment leaderboard.

Their 70, 000+ square-foot triple-decker, 100 bay driving ranges on steroids look a lot more like Dave & Busters than your garden variety hit’em by the bucket practice facility. With 16 locations up and swinging and nine more under construction, the company is in the midst of a major growth spurt—eight million visitors are expected to tee it up at a TopGolf this year.

TopGolf’s brilliant stroke was RFID tagging Calloway balls to track their flight as they fly toward giant dartboard targets giving golfers instant performance feedback on screens with their name on them bowling style. They’ve transformed what was once typically a solitary, meditative activity into a dynamic social event that has legions of young people lining up for more than an hour to bash balls, have a laugh, and just hang out and enjoy the bar-meets-range entertainment phenomenon.

With roaming onsite pros dispensing pointers and offering short free demos, it’s a highly beginner friendly golf experience.  Even if you’ve never swung a club in your life (50 per cent of customers who walk in the door have never golfed), if you’re at all athletically inclined you’ll still manage to score some points in TopGolf’s various distance and target-based games.

“The screen will show you exactly how far you hit the ball and show you where inside that target you hit the ball and award you points,” explains TopGolf’s Chief Operating Officer Randy Starr.  “For the novice who doesn’t have the appreciation to go ‘wow that was my eight iron, that felt really good I think that was like 145 yards,’ this makes it more fun.

“You’re aiming at something that’s highly visual,” he adds.  “Your name is on the screen, you are competing against your friends and family in a fun non-intimidating environment.”

Set to triple its location count in the next five years, TopGolf has the population centers of the Great White North firmly in its sights; in fact, Toronto is the city they get the most information requests out of any other metropolitan area in North America. Meanwhile they’ve already broken ground on a massive Las Vegas strip location at MGM Grand, which will be four levels with a VIP lounge decked out with water features on the penthouse and there will also be a stage for live music performances.

GAMEIFICATION TREND

For more experienced golfers wishing there were as many stats to pour over about their own games as there are for TOUR Players, GPS-based statistic tracking systems such as Game Golf and Arccos have stepped up to fill that void giving golfers the tools to get a handle on every aspect of their in-round performance.

Both systems work by planting sensors in the butt end of the grip of each club in the bag in the service of compiling reams of statistical data—everything from fairways hit, sand saves, and greens in regulation to drive dispersion charts for quantifiable evidence of how often your slice is getting you in trouble.

The earlier to market Game Golf system requires you to wear a sensor on your belt and tap it with your club before each shot to make sure it registers whereas Arccos runs on auto-pilot.  The Billy Horschel endorsed tracker hooks into an iPhone app to record every club hit.  Both systems give golfers the ability to relive rounds shot-by-shot and paint vivid pictures of how every facet of your game contributes to your final score.

In the Fitbit age, there’s a ravenous appetite for this kind of personalized data.  The insight gained is invaluable to improving a golfer’s game and influencing on-course decision-making.  If you play better, you better believe you’re going to want to play more.

I just started dabbling with Arccos and it’s habit forming.  Aside from the robust array of stats it collects it also completely automates your scorecard scribbling so you never have to pick up that tiny pencil to add up your score.  Other features that’ll really help you get in touch with your golf game once you’ve logged a few rounds are: the ability to track average distance hit with each club and the ability to peruse your personal bests in a trove of categories from longest drive to most one-putts and even pace of play.