SASKATOON, Sask. – A strong contingent of the world’s top female amateur golfers will compete July 27-31 for the title of Canadian Women’s Amateur champion at Riverside Country Club in Saskatoon, Sask.

The championship will feature 115 of the top Canadian and international female amateurs contending for the Duchess of Connaught Trophy. This year, 16 amateur players ranked inside the World’s Top-100 will participate, including Team Canada National Amateur Squad members Maddie Szeryk (No. 39) and Brittany Marchand (No. 58).

“We are very excited about this year’s Canadian Women’s Amateur Championship at Riverside Country Club,” said Golf Canada Tournament Director Mary Beth McKenna. “This prestigious tournament has historically been a stepping stone for amateurs making the leap to professional status. In 2014, the top three finishers all went on to turn pro. We look forward to seeing this year’s competitive field in action.”

Among the 10 players who joined the professional ranks since last year’s competition are Augusta James of Bath, Ont., who placed first; runner-up Su-Hyun Oh from Australia; and former World No. 1 amateur and Team Canada Young Pro Squad member Brooke Henderson of Smiths Falls, Ont. The tournament’s past eight champions have all turned professional.

This year’s field is set to include Bethany Wu of Diamond Bar, Calif., Korea’s Eun-jeong Seong, Caroline Inglis of Eugene, Ore., and Mariel Galdiano of Pearl City, Hawaii, who all sit within the top 40 of the World Amateur Golf Rankings.

Team Canada’s Maddie Szeryk of London, Ont. placed T12 in last year’s competition. She is looking to build upon her recent momentum from claiming the 2015 Investors Group Ontario Women’s Amateur Championship after having reached the quarter-finals at the 2015 British Ladies Open Amateur and placing second in the 2015 NCAA SEC Championship.

Also placing T12 in 2014 was Josée Doyon – currently Canada’s second highest ranked amateur golfer at No. 55. The St-Georges, Que., native notched three NCAA victories this season with Kent State University.

Also representing Team Canada’s National Amateur Squad will be Brittany Marchand of Orangeville, Ont., who recently finished T2 at the 2015 Investors Group Ontario Women’s Amateur Championship. Completing the National Team contingent is Thornhill, Ont., native Elizabeth Tong who finished fourth in her home province’s amateur championship and 2015 Sun Life Financial Alberta Ladies Amateur Champion Jennifer Ha of Calgary.

Joining the National Amateur Team will be the full roster of Canada’s Development Squad: Victoria, B.C., native Naomi Ko; Alisha Lau of Richmond, B.C.; Calgary product Jaclyn Lee; Ottawa’s Grace St-Germain and Michelle Kim from Surrey, B.C., who claimed both the 2015 B.C. Women’s Amateur and B.C. Junior Girls titles in recent weeks.

The field representing 11 countries will not only be vying for the 2015 Canadian Women’s Amateur Championship title, but also exemptions into the 2015 Canadian Pacific Women’s Open at The Vancouver Golf Club in Coquitlam, B.C., and the 2015 U.S. Amateur Championship.

An inter-provincial team championship will also take place in conjunction with the first two rounds of stroke play; Team Ontario enters the tournament as defending champions.

The practice round will be held Monday, July 27 before championship play commences on Tuesday, July 28 through Friday, July 31. Following the first two rounds, the field will be cut to the low 70 and ties.

For more information on the championship including the full field, starting times and live scoring; click here.

OAKVILLE, Ont. – In the lead-up to the 106th playing of Canada’s National Open Golf Championship at Glen Abbey Golf Club in Oakville, Ont., the start times for the 2015 RBC Canadian Open Championship Pro-Am, as well as, pairings and start times for the opening two rounds of the competition, have been released.

PRO-AM START TIMES
Wednesday, July 22 will see 52 professional golfers take to Glen Abbey Golf Club to entertain 156 amateurs for the 2015 RBC Canadian Open Championship Pro-Am. Click here for pairings and start times.

PAIRINGS FOR ROUNDS ONE AND TWO NOW AVAILABLE ONLINE
Pairings for the first two rounds of the 2015 RBC Canadian Open on Thursday, July 23 and Friday, July 24 are now available here.

Burlington, Ont. – Team Canada member Elizabeth Tong made eight birdies Tuesday at Burlington Golf and Country Club and leads the PGA Women’s Championship of Canada by three shots over the defending champion Brooke Henderson.

Tong’s impressive bogey-free round of 8-under-par 62 not only was the low round of the day, but was also low enough to set a new women’s competitive course record at Burlington Golf and Country Club.

“I didn’t really even realize I was five-under-par on the front nine until I got to No. 11 and I was like, “Oh, wait a minute I’m going pretty low,’” the amateur said. “This golf course seems pretty open to me, so it really doesn’t scare me. The greens are rolling really nicely right now, so you can easily roll them on the line you want.”

Tong, the 22-year-old from Thornhill, Ont., was recently named to the 2015 Women’s Golf Coaches Association All-American Scholars team. The Indiana University Hoosier senior is a three-time collegiate winner and a first-year Team Canada member.

“We play a lot of tournaments and it definitely keeps me busy,” she said about her first year on the national team. “It’s a lot of information intake and literally I’m learning new things every single week.”

Brooke Henderson, who won the 2014 PGA Women’s Championship of Canada, sits three back in second place after a first round 5-under-par 65.

“Overall it was a pretty good day and I’m right there in the mix,” Henderson said about her round that featured six birdies, an eagle, a bogey and a double-bogey on No. 18. “I was very fortunate to win this championship last year and I’m hoping to do the same this year.”

In 2014, Henderson became not only the first amateur to capture the PGA Women’s Championship of Canada, but the youngest as well. As a 16-year-old she posted a two-day total of 13-under par at FireRock Golf Club in Komoka, Ont., setting a new championship scoring record.

Currently ranked No. 32 in the world, the Smiths Falls, Ont., native recently finished T5 at the U.S. Women’s Open at the Lancaster Country Club. Henderson also finished T5 at the Women’s PGA Championship—the second of the LPGA Tour’s five majors—in June.

In addition to her two top-five finishes in majors this year, Henderson has four more top-25 finishes on the LPGA Tour in 2015, including a third at the Swinging Skirts LPGA Classic. The former Team Canada member also won the Four Winds Invitational on the Symetra Tour in June and has a pair of Suncoast Ladies Tour wins to her name this past winter as well.

American Sydney Cox also posted a 5-under-par round of 65 will join Tong and Henderson in the championship’s final group at 12:38 p.m.

Doris Chen put together a 4-under-par 66 first round, while Stephanie Connelly rounds out the top five after posting a 3-under-par 67. Kyla Inaba of Kelowna, B.C., and Stratford, Ont.’s, both shot two under and are T6. Amateur Valerie Tanguay of St. Hyacinthe, Que.; Samantha Richdale of Kelowna, B.C.; and Americans Lauren Mielbrecht, Brooke Baker and Michele Chun are T8.

Full results from the first round as well as second round tee times are available here.

In total, 18 players posted par or better first round scores Tuesday at Burlington Golf and Country Club.

Designed in 1924 by famed Canadian golf course architect Stanley Thompson, Burlington was ranked No. 98 on SCOREGolf’s Top 100 Golf Courses in Canada 2014 Ranking.

The PGA Women’s Championship of Canada was first played in 1987 and past champions include Cathy Sherk, Gail Graham, Nancy Harvey, Lorie Kane, Alena Sharp, Jessica Shepley and last year’s winner Brooke Henderson.

The PGA Women’s Championship of Canada will count as the third and final stop on the Canadian Women’s Tour with points awarded toward the Jocelyne Bourassa Player of the Year at the conclusion of the championship.

Similar to past years, the champion of each Canadian Women’s Tour stop and the PGA Women’s Championship of Canada will receive an exemption into the 2015 Canadian Pacific Women’s Open to be held Aug. 17-23, 2015 at the Vancouver Golf Club in Vancouver. As well, following the conclusion of play at the PGA Women’s Championship of Canada, two (2) additional exemptions will be awarded to the top competitors, not otherwise exempt into the Canadian Pacific Women’s Open from the 2015 Canadian Women’s Tour Order of Merit.

In addition, the top five (previously the top 3) players on the Canadian Women’s Tour season-ending Order of Merit will be awarded direct entry into LPGA Stage-2 Qualifying.

MARKHAM, Ont. – RBC Canadian Open organizers are adding a lot more red and white to the expanse of green at Glen Abbey Golf Club.

First-year tournament director Brent McLaughlin heard from players that there’s not enough “Canadiana” at the RBC Canadian Open. They’ll get their wish on the course this week with the addition of many Canadian flags, including a 30-by-15-feet one behind the 18th green.

It’s all an effort to make the RBC Canadian Open more Canadian.

“I think we’ve struck a balance of the Canadiana,” McLaughlin said in a phone interview last week. “We’ve lost touch with kind of the stuff that makes us uniquely Canadian: the Mounties and kind of those stereotypes that you always hear.

“I know we don’t like it when it’s talked about about us, but it’s nice when we can sort of say, ‘Yeah, you’re in Canada. It’s a little bit different here.”‘

Sixteen Canadian players are expected to be in the field for Canada’s national open. That group features Graham DeLaet, David Hearn, Adam Hadwin and recent PGA Tour winner Nick Taylor.

No Canadian has won this event since Pat Fletcher in 1954. Mike Weir, the 2003 Masters winner who withdrew for personal reasons to take a leave of absence from golf, came the closest when he was a playoff runner-up to Vijay Singh in 2004.

Golf Canada CEO Scott Simmons said the organization had to close the gates and stop selling tickets at Glen Abbey twice: when Tiger Woods was at his peak and won in 2000 and then when Weir had the Sunday lead in 2004.

“It just shows you what can happen when a homegrown does well on Canadian soil, and I hope we see that (this week), come Sunday we’ve got some Canadian flags at the top of the leaderboard,” Simmons said Sunday after the inaugural Pan Am Games golf tournament.

Of course the event will be a smashing success and keep up the Pan Am nationalism in the Toronto area if a Canadian is close to the lead this weekend. But there’s no safe bet on that, what with a field that includes world No. 3 Bubba Watson, No. 7 Jim Furyk and No. 9 Jason Day, who tied for fourth at the British Open.

Even though Brandt Snedeker pulled out with a hip injury, Simmons considers this one of the deeper fields the RBC Canadian Open has had in a while. That’s certainly a selling point, but McLaughlin also instituted “Red And White Day” on Friday to encourage fans and golfers to show off national spirit and added food trucks serving things like poutine and Beavertails.

“This is a festival,” he said. “It’s just a fun atmosphere to get involved with. More so than just focusing on the talent and the Canadian players and anybody in the field in general, it needs to be an event. People love events.”

People don’t love traffic, a Toronto hallmark that’s worse given that the Pan Am Games are going on throughout the region. With high-occupancy lanes set up for three or more people for the duration of the Games, McLaughlin said the RBC Canadian Open has done everything possible to warn people what to expect.

Golf Canada will offer shuttle service from the Oakville and Bronte GO stations Friday, Saturday and Sunday, and trips home on those days are free with a RBC Canadian Open ticket. Kids under 17 are also free, part of the reason McLaughlin thinks the HOV lanes won’t stunt any crowds.

“Our statistics have shown that most people that attend sporting events and other functions travel in larger groups,” he said. “So I think it actually helps us. It’s almost like a true event feel having the 3-plus. I don’t think it’s going to affect us.”

If anything, the timing of the Pan Am Games, where Canada is enjoying substantial success on home soil, could benefit the RBC Canadian Open. Simmons hopes the 2010 Olympics and “Own the podium” movements stir up more nationalism at Glen Abbey.

“We’ve always known to be a very respectful bunch,” Simmons said. “But it’s time to kind of puff our chests out and be proud of who we are: our country, our players.”

ALBERTON, Ont. – Justin Shin of Pitt Meadow, B.C., David Mathis of Wakeforest, N.C., Roberto Castro of Alpharetta, Ga., and Josh Teater of Lexington, Ky., have earned their way into the field for this week’s RBC Canadian Open at Glen Abbey Golf Club in Oakville, Ont.

Shin led scoring in the Monday Final Qualifier with a 7-under-par round of 64 at Heron Point Golf Links in Alberton, Ont. After opening with a bogey, Shin would go to record six birdies and an eagle to earn low qualifying honours.

“I was pretty pumped for this week and I’m really excited,” said Shin. “It has been my dream to play in the RBC Canadian Open. I’ve wanted to play it ever since I was a junior. I really enjoyed it out there today with my buddy caddying for me.”

Shin is currently ranked fourth on the PGA TOUR China Order of Merit with a win at the 2015 United Investment Real Estate Wuhan Open. He recently finished T6 in the Mackenzie Tour-PGA TOUR Canada’s The Players Cup in Winnipeg, Man.

Finishing with a share of second were Mathis and Castro with rounds of 6-under 65 while Teater secured the final RBC Canadian Open spot in a playoff after carding a 5-under 66. Teater beat out Eric Hawerchuk of Barrie, Ont. in an extra hole to earn the final Qualifier spot.

With the addition of Justin Shin, a total of 16 Canadians are set to compete in the 2015 RBC Canadian Open.

Full results from the 2015 RBC Canadian Open Final Qualifier are available here.

ST. ANDREWS, Scotland – Zach Johnson cradled the silver claret jug in his arms. Jordan Spieth let it slip through his fingers.

Spieth was right where he wanted to be in his spirited bid for the Grand Slam – tied for the lead with two holes to go in the British Open, right after making a 50-foot birdie putt that made it feel as though he were destined to win at St. Andrews for his third straight major.

And he was still there at the very end Monday, but only as a spectator.

The slam gone, Spieth graciously returned to the steps of the Royal & Ancient clubhouse to watch Johnson finish off a sterling performance of his own. Johnson rolled in a 30-foot birdie putt on the 18th hole that got him into a three-man playoff, and he outlasted Louis Oosthuizen and Marc Leishman to win the British Open.

Johnson described himself as a “normal guy” from Cedar Rapids, Iowa, when he won the Masters in 2007.

And now?

“I’m a normal guy from Cedar Rapids … with a green jacket that has something that most guys don’t get to drink out of right now,” Johnson said, smiling as he looked at golf’s oldest trophy with his name etched alongside most of the game’s greatest players.

Spieth was close to having his name on that jug. No one ever came closer to the third leg of the Grand Slam.

He fought back from taking four putts for a double bogey on No. 8 with back-to-back birdies. He rolled in that long birdie putt on the 16th for a share of the lead. After missing an 8-foot par putt on the tough 17th hole, Spieth needed a birdie on the closing hole to join the playoff.

“Up and down for a playoff,” was the last thing Spieth said to caddie Michael Greller from about 90 yards away. It was too far right and quite hard enough, and it rolled to the edge of the Valley of Sin short of the green. His birdie attempt up the slope stayed inches left of the cup, and he tapped in for a 69.

“We gave it a great effort,” Spieth said.

At least he was in elite company. Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods – the three biggest names in golf over the last 50 years – were the only other players to capture the Masters and U.S. Open in a bid to sweep the four professional majors in the same year. All came up short in the British Open. Spieth was the only one who had a share of the lead so deep in the final round.

“I’m going to go home and reflect,” Spieth said. “It won’t hurt too bad. It’s not like I really lost it on the last hole, and 17 was brutally challenging. I just didn’t hit a great putt there, and I just picked the wrong wedge out of the bag on 18. I made a lot of the right decisions down the stretch and certainly closed plenty of tournaments out. And this just wasn’t one of those. It’s hard to do that every single time.

“I won’t beat myself up too bad, because I do understand that.”

It took a superlative effort from Johnson, who now has two majors among his 12 PGA Tour victories, an astounding record and a reminder that a good wedge game and a putter can still go a long way in this era of power.

Johnson was in tears when he was interviewed off the green.

“I’m grateful. I’m humbled. I’m honored,” Johnson said. “This is the birthplace of the game, and that jug means so much in sports.”

On a tense afternoon of shadows and showers on the Old Course, Johnson closed with a 6-under 66. He was the first in at 15-under 273.

Leishman, who considered giving up golf in April when his wife nearly died of a rare respiratory illness, fell out of the lead with a bogey on the 16th hole. He had a birdie putt for the win on the 18th that was wide left and gave him a 66. Oosthuizen made a 10-foot par putt on No. 17 to stay one shot behind, and he delivered a clutch moment of his own with a wedge to 5 feet for birdie and a 69 to join the playoff.

Graham DeLaet of Weyburn, Sask. finished as the low Canadian and ended the tournament at 1-under par, tied for 68th.

It was the first British Open playoff since Stewart Cink beat Tom Watson at Turnberry in 2009, and the first involving more than two players since 2002 at Muirfield, the year Woods failed in his bid for the third leg of the slam.

Johnson matched Oosthuizen’s birdie on the first hole and pulled ahead with another birdie on No. 2. Both made bogey on the 17th – Oosthuizen by missing a 5-foot putt to tie Johnson – and the South African had one last chance. Oosthuizen, who won the British Open when it last was at St. Andrews in 2010, had a 12-foot birdie putt to force sudden death. It touched the left side of the cup and kept going, and Johnson was introduced as the “champion golfer of the year.”

Spieth showed guts over the final two hours, and class when his bid was over. He stuck around to hug Johnson before he walked over to get his trophy.

Just two weeks ago, Spieth went to Iowa to take part in a charity event for Johnson before playing – and winning – the John Deere Classic. He was questioned for not coming over to St. Andrews to prepare for a rare occasion of attempting the Grand Slam. Spieth put that to rest with a performance that kept him around the lead all week.

It was the first British Open to end on Monday since 1988 because of a brief rain delay Friday morning and 10 1/2-hour wind delay on Saturday. But what a show. With 14 players separated by three shots, no one seized control the entire day. Eight players had at least a share of the lead at one point. Most of them fell away.

Spieth kept a golfing nation in suspense until the very end. Now, he goes to the PGA Championship with a tiny piece of history left to chase. Woods in 2000 and Ben Hogan in 1953 are the only other players to win three majors in a year, and no one has ever swept the three American majors.

At 21, he can only hope he gets another shot at the slam. Palmer, Nicklaus and Woods never did.

The National Golf Course Owners Association Canada (NGCOA Canada) has released its “Rounds Played Reports” up to June 1, and the results are encouraging for most of the country.

Of the 49 major regional markets surveyed, only 10 showed declining rounds when compared to the 3 year average, with all other regions reporting varying degrees of good news.

Western Canada definitely leads the charge with BC rounds 10 per cent above average, Alberta up 60 per cent, Saskatchewan up 41 per cent and Manitoba up 33 per cent. Ontario and Quebec showed more modest increased rounds played, as did Newfoundland. New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and PEI were all down in rounds played, largely due to a late start to the golf season.

The accompanying Weather Score, measuring the impact of local weather on each participating golf course, demonstrates any correlation between weather and rounds played across the country. BC, Alberta and Saskatchewan experienced significantly more favorable weather conditions for golf than normal years. Manitoba and Ontario had slightly better than average weather, as did Newfoundland. Quebec’s golf weather was average, while the Maritime Provinces were hurt by a long and severe winter followed by below average spring golf weather. As expected, the correlation to weather is strong.

The NGCOA Canada “Rounds Played Reports” are derived from monthly surveys of golf course data throughout Canada, segmented into National, Provincial and Regional Reports. Each monthly report tracks the Month to Date and Year to Date for the current year and the 3 year average. Those statistics are presented in actual rounds played and the per cent change.

The Regional Reports are sent to each participating golf course with custom data to compare their own Rounds Played Report with the group data of golf courses in their local competitive market. The National and Provincial Reports are published by the National Golf Course Owners Association Canada for industry-wide use.

Jeff Calderwood, NGCOA Canada CEO, notes that “We’ve been steadily building the sample size for a couple of years allowing us to publish these Rounds Played Reports with high statistical confidence and the ability to segment the data down to 49 key golf markets. I encourage all golf course operators to take advantage of this free and valuable management tool.”

View the report here.

MARKHAM, Ont. – When Graham DeLaet checked his golf clubs with Aer Lingus for his transatlantic flight to the British Open, bewilderment followed.

After a series of Twitter posts from DeLaet, expressing concern that no one knew where they were, the clubs were delivered 54 hours later. When the Weyburn, Sask., native opened up his travel bag, he found dirty clubs that looked like they went through a battle.

“You just can’t make this stuff up,” DeLaet tweeted.

DeLaet went on to play St. Andrews after caddy Julien Trudeau cleaned up the clubs, tweeting a photo with the message, “like new.”

Even though the clubs were no worse for wear, DeLaet won’t have to have to risk the same aggravation on his way back to North America.

DeLaet is one about 30 golfers travelling from Scotland to Toronto on Golf Canada’s charter flight for the RBC Canadian Open. It’s an annual tradition that helps ensure a strong field for Canada’s national open the week after a major championship.

“It’s the single biggest thing that we’ve got going for us,” said Golf Canada chief championship officer Bill Paul, who’s in Scotland organizing the charter. “It’s a necessary perk that we have and a very, very valuable perk that we have.”

It became especially important when weather delays forced the first Monday finish since 1988. Paul had to adjust on the fly.

“That’s why we need someone over there because of things exactly like this,” Golf Canada CEO Scott Simmons said Sunday. “We’ve been working on this for months, but the schedule changes.”

Paul was the Canadian Open tournament director from 1993 until 2014 and has organized the charter since it began in 2007. The 56-year-old called it a huge expense but one that makes a difference in getting the best players to commit.

Of course the US$5.8 million purse and a winner’s share over $1 million aren’t too shabby, either.

Each first-class seat goes for $1,500. Paul typically starts reserving spots three months in advance, but players’ plans are often in flux.

“Once the players start to go to work on the golf course, you’re sort of at the mercy of them when they come off,” Paul said in a phone interview from St. Andrews.

Needing to figure out customs and other logistics along the way, Paul lined up three buses to leave St. Andrews at various times. His original target was for an 8 p.m. local time takeoff Sunday night, though of course the postponement turned it into a Monday night scheduled departure.

Paul is always thinking about what could change.

“If we’ve got the champion there, I’ve got to make a decision: Do we fly without him? Am I going to try to find another way for him back to Toronto?” he said. “There’s a lot of different scenarios.”

There’s certainly no shortage of demand. Start with Canadians DeLaet and David Hearn, add Team RBC golfers like Ernie Els, Luke Donald, Jason Day and Jim Furyk, and it’s not hard to fill up a plane.

It also nice that the flight is a direct trip from Edinburgh Airport to Toronto’s Pearson International, which is situated a short drive from Glen Abbey Golf Club.

“It’s just a convenient way to get there,” Paul said. “It’s not a luxurious thing. When you’re over the pond, you’re that far away, this just provides a hassle-free way of getting from one event to the other event.”

Simmons was at Hoylake last year and got a first-hand look at the charter’s smooth operation and appreciates its value to players.

“When you can make it that easy for them, it just gives them that much more opportunity to say, ‘Yeah, I’m going to come play Canada,”’ Simmons said. “These guys play week after week, after week, after week. At some point they have to take weeks off, so you don’t want to give them any reason to have our week as a week off.”

Inside the ropes of the 1990 PGA TOUR, no one performed better than Wayne Levi.

Sure Greg Norman put a few more dollars in his bank account. The Australian finished first on the money list with $1.17-million to Levi’s $1.02-million. Sure Nick Faldo won both the Masters and British Open in 1990.

But nobody won four times like Levi did in his season to remember. That’s why when the time arrived for his peers to vote they named Levi the the tour’s player of the year.

“It’s just been an incredible year,” said Levi after he was presented with the award. “I’d never thought I’d have this kind of a year. I never thought I’d win as many tournaments as I have, have the success I’ve had.”

The golfer from Little Falls, N.Y., then 38, put an exclamation point on his season when he won the 1990 Canadian Open at Glen Abbey Golf Club in mid-September with a 10-under total for a one-stroke victory over Ian Baker-Finch and Jim Woodward.

Levi jumped out to the 36-hole lead with back-to-back rounds of 68. The second round was more impressive because of the nasty winds and thunderstorms that interrupted play, and Levi joked afterwards that he didn’t want too late of a tee time on Sunday afternoon because he wanted to watch his beloved New York Giants play against the rival Dallas Cowboys.

About the same time the Giants, who would win the Super Bowl a few months later, put the finishing touches on the Cowboys in Dallas for a 28-7 win, Levi holed his title-clinching putt on the 18^th green.

“To win four in a year, that’s the sort of thing you think of Jack Nicklaus or Tom Watson doing back in the 1970s,” said Baker-Finch, who would go on to win the British Open 10 months later.

Despite his outstanding start at Glen Abbey, Levi checked in with a third-round 72 to trail 54-hole leader Buddy Gardner by three shots. But Gardner faded early on the final day with a double-bogey at No. 6. Meanwhile, Levi notched birdies at Nos. 8, 12 and 13 to take the lead for good.

He added a birdie at the par-5 16^th, but bogey No. 17 to make the closing hole tense for his two-putt par.

“I always wondered what it would be like to be a national champion, what it would be like to be a celebrity as the No. 1 golfer in Canada or Poland or Romania. I’ll put this on my resume,” the colourful Levi said afterwards.

The knock on him was Levi simply didn’t practice enough. Rather than practice when he returned to his upstate New York home in between events, he enjoyed spending time with his wife Judy, daughters Michelle, Lauren and Chris as well as son Brian.

What spare time he had left after his family was divided between his hobby as a stock market speculator and his Giants.

“Some guys hunt and fish. I follow the stock market,” said Levi, who visited the Toronto Stock Exchange floor when he returned to the area the following spring to promote the 1991 Canadian Open.

There were no signs that Levi was about to enjoy a breakout year in 1990. He had not contended in any majors throughout his career and hadn’t won since the Atlanta Classic in June 1985.

Prior to his first win in 1990 in May, Levi had missed the cut in 6 of his previous 11 events. So he visited his long-time friend and instructor Rick Christie in Tampa Bay. He changed putters and made an adjustment to his setup.

Poof, Levi piled up wins at Atlanta, the Western Open in Chicago, Hartford and at Glen Abbey in four months.

“It was something I didn’t expect, but I also wasn’t surprised,” Levi said.

The win at Glen Abbey was his final career victory on the PGA Tour. But his impressive play put him on the U.S. Ryder Cup team a year later and on the 1991 U.S. World Cup team with Joey Sindelar.

He did win twice on the Champions Tour in 2003 and 2004. But again, joked that he never planned to play with the 50-and-over set until the stock market tailspin in the late 1990s and he lost “millions.”

“I never wanted to play out here,” Levi said about the Champions Tour. “But I’ve got a family to take care of, so here I am.”

He certainly took care of things at Glen Abbey 25 years ago.

MARKHAM, Ont. — Colombia got the rare chance to celebrate as a team on the 18th green after winning all three gold medals at the Pan Am Games’ inaugural golf tournament on Sunday.

Marcelo Rozo shot 13-under to win the men’s competition, while teammate Mariajo Uribe went 9-under to capture the women’s gold. Colombia blew away the field for the mixed team gold.

Uribe held up the yellow, blue and red Colombian flag on the hill above the 18th hole at Angus Glen Golf Club and then, along with teammates Mateo Gomez and Paola Moreno, doused Rozo with water after he finished the final round.

“At the end having all them on the 18th green hugging each other, making Colombia proud, it was pretty special,” said Rozo, who tied the course record Saturday with a 9-under 63. “Golf is not a team sport. Once you get that kind of feeling, you get excited.”

Rozo finished a stroke ahead of Argentine Tommy Cocha and Chilean Felipe Aguilar. Cocha won a two-hole playoff to earn silver, as Aguilar got bronze.

Canada’s Austin Connelly, a Dallas native with Nova Scotian roots, shot his fourth-consecutive subpar round to finish fifth at 8-under for the tournament. Connelly said having three medals instead of just first place to shoot for “brings another level of pressure.”

“It’s a much different experience than any other golf tournament I’ve ever played,” Connelly said.

Canada’s Austin Connelly (Anil Mungal/ Golf Canada)

American Andrea Lee won women’s silver and Paraguay’s Julieta Granada bronze. The United States, which leads the medal count, won team silver and Argentina bronze.

Golf made its Pan Am debut a year before returning to the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro for the first time since 1904.

“It’s pretty big for golf,” Rozo said. “This is a great step looking to that.”

Rozo gets a spot in next week’s RBC Canadian Open at Glen Abbey in Oakville, Ont., as another prize for winning gold. It’ll be his first PGA Tour event.

While the 25-year-old is still trying to make his way into Olympic contention, Uribe is right in the thick of it for Rio. She was smiling thinking about that and reflecting on triple gold at the Pan Ams.

“Colombia is not a team that gets a lot of medals, so it really matters to us,” said Uribe, who earned an exemption into the Canadian Pacific Women’s Open next month in Vancouver. “It’s fun… I’m getting ready for the Olympics.”

Golf Canada is getting ready for the Olympics, too. The Pan Am Games being on home soil represents progress toward that goal.

“To get this experience to prepare us for Rio and the Olympics next year, you can’t get that experience anywhere else,” Golf Canada CEO Scott Simmons said. “This is really going to help us.

“It’s helped the players, it’s helped the coaches, it’s helped our support staff. That’s probably the biggest benefit coming out of this week for us.”

After Connelly, Canadians Garrett Rank finished 15th in the men’s competition at 5-over and Lorie Kane tied for 19th at 23-over in the women’s event. Canada was eighth out of 16 countries in the team competition.

But federal sports minister Bal Gosal said all the feedback he has gotten from visitors has been positive. Angus Glen turned out to be a fitting reintroduction for the sport on an international stage.

“This venue, everything’s been great,” Gosal said. “(Visitors are) very happy with the course, they’re very happy with the fairways. … It’s been great.”

A rough stretch aside, Connelly got to enjoy a final round in the last group with a throng of hundreds of fans following. When the 18-year-old chipped in for an impressive par save on the sixth hole, he heard one of the biggest cheers of the day as the Canadian star on the course.

“It was hard to describe,” Connelly said. “The roar was incredible. It’s just nice having so many people behind me.”