PHOENIX – Stacy Lewis had some sound advice for parents Wednesday at the JTBC Founders Cup during a press conference with LPGA-USGA Girls Golf players.

“I always tell parents, `It’s the kids playing. It’s not the parents playing,'” said the third-ranked Lewis, the 2013 tournament champion. “That’s, I think, what kind of some of the big problems are is that they don’t let the kids play. My dad, he sent me off to get lessons with somebody else. There needs to be a line between a golf instructor versus your parent.

“I still tell my dad, even now, I tell him, `Dad, I just want you to be my dad. I want you to be there and give me a hug afterward whether I played bad or whether I played horrible and if I need your help, I’ll ask you.’

“What I do now is technically a job, and my dad doesn’t need to be involved in all of that. I want to keep that relationship good, so just remember that the kids are the ones playing and just let them play.”

Top-ranked Lydia Ko will play the first two rounds with U.S. Women’s Open champion Michelle Wie and Na Yeon Choi. They will open Thursday at 7:55 a.m. on No. 10.

Ko has two worldwide victories this year, winning the tour’s Women’s Australian Open and the Ladies European Tour’s New Zealand Women’s Open in consecutive weeks.

Choi won the season-opening Coates Golf Championship in Florida.

Past champions Karrie Webb, Stacy Lewis and Yani Tseng are playing together. They will go off the first tee at 12:51 p.m. Webb won in 2011 and 2014, Lewis in 2013 and Tseng in 2012.

Cheyenne Woods, Tiger Woods’ niece, is from Phoenix and lives in the area. She earned her tour card last season at Q-school.

“You don’t get many chances throughout the season to really be home,” Woods said. “When I can be home and compete at the same time, it feels so good. I feel really comfortable here in Phoenix. This is home for me, get to sleep in my own bed, have my family come out. So I’ve been looking forward to this event for a long time.”

Alena Sharp is the lone Canadian in the field. She tees-off at 1:24pm.

TORONTO – For an eight-year-old, Vanessa Borovilos has an impressive collection of trophies and medals, but the one that earned an invite to Augusta National Golf Club and the 2015 Masters is extra special.

The Grade 3 student from Toronto is one of three Canadians, among a total of 80 participants, 40 boys and 40 girls between the ages of seven and 15, who will tee it up in the Drive, Chip & Putt Championship on the Sunday before the Masters at Augusta National.

“It’s pretty amazing to be going to the Masters. We’re flying in an airplane which should be fun and I’m really looking forward to the competition,” says Borovilos, who started working with Coach Doug Lawrie from Focus Golf Group in Burlington, last summer and will play and train out of Trafalgar Golf & Country Club in 2015.

She is proving to be a fierce little competitor as she made it through three stages of qualifying in Michigan to punch her ticket.

“There’s a lot of standing around and waiting for this one, but to be going to Augusta during the Master and staying for a practice round it very cool,” says Borovilos, who started mini-putting at the age of two-and-a-half and had her first set of clubs by the time she was three.

Vanessa will not be the only Canadian competing in the girl’s 7 to 9 age division. Jayla Kucy from Camrose, Alta. won local qualifying in Dupont, Washington, a sub-regional event in Lacey, Washington, and then a regional final in Park City, Utah to qualify for the Drive, Chip & Putt Championship. Ryan Blair from Oakbank, Man. also won the regional finals of the boy’s 10 & 11 age bracket in Minneapolis, Minnesota to earn his spot in the championship.

Borovilos won two qualifiers at different courses in Michigan in June and August to advance to the regional final in September at Prestwick Village GC in Highland Michigan. There she won the overall title, with victories in chipping and putting – and she’s working on the driving for the Masters.

“It’s a lot of driving around to get to the different qualifiers. When you’re there, it’s a lot of waiting because they get two drives and you wait for everyone else, next it’s three chips and you wait again and finally they get three putts and that’s it, but for a trip to the Masters and to compete against the best from across the United States, it’s worth it and I think she’s going to have a great time at Augusta,” says her father Dino who will accompany Vanessa along with her mother and brother. There’s also a players’ dinner to attend at Augusta National the evening before the championship.

At only eight years of age, Vanessa is a seasoned competitor and traveller. She started playing the Canadian Junior Golf Association tours at age five against eight and nine-year-old, has played twice at US Kids World Championship including a trip to Pinehurst Resort, she has been to the Callaway World Junior Golf Championship in San Diego where she finished sixth in the six and under division and teed it up at Doral and PGA National as part of the First Tee Program in the United States.

To prepare, Vanessa trains three hours each Saturday with Coach Lawrie including some ping pong to work on her eye-hand coordination. Dad takes his daughter to the Golf Dome three nights a week to practice what they worked on during the coaching session.

“We have made some pretty big changes to her swing over the winter and I’m excited to see how it plays out at Augusta and into the summer,” says Lawrie, who is a Golf Canada CN Future Links Leader Facilitator. “She doesn’t like losing and she has that calmness and confidence around her when she’s competing that you don’t see in every youngster.”

When she grows up, Vanessa would like to be just like American LPGA star Lexi Thompson, who turned pro at the age of 15.

“I would like to jump into that pond, just like Lexi,” Vanessa told her father after watching Thompson win the Kraft-Nabisco Championship in 2014.

Regardless of how she does at Augusta in April, Vanessa has signed up for the 2016 Drive, Chip & Putt Championship.  If she’s successful at the sub-regionals in Buffalo, she’ll advance to the regional final at Oakmont Country Club in Pennsylvania and perhaps a return trip to the Masters in 2016.

Did you Know?

Canada has its own version of the Drive, Chip and Putt Championship that predates the Masters’ adaptation?

To learn more about Canada’s CN Future Links Junior Skills Challenge, click here.

Toronto – Canadian golfer Adam Svensson, winner of his last nine of 14 Division II collegiate starts, has turned professional and signed with SportBox Entertainment Group for worldwide management and marketing representation.

Svensson has inked deals with Acushnet/Titleist, J.Lindeberg and Freedom 55 Financial. He will also continue to be supported by Golf Canada’s through the Young Pro Squad program.

“After winning my last two starts, my gut was telling me it was the right time to make the move and turn professional,” said Svensson. “I feel my game is ready to be pushed to the next level and I am excited to challenge and better myself against the best players in professional golf.”

In addition to nine collegiate wins, the product of Surrey, B.C. is a two-time NCAA First Team All-American, 2013/14 Jack Nicklaus National Player of the Year, and was named the 2012/13 Phil Mickelson Award recipient as most outstanding freshman.

Svensson will focus his efforts on PGA Tour Canada and Web.com Tour events in 2015.

The Barry University alum spent two years on Golf Canada’s National Men’s Amateur Team following four years on the National Development Squad. He will once again transition his involvement with Golf Canada’s National Team program, becoming a member of the Team Canada Young Pro Squad.

TUSCAN, Ariz. – Canada’s Maddie Szeryk is quietly putting together quite the resume in her first season at Texas A&M and as a member of the National Amateur Squad.

On Tuesday, the 18-year-old shot her way up the leaderboard at the Wildcat Invitational at Sewailo Golf Club with a final-round 68, finishing in a tie for fifth place. Szeryk’s five-birdie effort lifted the Texas A&M Aggies to 5^th place team finish.

More importantly, Szeryk’s finish marks the fifth time the dual-citizen has placed inside the top-5 in her freshman season at Texas A&M.

The No. 14 ranked Aggies have now played in eight events this season, meaning that Szeryk is on pace to finish inside the top-5 in over 50% of events played—not a bad stat to have, especially for a freshman.

Szeryk has built up experience internationally as well—she finished T15 this past summer representing Canada at the Youth Olympics in Nanjing, Chi.

She will look to continue her trend next month when the Aggies head to Oxford, Miss., to tee-it-up at the Rebel Intercollegiate.

Click here for full scoring.

Fun watching @mszeryk over the last couple of days, 68 today & another top 5. Coming along very nicely @TheGolfCanada @aggiewomensgolf

— Tristan Mullally (@tmullallygolf) March 17, 2015

REDWOOD CITY, Calif. – Rory McIlroy now has something else that that once belonged to Tiger Woods – the cover of EA Sports’ latest video game.

Electronic Arts Inc. announced Monday that McIlroy will be the new face of its golf series.”EA Sports Rory McIlroy PGA Tour” is to be released in June and will be the first EA Sports series to use the new Frostbite technology that provides sharper pictures and eliminates load times between holes.

EA Sports built its PGA Tour series around Woods from 1998 until it ended its relationship with him in 2013 when Woods was still No. 1 in the world. McIlroy has been No. 1 since August. McIlroy and Woods shared the cover in 2011.

The game will be available for Xbox One and PlayStation 4.

UXBRIDGE, Ontario – The Golf Association of Ontario’s (GAO) 13^th edition of its online auction is now live at gaoauction.com.

Proceeds from the items sold will go towards the GAO’s junior golf initiatives.

Bidders can bid on tee times at private, semi-private and public courses from around the province. In addition, other great golf prizes including: sports memorabilia, equipment, clothing, and more are up for grabs.

The first week of items will run for 7 days and new items will be updated each Monday. The auctions, hosted through eBay, are open to anyone, with an eBay account.

The auction is made possible by generous donors from across the province, including GAO member courses and partners/sponsors.

TORONTO – Nike Golf will debut a new 30-second television spot (they are calling it a film) which features the Nike TW ’15 shoe and showcases Tiger Woods’s desire to always improve on his golf game.

The commercial will start running on Golf Channel March 16 and on ESPN on March 19.

The spot depicts men and women socializing in a stereotypical golf clubhouse setting, as Woods bypasses the revelry and makes his way to the practice range.

“To get better in anything, it takes drive. You have got to want to do it,” said Woods. “If you look at the greatest athletes or the people who have accomplished the most in life, they have always taken the initiative themselves.”

The Nike TW ’15 integrates Dynamic Nike Flywire into a Flyweave upper with a Nike Free outsole. Flyweave enables the creation of a woven one-piece upper that provides great strength-to-weight support where it is needed most based on the demands, or movements, of the sport. While strong and supportive, Flyweave is also incredibly lightweight and flexible.

The Nike TW ’15 is available at select retailers.

Here’s the commercial…

There’s been no shortage of excitement in the world of golf so far in 2015. This year, there has been a refreshing number of first-time winners at the highest level and we are definitely seeing a youth movement on both the PGA and LPGA.  However, in my opinion, this wave of young champions has been somewhat overshadowed by the abundance of holes-in-one reported this year. Just this past weekend at the Valspar Championship, Jonathan Byrd added his name to this growing list. From PGA veterans (the full list is available here) to LPGA pros; par 3 aces to par 4 aces; and even NCAA coaches making two holes-in-one within a span of three holes!

Last week, Virginia Tech coach, Carol Robertson, made back-to-back aces on par 3’s, with a par 4 separating the two shots. The odds of making two perfect shots in this fashion are apparently 67-million-to-one. For the full story, click here.

What are the odds of a single hole-in-one, you ask?  Many cite the chances of an average golfer making a hole-in-one at approximately 12,500-to-1 and the odds of a tour professional at around 2,500-to-1. To see a full list of the odds of making an ace, check out Golf Digest’s article here.

From a rules perspective, the Rules of Golf do not address the issue of the validity of a hole-in-one. It is up to the Committee to determine whether it is valid. Golf Canada recommends that a hole-in-one be considered valid in the following conditions:

1. If made during a round of at least nine holes, except that a hole-in-one made during a match should be acceptable even if the match ends before the stipulated round is completed.
2. If the player is playing one ball; a hole-in-one made in a practice round in which the player is playing two or more balls should not be acceptable.
3. If attested by someone acceptable to the Committee.
4. If made at a hole with a temporary tee and/or putting green in use, even if the Committee did not specifically define the teeing ground with tee-markers; the length of the hole at the time should be stated on any certificate.
5. If made in a “scramble” competition, which is played as follows: A side comprises four players. Each member of a side plays from the teeing ground, the best drive is selected, and each member plays a second shot from where the best drive is located, and so on.

Now you know the odds of actually making a hole-in-one and the recommended guidelines validating this feat. Good luck this season trying to add this to your list of golfing accomplishments.

SAO PAULO – Peter Malnati won the Brazil Champions on Sunday for second Web.com Tour title, birdieing the final three holes for a 5-under 66 and a four-stroke victory.

Malnati finished at 22-under 262 at Sao Paulo Golf Club. He earned $153,000 to jump from 88th to second on the money list, putting him in position to earn a PGA Tour card.

“This is a big win. This is a big event. That’s the best kind of stress ever,” said Malnati, whose wife, Alicia, caddied for him. “That’s so much fun, but it really is stressful. I don’t know the math but this is one of our biggest purses and it doesn’t guarantee me of anything, it does help a lot to get me back to the PGA Tour and that’s been my goal from the start.”

The former University of Missouri player also won the tour’s News Sentinel Open in Knoxville, Tennessee.

Julian Etulain (64), Henrik Norlander (64), John Mallinger (66), Timothy Madigan (66), Matt Davidson (68), Abraham Ancer (69) and Tyler Duncan (70) tied for second.

Canadians Brad Fritsch and Ted Brown failed to make the 36-hole cut.

PALM HARBOR, Fla. – Jordan Spieth and his world-class short game came up big in a playoff victory Sunday at the Valspar Championship.

Spieth capped off an afternoon of back-nine charges, clutch putts and unseemly par saves by making a 30-foot birdie putt on the third extra hole of a playoff at Innisbrook to beat Ryder Cup teammates Patrick Reed and Sean O’Hair.

“A crazy back nine,” said Spieth, who won for the second time in his PGA Tour career and fourth time worldwide to reach a career-high No. 6 in the world.

The 21-year-old Spieth was three shots behind with six holes to play when he made two birdies to catch a faltering Ryan Moore, and then saved par on his final three holes for a 2-under 69 to join the playoff. And these par saves were not what anyone would call routine.

With his right foot in the bunker and his left foot on grass well above the ball in the sand, he blasted out to 3 feet on the 16th. From deep rough on a hill, he hit a flop shot to a short pin to 6 feet to stay tied for the lead. And he holed a 12-foot par putt on the 18th that fell in the left side of the cup.

Reed was just as impressive with his short game to keep his hopes alive in the eighth and perhaps most compelling playoff on the PGA Tour this season. He buried a 30-foot birdie putt on the 18th hole for a bogey-free 66, pumping his fist as if he were still in Gleneagles at the Ryder Cup.

Reed was the first to finish at 10-under 274.

On the 18th hole in a playoff, he was buried in the lip of a bunker, blasted out to just under 10 feet and made par to stay in the game after Spieth missed from 10 feet. On the next playoff hole, the tough 16th, Reed had no chance well behind the green in grass so deep he could barely see his ball. That came out perfectly for another par.

Reed, who went the final 29 holes without a bogey on the Copperhead course, never had a chance to try for a third par save when Spieth hit the winner.

Not to be overlooked was O’Hair, who has had to earn his full PGA Tour card the last two years in the Web.com Tour Finals. The former RBC Canadian Open champion poured in a pair of big birdies on the back nine, including a 30-footer on the 16th, and made a tough par save on the 18th in regulation.

O’Hair had a 12-foot birdie putt for the win on the second extra hole, and the putt caught the right side of the cup.

Spieth earned a small measure of redemption against Reed, a friend and Ryder Cup partner. Reed beat him in a playoff at the Wyndham Championship in 2013 for the first of Reed’s four PGA Tour wins.

Only two players in 2015 have had at least a share of the 54-hole lead and went on to victory on the PGA Tour. Moore did not become the third. He holed a 7-iron on the sixth hole for an eagle to take a two-shot lead, and back-to-back birdies early on the back nine stretched his lead to three shots with six to play.

Moore went long and into thick rough on the par-3 13th and made bogey, and then dropped another shot on the 16th. He made one more bogey on the 18th when his hopes were gone, closed with a 72 and finished fifth.

That was the wrong direction to go with so many players charging to the finish line.

Reed ran into a pair of 12-foot birdie putts to get within one shot, and then made his big birdie on the 18th. O’Hair ran off four birdies in a six-hole stretch, and finished with a tough par. His drive went into the trees and his approach stopped against the collar of the green some 50 feet away. Using the blade of his wedge, he knocked it up to 5 feet and holed the putt for a 67 to join Reed at 274.

Spieth made a tough par save on the 12th, a 10-foot birdie on the 13th and a 30-foot birdie on the par-5 14th to tie for the lead, and then his short game saved him.

Henrik Stenson, in his Innisbrook debut, ran off three straight birdies and closed with a 67 to fall one shot short of the playoff.

Spieth came full circle at Innisbrook with the victory. Two years ago, his short game led to a birdie-par finish that paved the way for him to get a PGA Tour card after starting the season with no status. He went on to great things that year, including a victory as a 19-year-old and a spot in the Presidents Cup. And he hasn’t really stopped. Spieth went over $10 million for his career.

Nick Taylor carded his only above par round for the championship, a 1-over 72 Sunday, to tie for 24th at 3-under 282.

The other two Canadians in the field were David Hearn of Brantford, B.C. and Adam Hadwin of Abbotsford, B.C.

Hearn (70-73-71-73) finished 3-over and tied for 53rd, while Hadwin (68-75-75-76) was 10-over and ended the week 71st.