VANCOUVER – Canadian Pacific (CP), Golf Canada and the LPGA Tour announced today that CP has extended its title sponsorship of the Canadian Pacific Women’s Open for an additional two years, through 2018. Terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

As title sponsor of the Canadian Pacific Women’s Open, CP is committed to raising charitable dollars in the event’s host community through the CP Has Heart campaign in support of children’s heart health. Extending its title sponsorship through 2018 will allow CP to increase its charitable support of children’s heart health in the name of Canada’s National Women’s Open Championship.

“CP is proud to extend its partnership with Golf Canada as title sponsor of the Canadian Pacific Women’s Open and looks forward to continuing to make a difference in the host communities across the country,” said CP’s CEO E. Hunter Harrison. “Our support of the National Women’s Open has become a cornerstone of our community investment program, CP Has Heart, through which we have assisted a number of heart healthy programs from coast-to-coast.”

CP assumed title sponsorship of Canada’s National Women’s Open in November, 2013 with the inaugural Canadian Pacific Women’s Open conducted at London Hunt and Country Club in London, Ont. in 2014. This year’s 2015 Canadian Pacific Women’s Open will be played August 17-23 at The Vancouver Golf Club while the 2016 event will return to the Priddis Greens Golf and Country Club in Calgary.

“On behalf of Golf Canada, the LPGA Tour and Canadian golf fans from coast to coast, I want to thank CP, and especially CEO Hunter Harrison, for continuing to align their respected brand with our National Women’s Open Golf Championship,” said Golf Canada CEO Scott Simmons. “CP has become a driving force in supporting Canadian golf and we are thrilled to continue our partnership on the Canadian Pacific Women’s Open through 2018.”

In addition to its title sponsorship of the Canadian Pacific Women’s Open, CP has also partnered with Golf Canada in support of the National Amateur Team program – Team Canada – as well as Canada’s National Amateur Championships.  As part of its investment in Canadian golf, CP has also aligned its brand with the Golf Canada Foundation in becoming a Founding Partner of the

Team Canada Young Pro program which launched in 2014 and currently support six of Canada’s top up and coming professionals.

The $2.25 million USD Canadian Pacific Women’s Open is a premier event on the LPGA Tour schedule which draws arguably the strongest field on the Tour.

“For our players, this championship has become a must-play event with great hospitality as well as great history,” said LPGA Commissioner Mike Whan.  “Our success is based on partnerships and I’d like to congratulate both Canadian Pacific and Golf Canada on this two year title sponsorship extension.  With CP’s help, we’re proud to continue showcasing the LPGA Tour to millions of golf fans in Canada, across North American and around the world.”

First conducted in 1973, Canada’s National Women’s Open Championship has allowed the brightest stars of the LPGA Tour to shine on Canadian soil and inspire the nation’s next generation of female golfers.

Additional information regarding tickets, volunteer opportunities and corporate hospitality for the 2015 or 2016 Canadian Pacific Women’s Open can be found at www.cpwomensopen.com.

TOYOTA CITY, Japan – Four members of Team Canada’s Men’s Development Squad are ramping up to compete in the Toyota Junior Golf World Cup next week from June 16–19 at the Chukyo Golf Club (Ishino Course).

Leading the Canucks into battle is 18-year-old Étienne Papineau, who finished in a tie for 15^th in last year’s event to earn low-Canadian honours. The St-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Qué., native is riding the momentum of two top-5 finishes in CN Future Links Championships already this summer and will look to continue his strong play in Japan.

Also playing in his second World Junior Boys is Vaughan, Ont., native, Tony Gil. Last year, the 17-year-old University of Houston commit came out with a tie for 37^th place—helping Team Canada finish in seventh overall.

Rounding out the squad are two first-year Development Squad members, A.J. Armstrong of St. Albert, Alta. and Trevor Ranton of Waterloo, Ont. Ranton, 18, won the CN Future Links Pacific in May.

Quarterbacking Canada’s team is Lead Development Squad Coach, Robert Ratcliffe. The PGA of Canada Class ‘A’ member is entering his third year coaching the event and knows what to expect this week.

“The field in this event is always very strong and ultimately it’s a great test,” said Ratcliffe. “We have prepared well for this event and are confident we can put up some low numbers together as a team.”

Joining Ratcliffe is Toronto native Matthew Wilson, who was appointed as Team Captain. Wilson started his teaching career under the direction of former Team Canada Head Coach, Henry Brunton. He has since become the Director of Instruction at La Rinconada Country Club in Los Gatos, Calif., where he was named to the US Kids Golf Top 50 Teachers list in 2014 for his outstanding work with juniors. Wilson is acting in his first role as a Team Canada captain in an international event.

Canada is one of 15 teams competing in the 72-hole stroke-play event, which follows a four-players-count-three format and is being conducted for the 23^rd time.

Scoring will be available here.

Golf links fathers and sons in many ways.  For comedian Gerry Dee, it’s not surprising his introduction to the game came with a humorous twist involving his dad.  I ask the star and writer/producer of the CBC Series Mr. D, which was just renewed for a fifth season, about his first tee shot and stroll down the fairway.

“It’s a funny story,” he recalls.  “I was 12-years-old and a buddy asked me to play golf at Don Valley Golf Club in Toronto.  I called my dad to ask for his permission.  I said dad, ‘I’ve never been on a golf course and I’ve never tried it, can I go?’ Right away, he said no!”

To understand why a father wouldn’t let his son golf, you need the backstory.  First, Dee’s dad was very strict.  Second, before coming to Canada, the elder Dee was a policeman in his native Scotland.

“There was a very famous serial killer in Scotland named Peter Manual in the late 1950s and my dad was working when he was in the midst of his killing spree,” Dee explains.  “He killed a little boy on a golf course, so my paranoid dad was like, ‘no you can’t go golfing’ because he had this story in his head of this murderer.”

Dee wasn’t about to let his dad’s paranoia about this Scottish lunatic, which was ingrained on his brain, prevent his pre-teen longing to hit the links.  “I hung up the phone, but then I called him right back.  It was probably the first time I ever defied my dad.  I told him I’m going golfing and he was like, ‘what?’ I said, ‘I want to go and I’m going!’ It was the first time I ever remember talking back to my dad and, in so many ways, it turned out to be the greatest thing I ever did.”

The comedian’s golfing debut was not memorable for the score (he shot 136, which included a few mulligans), but he vividly remembers that round.  He was addicted with the sport.  The next year he enrolled into a sponsored program at Bayview Golf & Country Club where he paid just $150.  “My parents didn’t have to be members because they couldn’t aff ord it,” he explains.  “I had five great years at Bayview.  I won the men’s club championship twice – once as a 17-year-old and once when I joined for a year as an adult.”

Dee is lucky to still have his dad around. Today, they joke about that life-changing phone call from 34 years ago.

“Over the years, he’s come to watch me golf a few times,” says Dee.  “Back in 2001, I was trying to qualify for the Ontario Amateur at Toronto’s Donalda Golf Club.  I said, ‘Dad you’ve never seen a tournament, why don’t you come?’ So, he did.  He followed me around the golf course and it was the worst mistake I ever made!  Here is a guy that can’t break 100 and he was yelling at me things like: ‘Why did you do that?  Don’t use that club?  I told you to hit it in the water!’ I was like, ‘I told you to hit it in the water?’ You don’t say that!’

It’s another one of those father/son moments Dee will never forget.  After six holes, he was six over.  What turned out as a fortuitous omen from Mother Nature, there was a thunderstorm and everyone had to run for shelter and wait out the rain.

“At the time, my dad was around 70 and there was a two-hour rain delay,” Dee recalls.  “So, my dad said he was going to go home.  After he left, I went birdie-birdie, and then made par on the remaining holes to make the cut.  It was the only Ontario Amateur I ever made.  I got home and my dad said, ‘I don’t know how you did that as you were terrible when I was with you!’ It was funny, but I have a lot of great memories of golf with my dad and I’m thankful for that.”

Over the years, Dee has also taken his dad golfing a few times.  The comedian laughs that, despite the disparity between their ages and their handicap factors – Dee consistently shoots in the 70s and his dad is lucky to break 100 – his father still tries to give him lessons on the course.

“My sister took up golf and she’s better than him too,” Dee adds.  “It’s just a dad being a dad.  He can’t beat me, but that’s just the nature of being a dad.  I’m the same way with my kids.  It’s just nice to get out on the course with him.”

Today, Dee is a father of three children and enjoys sharing his love of the game with his son and two daughters.  “I knew what golf did for me as a kid, so as a dad I’ve exposed my daughters and my son already to the game,” he says.  “We are fortunate that I can afford to join a golf club now.  My daughters have already taken lessons.  I think the discipline, the manners, the rules, and the etiquette, and everything that is instilled in golf is the best thing for kids that a dad can teach their kids in a sport and I’ve seen that already.”

What else is it about golf, besides these generational ties and memorable family moments, does Dee love about the sport?  It’s mainly about the valuable life lessons golf teaches.

“I’m very competitive and what I love is there is a score in golf,” he explains.  “I think that is why so many kids cheat and take mulligans because you want to improve that score.  When you get to a point where you realize you are just cheating yourself by moving your ball, that’s when you become a real golfer.”

Golf is also addictive.  “You play well one day and the next you balloon,” Dee adds.  “I remember a day when I was 16 where I hit 16 greens in regulation.  I don’t remember what I was doing and I’ve never done that again in my whole life.  There is something in golf that always pulls you back—that one good hole that makes you go, ‘Ah I think I’ve got it!’”

Does his chosen career as a comedian suit golf I wonder, asking whether it helps to have a good sense of humor when you are golfing?  “I think it helps you to forget because in comedy you can have a bad show or a bad audience and you need to have a short memory,” Dee says.  “Golf is no different. You can’t three-putt a hole and think about it for the next 10 holes.  You have to have a short memory and just take the good with the bad; it’s the same with the entertainment business.”

Over the years, Dee’s profession has allowed him to play some of the world’s best courses, including Augusta National where he teed it up the day after Adam Scott won the Green Jacket in 2013.

“I forget how lucky I was,” he says recalling this experience.  “I wish I had taken more pictures of me standing on various bridges, by that plaque, etc. I went as a sports reporter and I remember talking to Bob Weeks and saying, ‘I recall there is a draw for the media to play the course and if you win, you get to play the course.  He said, ‘Ha!  I’ve been here 17 years and never been drawn once.’

“So, I flew home on Friday, but I had put my name in the draw,” he continues. “I called at 7 a.m. on Sunday morning and talked to the woman at Augusta to check if my name had been drawn and she said, ‘Yes!  You tee off tomorrow!’ So, I got on a plane, made a connection and I drove there.”

Dee played the front tees in a foursome that included a Quebec reporter, Japanese reporter and Irish reporter.  “The pins were still where the Sunday pins were,” he recalls. “It was my first round of the year and I shot 82 with a quadruple bogey!  I treated it like my own little Masters.”

When he’s not touring the country performing live, or filming Mr. D out on the East Coast in the summer, you’ll find the comedian teeing it up at The National. “It’s the toughest course I’ve ever played,” he says.  “I’ve played Kiawah Island, played Oakmont and played Augusta, but from the back tees I’ve never played a harder course and a lot of guys on the PGA TOUR that have played it will tell you that too.”

Other golf highlights for Dee include doing an event once with Moe Norman, interviewing Gary Player and seeing Jack Nicklaus at the Masters.

“There are so many great things golf has done for me,” he concludes.  “It’s the greatest sport out there.  I love hockey, but if I had to pick a sport for my kids I would pick golf any day over hockey for so many reasons … it’s been so good to me.”

RYE, N.Y. – Brooke Henderson has been working hard at earning money on the LPGA Tour to earn her playing privileges for 2016.

On Monday, the 17-year-old Henderson and older sister Brittany, who is playing on the developmental Symetra Tour this season, will turn to raising money for others.

Team Henderson will host the fund-raising Magenta Mortgage Pro-Am in their hometown of Smiths Falls at the Smiths Falls Golf and Country Club where the sisters developed their emerging talents.

The pro-am will feature pros from the Canadian Women’s Tour who will be competing in their second of three tournaments in Smiths Falls on Tuesday and Wednesday.

The money raised will be used to help Smiths Falls Bears hockey player Neil Doef, who suffered a spinal cord injury while playing at the World Under 17 Championship, and his family, the Lanark County Support Services (where the Hendersons’ mother Darlene worked) and the Team Henderson 110% Club.

“We always think it’s important to give back and to do what we can to help others. It’s very important and a value of our family,” said Brooke after completing her third round at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship on Saturday.

“It’ll be a fun day and there will be a lot of exciting things will happen. It’ll be nice to give back to Neil Doef his family and also to my mom’s work, Lanark County Support Services and help with a new program that they are trying to build and also to help my sister and me out on the road, as well.

“It’ll be a great day and hopefully we’ll raise a lot of money.”

Doef was paralyzed below the waist after being hit at the U17 Championships. Through extensive physiotherapy he has regained some feeling his legs.

There has been an outpouring of support across Canada for the popular player.

“He’s a really close friend of mine. He’s an awesome guy and his family is incredible, super nice people,” said Brooke. “As much as the town has done for him and the local area and all of Canada, is really amazing. We’re hoping to just be a little part of that.”

The Canadian Women’s Tour is in its 14^th season and will offer five exemptions into the Canadian Pacific Women’s Open Aug. 17-23 at the Vancouver Golf Club.

The winner of each of the three events will be given an exemption and two other exemptions will be awarded to the top two finishers on the Tour’s Order of Merit not otherwise exempt.

There is a total of $180,000 up for grabs while the winner of each 36-hole event wins $10,000.

Michelle Piyapattra of Corona, Calif., won the first leg at the Glencoe Golf and Country Club near Calgary in May with a 4-under par total of 140, three shots better than Seul-Ki Park.

Piyapattra also won the first even on the 2014 Canadian Women’s Tour.

The Women’s Tour has also been important in providing a stage for players like Brooke Henderson to hone her skills.

She won last year’s Ontario event and the 2014 PGA Women’s Championship of Canada.

The final 2015 event will be the PGA Women’s Championship of Canada, conducted in partnership with the PGA of Canada, at the Burlington Golf and Country Club in Burlington, Ont., July 20-22.

The top five finishers on the Order of Merit also earn direct entry into the second stage of LPGA Qualifying.

It was another rainy day at Cooke Municipal Golf Course in Prince Albert, Sask., for the final round of the 2015 CN Future Links Prairie Championship. The conditions were challenging and the competition was tight, but Alexander Smith and Alisha Lau emerged victorious in the season’s third CN Future Links Championship.

Alexander Smith entered the final round sporting a 5-stroke lead, but a tough start and a strong push from his competitors threatened his attempt at a wire-to-wire win. The Calgary, Alta., native found his form and shot 2-under 34 on the back nine to secure the victory. He signed for a 1-over-par 73 to claim the championship title and finish the 54-hole competition at 213.

“I didn’t start off very smooth, I made a few bogeys. I had a birdie on three and didn’t make my first par until five, but I felt I got it back together on the back nine,” said Smith of his slow start. His steadier back nine reaffirmed the 16-year-old’s confidence in his abilities. “This win further proves to me I can compete with anyone and compete at the top of the leaderboard.”

On Smith’s heels were British Columbia runners-up Logan Yanick of Courtenay  and A.J. Ewart of Coquitlam who finished two strokes back of the winner. They both shot 1-under-par 35 on the front nine, but their concerted efforts in the latter half of the round truly challenged the leader. Yanick notched four birdies between holes 12 to 16; Ewart added three birdies on the back nine to post the low score of the day – a 3-under-par 69. Tying Ewart for the day’s low round was Cory Selander. The Prince Albert, Sask., native climbed into a tie for fourth place at 219 with Keaton Gudz of Victoria, B.C.

On the Junior Girls side, Alisha Lau entered this championship hoping to improve upon her runner-up finish last year to fellow Team Canada Development Squad member, Jaclyn Lee of Calgary. Lau’s strong and consistent play earned her the 2015 CN Future Links Prairie Junior Girls title.

“Last year Jaclyn won, she is a close friend and a close competitor and to have my name next to hers after winning is really nice,” Lau shared. “It has shown me that it is still early in the season and I just have to keep fighting and anything can happen.”

The Richmond, B.C., product credited her strong start when reflecting upon the victory. “I had a pretty good start on the front nine, I was 2-under and I hadn’t made a bogey so I was cruising along pretty well, but the back was a little bit bumpier. I had to start grinding pretty hard. Mary was putting up a really good fight and it’s not over until it’s over.”

Lau’s first bogey of the day came on hole 15. By the 18^th, Mary Parsons had climbed to within a single stroke – reclaiming the distance at which she had begun the day. Lau drained her putt for par on the final hole to secure the win and record her lowest round of the competition with a 1-under 71 to finish at 218.

Parsons, who finished a stroke back of the lead, also carded a score of 71 for the final round, including just two bogeys and a trio of birdies. In third place at 6-over 222 was fellow British Columbian Shirin Anjarwalla of Nanaimo who concluded the competition with an even-par 72 round.

Earning direct entry into the field at the 2015 Canadian Junior Girls Championship are Alisha Lau and the five runners-up from the CN Future Links Prairie Championship. The national championship will be contested at Deer Park Golf Course in Yorkton, Sask., from August 4-7. With the win, Lau has also earned an exemption into a future event on the Canadian Women’s Tour.

Alexander Smith and the second to sixth place finishers from the CN Future Links Prairie Championship have punched their tickets to Vaudreuil-Dorion, Que., to compete in the 2015 Canadian Junior Boys Championship hosted by Summerlea Golf and Country Club from August 2-6.

The six 2015 CN Future Links Championships are presented by Golf Canada in partnership with CN to support the growth of junior golf in Canada. Trevor Ranton and Grace St-Germain – both members of Team Canada’s Development Squad – claimed victories at the series-opening Pacific edition. Ontarians Jack Simpson and Alyssa Getty were crowned winners in their home province’s edition of the series. Up next on the schedule is the CN Future Links Quebec Championship to be played July 2-5 at the Domaine Château-Bromont, in Bromont, Que.

Full results and additional information on the 2015 CN Future Links Prairie Championship can be found here.

MEMPHIS, Tenn. – Fabian Gomez of Argentina won his first PGA Tour title Sunday at the St. Jude Classic, beating England’s Greg Owen by four strokes.

Gomez, 36, started the round tied with Owen atop the leaderboard at 9 under with 23 players within four strokes. Gomez shot 4-under 66 for a 267 total for the win. He carded a five birdie-one bogey round for his first PGA title in his 70th start in a season already featuring three top 25s.

Taking home the winner’s check of $1.08 million is a nice turnaround for Gomez who had to earn back his tour card through the Web.com Tour last year. When he rolled in a 30-footer for birdie on No. 18 for the final margin, Gomez celebrated by holding up his putter and pumping his right fist.

Owen finished with a 70 for the round.

Phil Mickelson remains winless since the 2013 as he tied for third (65-272). He finished with a flourish, rolling in a 25-footer for birdie that nearly lipped out on No. 18. Mickelson finished tied with Seung-Yul Noh (65), Michael Thompson (66), Matt Jones (68) and Brooks Kopeka (70).

Boo Weekley (65), Billy Horschel (65), Russell Knox (66) and Chad Campbell (68) all tied for seventh at 273.

Mickelson used this event at TPC Southwind, sponsored by FedEx, to tune up his game for the U.S. Open at Chambers Bay in Washington. He carded eight birdies Sunday with three bogeys and says he got the confidence boost he wanted.

“I’m feeling a lot better about heading into the U.S. Open after this week than I did after last,” Mickelson said.

This event belonged to Gomez who honed his game with tips from his mentor Jose Coceres along with many rounds with Angel Cabrera. He already had won twice on the PGA Tour Latinoamerica in Buenos Aires in 2013 and 2014. The last time he had a piece of the 54-hole lead on the PGA Tour, he tied Jordan Spieth for second at the 2013 Puerto Rico Open.

Starting with the lead this time, Gomez fell a stroke back of Owen with his lone bogey of the day on No. 5 and was two strokes behind before Gomez birdied the par 3 No. 8. He tied Owen at 10 under when the Englishman bogeyed No. 9.

Gomez took the lead for good at 11 under when he stuck a shot within 8 feet on the par-3 11th with the island green. He clinched his victory on the par-5 16th with his fourth birdie despite hitting into the greenside bunker. Gomez blasted out to within 2 feet for the tap-in birdie and a three-stroke lead.

Jones was only two strokes behind Gomez after a birdie on No. 13, but the Australian couldn’t roll in a birdie putt from 10 feet on the par-3 14th and then had a bogey on No. 15 after hitting into the rough twice.

That left Owen with the only chance to run down Gomez.

The veteran playing his 214th PGA event just missed rolling in a 30-footer for birdie on 13, and he couldn’t get up and down from a greenside bunker on No. 14 after hitting 12 feet past the hole. Owen rolled his par attempt just right of the hole for third bogey, giving Gomez a three-stroke lead with four holes to play. Owen birdied No. 15, but it wasn’t enough.

David Hearn of Brantford, Ont., completed his final round with a 70 to finish tied-45.

DIVOTS: The last player from Argentina to win on tour was Cabrera at the 2014 Greenbrier Classic. … This is the second straight year a leader has held on for the win on Sunday. Ben Crane won last year to protect his lead, but Brian Gay in 2009 was the only other third-round leader in the past decade to finish with the win.

HARRISON, N.Y.  – Inbee Park won her third consecutive Women’s PGA Championship on Sunday – and accomplished a whole lot more.

Park also regained the No. 1 ranking in the word, surpassed idol Se Ri Pak for the most majors by a South Korean player with six, tied the LPGA Tour record for the lowest score in a major in relation to par at 19 under and, in her own mind, cemented a place in women’s golf history.

“Obviously, putting my name alongside like Annika Sorenstam or Patty Berg, legends of golf, just being a part of history of this golf tournament, I feel extremely honored, and I can’t believe that I just did it,” Park said.

The 26-year-old Park closed with a bogey-free 5-under 68 at Westchester Country Club, finishing the season’s second major five strokes ahead of 22-year-old compatriot Sei Young Kim. Park had 22 birdies and only three bogeys in 72 holes.

“I played great the last three days,” she said. “I couldn’t believe myself. I made no bogeys for three days.”

Park and Sorenstam (2003-2005) are only players to win the event previously called the LPGA Championship three consecutive years. It also was Park’s fifth victory in the last 12 majors.

Park won the previous two years in playoffs in Pittsford, New York, taking the 2013 event at Locust Hill and the 2014 tournament at Monroe Golf Club.

Park birdied the par-5 final hole. She chipped her third shot to 5 feet, then sank the putt and threw her arms in the air as a fan yelled “Three-peat!”

It was her 56th consecutive hole without a bogey.

Kim, a two-time winner this season as a rookie, started the day two strokes back. She bogeyed the third and the fourth holes, then reeled off four consecutive birdies, holing a long putt on the eighth to pull within a shot of the lead.

That was as close as she would get.

A three-stroke swing on the ninth hole put Park in charge. She made a birdie putt, then watched as Kim three-putted for double bogey. Kim finished with a 71.

“Everything fell apart at the ninth hole,” Kim said through an interpreter.

Lexi Thompson was third at 12 under after a 66. She had eight birdies on her first 13 holes.

Thompson pulled within two strokes with her birdie on the 13th. But she missed a chance on the par-5 15th hole, hitting her tee shot well right and scrambled to make par. She then bogeyed the 16th to end her chances.

“(I) just take a lot of positives from it knowing that I can pull off a round on Sunday here,” Thompson said. “It means a lot and I’m going to take a lot of confidence going into my upcoming tournaments.”

Brittany Lincicome, the winner of the first major of the year at the ANA Inspiration, finished fourth at 11 under. She birdied the final hole for a 68.

Seventeen-year-old Canadian Brooke Henderson tied for fifth with Morgan Pressel at 10 under. Her $132,725 check will help in Henderson’s bid to earn a tour card for next year. She needs to either win a tournament or finish with the equivalent of the 40th player on the money list to avoid qualifying school after being denied an age exemption.

Fellow Canadian Alena Sharp signed for a final round 76 to finish tied for 65th.

The shot of the day came from Hyo Joo Kim with a hole-in-one on the 149-yard 14th hole. She finished with a 71 to tie for ninth at 8 under.

With No. 1 Lydia Ko missing the cut for the first time in 54 tries, No. 2 Park needed to finish just 29th or better to retake the top spot she last held in February. It will be her third stay at the top of the rankings. She was to the No. 1 for 59 weeks in 2013.

Park earned $525,000 for her third LPGA Tour victory of the season and 15th overall.

She joined Sorenstam, Pak, Patty Sheehan, Nancy Lopez, Kathy Whitworth and Mickey Wright as the only players to win the event at least three times. Wright won it four times.

“I think I always dreamed myself being a part of history, leaving my name, even before I die, there is my name on this trophy” Park said. “There’s a name on the U.S. Open trophy. There’s my name on great championships.”

BELMONT, Mass. – For about 10 minutes on the front nine in the fourth round of the Senior Players Championship, Bernhard Langer was almost in trouble.

The defending champion three-putted on the third hole at the Belmont Country Club – his first bogey in 48 holes – and the eight-stroke lead he had to start the day was down to six. But he eagled the next hole, then coasted to a six-stroke victory in the third Champions Tour major of the year.

“I enjoy playing with a big lead. But you’ve still got to pay attention. It’s not like it’s over,” said Langer, who claimed $405,000 and moved into second on the tour standings. “You just never know what happens. This game is so amazing: It’s brutally tough when things go bad, and enthralling and thrilling when things go right.”

A two-time Masters champion who won five times on the Champions Tour last year, Langer was winless this year before going wire-to-wire to earn his fifth major on the over-50 circuit. He is the first golfer since Arnold Palmer win in 1984 and ’85 to successfully defend his title in the Senior Players.

“It was a magical week,” Langer said. “Obviously, to do something that Arnie did is amazing.”

Kirk Triplett shot 64 – a score that would have been good enough for a course record at the beginning of the week – to finish six strokes back at minus-13. Starting the day 10 strokes back, he birdied six of seven holes around the turn to win the only competitive battle: for second place.

“I thought: `If I make six more birdies, Bernhard’s going to be nervous,'” he joked. “It’s not the first time this guy’s done this. … Most of us didn’t get out of the gate enough to stay with him.”

Senior tour points leader Colin Montgomerie shot 68 on Sunday to finish in a tie for third after spending the morning at Massachusetts General Hospital being checked out for chest pains. Doctors cleared him in time to get him back to the course for a 1:09 p.m. tee time despite a detour or two to get around a closed bridge downtown.

“I blame the British for building the roads,” the 51-year-old Scotsman said. “Bloody awful.”

Montgomerie earned 322 points in the Charles Schwab Cup standings and has 1,616 for the season – 172 more than Langer, who moved up to second. Russ Cochran (69) and Joe Durant (67) were also in the three-way tie for third.

“Best of luck to Bernhard,” Montgomerie said. “One day it will stop – hopefully sooner than later. But he’s amazing, and all credit to him.”

Langer shot matching 65s in the first two rounds at the par-71, 6,812-yard course and then added a 67 on Saturday to open an eight-stroke lead over Cochran heading into the final round. A bogey on No. 3 might have opened the door, just a bit.

But Langer then put his second shot on the par-5 fourth hole about six feet from the pin, and knocked it in for an eagle. The 57-year-old German earned his 24th victory on the Champions Tour, tying him with Miller Barber for fourth all-time.

“Playing next to Bernhard, he’s pretty solid,” Cochran said. “It just proves that if you want to win out here, you’ve got to do all things.”

DECATUR, Ill. – South Korea’s Jimin Kang won the Symetra Tour’s Decatur-Forsyth Classic on Sunday when rain washed out the final two rounds.

Kang shot an 8-under 64 on Friday at Hickory Point. The 35-year-old former Arizona State player earned $16,500, though it doesn’t count on the money list because the event that was declared unofficial after only one round was completed.

“I wish we could have played 36 holes more, but unfortunately we couldn’t,” Kang said. “I’m happy, but we were all looking forward to playing more golf.”

Kang won the Mission Health Wellness Classic last month in North Carolina and is second on the money list. The two-time LPGA Tour winner is making a comeback from an allergy problem that attacked her immune system and made it difficult to breathe and walk on her own.

“My game is really, really getting better,” Kang said.

Canada’s Maude-Aimee Leblanc was second after a 67. She was one of 66 players who finished the first round Sunday.

WESTLAKE, Ohio – Shane Bertsch won the Rust-Oleum Championship on Sunday for his third career Web.com Tour title, beating Lucas Lee by a stroke at Lakewood Country Club.

The 45-year-old Bertsch closed with a bogey-free 5-under 66. He had four birdies in a five-hole stretch on the front nine and added another on the par-4 13th before a rain delay.

Bertsch finished at 18-under 266 and earned $108,000.

Lee shot a 65. The Brazilian tied for second last week in the Greater Dallas Open.

Money leader Patton Kizzire tied for third at 16 under after a 67, his fifth top-five finish of the season. Michael Kim also finished at 16 under, shooting a 68.

Third-round leader Peter Malnati had a 72 to tie for fifth at 14 under.