GARSON, Ont. — Entering the final day of the Golf Association of Ontario’s (GAO) 2014 Investors Group Junior Boys’ Championship at Timberwolf Golf Club, Waterloo’s Matt LeMay was three shots and four spots back of the lead. However, a spectacular round of five-under (67) catapulted the 18-year-old Whistle Bear Golf Club member to the title.

The final round began with Carter Simon and Charles Corner in a tie for the lead at even par. But, LeMay would have a bogey-free round to help him make up ground. LeMay birdied the first hole and then pared the rest of the front nine. He began the back with a birdie on No. 10, followed by an eagle on 11. LeMay sealed the win with a birdie on 18 to claim the championship.

After the victory, LeMay spoke about how he felt like he was in the zone for the final round.

“I felt good, I hit it well but could have hit it better, there is always that,” he said. “You can always hit it better, but I just really felt in control. The course seemed easy to me today.

“It feels good to win, I haven’t won in a while especially a GAO event. The course (Timberwolf) got me the first day, as I was six-over, since then I fought back. Heading into the day I knew I could come back, I have done it in other tournaments so there was no other thought in my head. Now to have my name on the trophy with so many other great names, is an amazing feeling.”

As for Corner, he began the day with birdies on the first two holes. However, his round included five bogeys and he would finish at two-over  after a 74. His score still was good enough to hang on for second place at two-over for the tournament.

Following Corner was a three-way tie for third place. Third round co-leader Simon fell behind early going two-over on the front nine. On the back, he would lose another stroke and finished the day three-overm and three-over for the tournament.

The low round of the day, next to LeMay’s, went to Josh Montgomery. Montgomery began the day with an eagle and despite a trio of bogeys he still managed to card a three-under 69 to earn a share of third place at three-over for the tournament.

Spencer Dobbs was in contention throughout the week. His final round finished at one-over (73) and he too earned a bronze medal at three-over.

The trio that tied for third were forced into a playoff to see who would be the final representative for Team Ontario for the Inter-Provincial competition at the Canadian Junior Boys’ Championship, July 29 – Aug.1 at Legends on the Niagara’s Battlefield Course. After the playoff, Dobbs was the last man standing and he will join LeMay and Corner as the representatives.

For more information on pairings and the leaderboard, click here.

THUNDER BAY, Ont. – Scottsdale, Arizona’s Brandon Harkins shot an 8-under 64 at Whitewater Golf Club on Thursday, tying the course record to take the first round lead at the inaugural Staal Foundation Open presented by Tbaytel.

Harkins, currently in his fourth season on PGA Tour Canada, led by one shot over last week’s The Players Cup champion and Order of Merit No. 2 Tim Madigan of Rio Rancho, New Mexico and Stockton, California’s Joshua Stone.

“It was a pretty steady round. Not a lot went wrong,” said Harkins, who has three top-10 finishes in his PGA Tour Canada career. “It wasn’t flashy. I just hit a lot of greens and didn’t really miss anything inside of 10 feet. I just kind of plodded my way around and didn’t get ahead of myself, which is always good. It’s kind of cliché, but that’s what I did.”

The 28-year old made five birdies in a seven hole stretch on his opening nine and said that a solid start on the demanding 10^th, 11^th and 12^th holes at Whitewater, where he started par-par-birdie, set him up for a solid round Thursday morning.

“I just kind of got a little momentum going there and made a few putts, and it just always seems like once you get a few to go, a few more happen, and that’s how it went,” said Harkins, whose best finish on PGA Tour Canada is a solo second performance last year at The Great Waterway Classic, where he shot a final round 62.

Madigan, a shot behind Harkins, has been on a tear of late on PGA Tour Canada with top three finishes in three of his last four starts, including his breakthrough win last week in Winnipeg. He kept the momentum going Thursday with a 65, the 20^th time he has broken par in 26 rounds so far on PGA Tour Canada.

“The course was there for the taking, but you really had to strike it well today and I was fortunate enough to do that,” said Madigan, adding that he tried not to approach this week any differently following his win last week. “It’s just another day at the office. I just tried to go out and shoot the lowest score that I could and luckily it was 65, so I’m just having fun.”

The 24-year old Stone carded eight birdies and just one bogey to post the best round of his rookie season on PGA Tour Canada.

“I stayed really patient and made a lot of putts,” said Stone. “I got off to a great start on my front nine, again just telling myself to stay patient. I played real solid and just got a few putts to fall.”

Sean Shahi of Laguna Niguel, California and Jeffrey Corr of Apopka, Florida were one shot behind Madigan and Stone with a pair of 6-under 66s, while open qualifier Ryan Terdik of Brantford, Ont. was low Canadian at 5-under, tied with five others.

It would be permissible for Joel Dahmen and Tim Madigan to get a bit ahead of themselves as they prepare to make their first PGA Tour starts at the RBC Canadian Open next week. The pair have both secured spots in the top three on the Order of Merit through this week and will be exempted into the national open, but both insisted their focus is on this week in Thunder Bay.

“It does no good for me to be thinking about the RBC Canadian Open, so all of my effort is just focused on playing a good tournament here,” said Madigan, the current Order of Merit No. 2. “I’m not even worried about next week because this is the tournament I’m playing in right now.”

Dahmen admitted that his thoughts have wandered towards Montreal, but that he has a renewed focus on maintaining his spot atop the Order of Merit thanks to Madigan’s strong play of late. After his win at the Syncrude Boreal Open presented by AECON, Dahmen was $28,815 ahead of second place, but now leads by just $5,418.

“You try not to treat it as a warm up, but in your mind you’re thinking about it being your first PGA Tour event. With Tim only a few grand behind me though, every shot counts out here, so I’m doing my best to put in a good week here,” said Dahmen.

Golf Canada National Amateur Team member Chris Hemmerich, who won the Ontario Amateur Championship last week, opened with a 4-under 66.

NEWTON, Kan. – National Amateur Team member Garrett Rank has fallen in the round of 16 at the U.S. Amateur Public Links on Thursday, losing his match 3 & 2.

Rank made it interesting down the stretch, pulling to within 1 thru 13 holes, but couldn’t hang on as Bryon Meth of San Diego, Calif. proved to be too much for the 26-year-old.

Rank is playing strong golf of late – he is coming off a second place finish at the prestigious Players Amateur tournament just a week earlier. That finish catapulted the Elmira, Ont. native into the World Amateur Golf Ranking’s (WAGR) top 100, where he currently sits at No. 98. He will look for that number to drop even more after his performance this week in Kansas.

This finish marks the second consecutive strong showing for Rank at the U.S. Amateur Public Links – he earned medalist honours at last year’s event.

Click here for live results

SYLVANIA, Ohio – Laura Diaz got off to a surprising start at the Marathon Classic.

Diaz shot a 9-under 62 for a four-stroke lead in Thursday’s opening round.

U.S. Open champion Michelle Wie shot a 2-over 73, 2008 Marathon winner Paula Creamer was at 72 along with another perennial contender at Highland Meadows, Morgan Pressel.

The defending champion, Spain’s Beatriz Recari, and the world’s No. 1-ranked player, Stacy Lewis, were well down the list at 1 under.

“I definitely didn’t have my best out there,” Lewis said.

Diaz sure did.

“I’m very happy to shoot 62; I would be lying if I said I wasn’t,” she said. “It’s nice to get a good feeling after round one. To see the ball going in the hole, I think that’s always a boost.”

Despite being winless in the past 12 years on the LPGA Tour, she stunned the field by birdieing her first five holes in a round that included nine birdies and no bogeys. She made a 30-footer on her fifth hole, the 14th. Then she stepped back and enjoyed the moment.

“I kind of chuckled to myself – well, out loud,” she said.

She had a chance at tying her career best of six consecutive birdies, but missed a 7-footer on the next hole. She added four more birdies the rest of the way to grab the big lead.

Diaz, who won twice in 2002 and played on four U.S. Solheim Cup teams, has cut back on her competitive schedule in recent years while raising her two young children with her husband, Kevin Diaz.

She hasn’t finished inside the top 25 in a tour event since 2010. But she has regained a bit of her touch the past two outings, tying for 49th at the U.S. Women’s Open at Pinehurst and then tying for 64th in Arkansas the following week. She then took off a few weeks to stay at home, watching her 8-year-old son Cooper’s swim meets.

Daughter Lily, 4, hit the road with mom this week.

“I’ve been playing better this year than I’ve played in the last four years, but I’m still not where I would like to be,” she said. “But it’s going in the right direction.”

Sharing second were second-year pro out of LSU Austin Ernst and Lee-Ann Pace, a South African who has won eight times on the Ladies European Tour.

Leading the group of six players at 67 were Mo Martin and Lydia Ko.

Martin stole the show at last week’s Women’s British Open by capturing her first victory.

She is still basking in the afterglow of that momentous win.

“I’m pretty tired and it still kind of feels like a dream,” she said. “I was joking around with the trainers, saying, `Can you massage here? Because my face hurts a little bit from smiling.'”

Ko is a two-time winner of the Canadian Women’s Open while an amateur who has already notched her first pro win this year on tour.

Joining Martin and Ko at 4 under were Katie Burnett, Mariajo Uribe, Lindsey Wright and Marissa Steen.

At 68 were 2012 Marathon winner So Yeon Ryu, Ai Miayazato, Julieta Granada, Ohio State grad Emma Jandel, Kelly Tan, Canada’s Rebecca Lee-Bentham and Paola Moreno.

Quebec’s Maude-Aimee LeBlanc was a shot back after a 2-under 69.

HOYLAKE, England – Ernie Els hit a spectator in the face with his opening tee shot at the British Open on Thursday, shaking up the two-time champion for the rest of his first round at Royal Liverpool.

The man’s injury and Els’ subsequent triple-bogey 7 on the first hole were just the start of his problems. The Big Easy will have a big task trying to stick around for the weekend after carding a 7-over 79, including 42 on the front nine.

Els said he was “quite rattled” after he realized the man, who he estimated was in his 60s, was bleeding profusely from a shot that Els said hit the spectator directly in the face.

“There was blood everywhere,” Els said. “It was like a bullet coming at him. I obviously felt pretty bad about it. It wasn’t nice. I was trying to hit it left, and should have told the starters to move the people back on the left side, but I didn’t do that.”

Els said he would make inquiries about the man’s recovery. Tournament officials said the spectator was not seriously injured.

On the first green, Els missed a bogey putt from about eight inches, bizarrely backhanded the subsequent foot-long putt just past the hole and tapped in for his triple bogey.

“Yeah, I was kind of finished. I started to miss short putts, it was just a nightmare,” he said.

Els said he may have “put the jinx” on his playing partners – defending champion Phil Mickelson shot 74, and Masters winner Bubba Watson had a 76.

Watson said he felt Els was affected by the man’s injury.

“When we got to the green Ernie said he hit somebody right in the jaw and he said it wasn’t good,” Watson said. “And you could tell Ernie was shaken up by it. You’re not trying to hit a bad shot in, but when you hit somebody like that it’s not a good scene, and it’s very heart-breaking. I’m not saying that’s why he struggled on that hole, but I’m pretty sure that’s what it was.”

There was a bit of comic relief on the 18th where Els had to gently prod a frog away from the tee box with his driver, prompting a smile.

Els won his British Open titles 10 years apart – at Muirfield in 2002 and at Royal Lytham in 2012. He also has two U.S. Open trophies. He’s playing his 24th British Open, where he has seven top-five finishes, and has missed the cut just three times.

That total could well be four after Friday.

“I played the front nine in 7-over par, (on) a perfect day, and that’s just unheard of,” Els said. “Hopefully we’ll get it tomorrow.”

Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose.

It means the more things change, the more they stay the same. And in a sense it’s applicable to what has transpired at The Royal Montreal Golf Club and on its famed Blue course since it last held the RBC Canadian Open in 2001.

The historic and picturesque layout, which is set to host this year’s championship July 24-27, has undergone changes since 2001 when the club hosted the championship for the second time in four years. Changes that were part of a major renovation of the Blue course by renowned course designer Rees Jones and completed ahead of the 2007 Presidents Cup which was the first time the biennial match play championship between the International and United States teams was played in Canada.

The course on which American Scott Verplank won for the first time in 2001, a victory which assured him a spot on the U.S. team for that year’s Ryder Cup which ultimately was postponed for a year because of the September 11^th terrorist attacks in the U.S., and the same course where 1997 saw Tiger Woods miss the cut for the first time as a professional, is different in a number of respects from what players will see this time.

The Blue course remains a par 70 in total, but it has been lengthened by nearly 300 yards to 7,153 yards and the most notable change has been the switch of the 12^th and 13^th holes, previously a par 3 and a par 5, respectively. The former is now a par 5 at 570 yards, and the latter a 224-yard par 3.

At the time of this writing only nine of the players in the field for this year’s tournament have a familiarity with the new-look Blue course – Stewart Cink, Ernie Els, Jim Furyk, Lucas Glover, Retief Goosen, Trevor Immelman, Hunter Mahan, Vijay Singh, and Canada’s Mike Weir – because of having played for their respective International and U.S. squads in the Presidents Cup.

“I don’t think the players who were there in 2001 or even in ’97 will really notice the changes,” says RBC Canadian Open tournament director Bill Paul. “There is a little more yardage than in ’01, but I think those who were there then, or even in ’97, or have heard of it, will know how the course played and now plays: an old and traditional style where the course is all right in front of you. That will be the appeal more than anything.

“Obviously the greens will be the biggest change from the previous Canadian Opens in terms of their size and the movement within them,” says Paul. “And the setup for this year’s Open will be a bit more difficult than it was for the Presidents Cup. We’ll have more rough.

“By in large it’s the same kind of course as in 2007, but I think as a player how you play match play and how you play stroke play are two different things.”

Upon completion of the renovation, Jones expressed satisfaction with the changes and felt the players headed to the Presidents Cup would be called upon to create opportunities to score with each swing of the golf club.

“The players will have to make a lot of decisions in the course,” Jones said at the time.

No doubt the same will be true this time for the RBC Canadian Open.

A glance at the Blue course hole by hole:

No. 1 – par 4, 444 yards

It’s a slight uphill dogleg left where a 300-yard plus drive is needed to carry a fairway bunker in the left. The green is kidney-shaped, narrows at the front while the back left slopes away.

No. 2 – par 4, 385 yards

This is a dogleg right that rolls slightly downhill and is driveable from the tee especially with help of the prevailing wind. The green runs perpendicular to the fairway and in addition to being guarded by deep bunker on the left, features several distinct spines and slopes to the right.

No. 3 – par 4, 437 yards

A dogleg to the right, it requires an accurate second shot to an elevated green which slopes to the back and guarded by bunkers on both sides.

No. 4 – par 4, 501 yards

The most difficult hole on the front nine usually plays into the prevailing southwest wind. The dogleg left uphill has a narrow landing area between fairway bunkers and a green protected by bunkers on the left and right front sides.

No. 5 – par 3, 203 yards

Another kidney-shaped and elevated green, there are bunkers left and right.

No. 6 -par 5, 570 yards

The dogleg right has a large green which sits on a plateau and is angled toward the fairway. Deep bunkers guard the front and there is a series of more at the back on this the first of only two par-5s on the entire course.

No. 7 – par 3, 153 yards

It’s the shortest par 3, but the green is small, narrow and protected extremely well.

No. 8 – par 4, 394 yards

It’s a short dogleg left that and usually plays downwind. The green is generous, but not entirely visible from where players hit approach shots.

No. 9 – par 4, 437 yards

Similar to No. 1 as a slight dogleg left although not uphill, a carry of 320 yards off the tee is needed to take a bunker out of play on the left side of the fairway near the landing area. The elevated green is narrow at the front and has deep bunkers on both sides.

No. 10 – par 4, 460 yards

A large pond on the left side starts 160 yards from the green and continues all the way to it. Trees line the right side and the green features a “waterfall style surface” with the height increasing from front to back.

No. 11 – par 4, 476 yards

The drive from the tee is through a column of trees poised like sentries on either side. The hole doglegs slightly to the right and flows uphill to a sneaky green with ridge running down the centre of it.

No. 12 – par 5, 570 yards

The first of two new holes and a dogleg left, it plays downhill but has a generous landing zone bordered by bunkers on either side. The green is perched and protected by a complex of bunkers on the left side.

No. 13 – par 3, 224 yards

It’s the second of the two new holes created during the renovation before the 2007 Presidents Cup. It’s also the longest of four par-3s on the course and plays downhill to another narrow and well-bunkered green.

No. 14 -par 4, 369 yards

Water on the left and extends all the way to the green and trees line the right side of the fairway which narrows into a small landing area bunkered on the right. The approach shot is in to a green that also is narrow, small in the front and bunkered on the right.

No. 15 – par 4, 448 yards

Water again is a factor on the left side of the fairway and in front of and around the green. Bunkers on the right and a pot bunker at the back left between the green and the pond guard a long and narrow putting service.

No. 16 – par 4, 456 yards

Driver off the tee might not be the best option on a hole with a large pond that runs all along the left side. The approach shot is played over water to an elevated green that is protected by a huge bunker.

No. 17 – par 3, 160 yards

The prevailing wind blows across the green toward the pond on the right. The green is narrow and bunkered on the left side.

No. 18 – par 4, 466 yards

The 18th is the most challenging green on the course. Water is in play on the left side off the tee and the landing area where the fairway shifts to left and move slightly uphill to a plateaued green.

This is the hole where Weir in dramatic fashion won his Sunday singles match against Tiger Woods at the 2007 Presidents Cup.

HOYLAKE, England – Rory McIlroy had everything go his way Thursday in the British Open.

A lovely summer day in England with abundant sunshine and minimal wind allowed him to attack Royal Liverpool. He made half his six birdies on the par 5s and kept bogeys off his card. And on the day Tiger Woods made a promising return, McIlroy took the lead with a 6-under 66, his best score in nearly two years at a major.

Now if he can only find a way to get to the weekend.

McIlroy either set himself up for a good run at the claret jug or another dose of Friday failures. In what already has been an unusual year for golf, no trend is more mysterious than Boy Wonder going from awesome to awful overnight.

Six times in his last eight tournaments, he has had a nine-hole score of 40 or higher on Friday that has taken him out of the mix.

“It’s not like I’ve shot good scores in first rounds and haven’t backed them up before,” McIlroy said. “I’m used to doing that. I just haven’t done it recently. We’ll see what tomorrow brings and what weather it is and try and handle it as best I can.

“Hopefully,” he said, “it’s just one of those things and I’m able to turn it around tomorrow.”

Woods also would like to keep moving in the right direction. He got off to a troubling start with two quick bogeys, nearly made another one on the fourth hole, and then looked like a 14-time major champion when he ran off five birdies in six holes toward the end of his round for a 69.

Not bad for guy who had back surgery March 31, who started taking full swings only a month ago and who had not played in a major in 11 months.

“It felt good to be back out there competing again,” Woods said.

Such pristine weather – how long it lasts is the big unknown – gave just about everyone a chance to score. Matteo Manassero broke par in The Open for the first time since he was a 16-year-old amateur. He began his round by hitting into a pot bunker, blasting out to the fairway and holing out from 160 yards for birdie. He made five birdies on the back nine, three on the par 5s.

That made him low Italian – barely.

Francesco Molinari and Edoardo Molinari have games that are nothing alike, though they shot the same score. They were in a large group at 68 along with Jim Furyk, Sergio Garcia, Brooks Koepka, Shane Lowry and Adam Scott.

Scott stands out as the No. 1 player in the world, and because he was the only player in the top 10 who played in the afternoon when the wind made Hoylake tougher. Scott went out in 31 and was slowed only by two bogeys on the back nine.

Even in tame conditions, the British Open can mete out punishment – to players, to spectators and even a golf club.

Phil Mickelson was trying to get back to even par when he hooked his approach to the 18th beyond the out-of-bounds stakes down the right side of the hole and had to scramble for a bogey and a 74. He hasn’t broken par at a major since winning at Muirfield last summer.

That still doesn’t top the bad day of Ernie Els. His opening tee shot hit a spectator in the face, and the sight of so much blood shook the Big Easy. When he got to the green, he missed a 1-foot putt, and then carelessly tried to back-hand the next one into the hole and missed that one. The triple bogey sent him to a 79.

Henrik Stenson knocked a 30-foot birdie putt off the 12th green and made double bogey, and then took two hacks out of the shin-high grass left of the 17th fairway. Walking to his next shot, he snapped his gap wedge over his thigh like a baseball player – Bo Jackson comes to mind – who had just struck out with the bases loaded.

Both Canadians in the field fared well on Day 1 of golf’s oldest major.

David Hearn shot a 2-under 70 and was tied for 19th in his debut at The Open. Graham DeLaet was close behind, carding a 1-under 71 to place him in the group tied for 33rd.

Through all this activity, two names came to the forefront – McIlroy and Woods, both trying to restore their games from different circumstances.

McIlroy’s only victory this year was at the BMW PGA Championship, where he started his week by breaking off his engagement with Caroline Wozniacki. He could have had more chances to win except for that 40 on the front nine at Quail Hollow, the 42 on the front nine at The Players Championship and the 43 on the back nine at the Memorial.

He met with Jack Nicklaus, and the topic of his freaky Fridays came up.

“I didn’t mention it to him,” McIlroy said. “He mentioned it to me – `How the hell can you shoot 63 and then 78?’ No, I think what we talked about was just holding a round together. And he was never afraid to make a change in the middle of the round … to get it back on track.”

The trick for McIlroy is to not get derailed in the second round. For the year, he is 55-under par in the first round and 15-over par in the second round.

Woods gave a light fist pump when he rolled in a 30-foot putt from just off the green on No. 11. He then hit a beautiful approach to 6 feet for birdie on the 12th. That put him under par in a tournament for the first time since March 9, the final round of Doral. OK, the sample size is small – that was the last tournament he played until returning to Congressional three weeks ago after back surgery.

Even so, he was playing with such rhythm late in his round that he might have wanted to keep going. That makes Friday a big day for Woods, too.

Woodstock, Ont. – A strong contingent of the world’s top female amateur golfers will compete July 21-25 in the 101st playing of the Canadian Women’s Amateur Championship at Craigowan Golf and Country Club in Woodstock, Ont.

The championship will feature 156 of the top Canadian and international female amateurs contending for the Duchess of Connaught Trophy. This year, 13 players ranked inside the top-100 in the world, including No. 2 ranked amateur and defending champion, Brooke Henderson of Smiths Falls, Ont. highlight the strong field.

“We are very excited about this year’s Canadian Women’s Amateur Championship as it features some of the world’s strongest competitors,” said Golf Canada Tournament Director Mary Beth McKenna. “The golf course will challenge these players as they vie for the title and those coveted exemptions into the 2014 Canadian Pacific Women’s Open and U.S. Women’s Amateur.”

Last year, Team Canada’s Henderson, 16, captured the 2013 Canadian Women’s Amateur Championship by six strokes over Anne-Catherine Tanguay of Quebec. Already this season, she has won five amateur titles – the Junior Orange Bowl, South Atlantic Amateur, Scott Robertson Memorial, the Porter Cup and the Ontario Women’s Amateur. In addition, Henderson has excelled on the professional stage, winning the 2014 Canadian Women’s Tour Ontario stop and finishing T10 at the U.S. Women’s Open and T29 at the Kraft Nabisco Championship. Leading into the championship she sits as the highest ranked Canadian in the world on the professional Women’s Rolex Rankings at No. 188.

The strong field heading to Woodstock, Ont. will also include Su-Hyun Oh of Australia, Mexico’s Gabriela Lopez and Annie Park of Levittown, N.Y. who all rank inside the top-12 in the world.

Craigowan Golf and Country Club played host to the 2009 Ontario Men’s Amateur Championship where former World. No. 2 ranked amateur Matt Hill took home the prestigious title. This year marks the first time the club has hosted a national amateur championship since the 2005 Canadian Junior Boys Championship.

“It’s always an honour to have the opportunity to host a national championship and it has been many years of planning and the members and staff at Craigowan are extremely excited to host such a talented international field of players,” said Adam Hagen, General Manager at Craigowan. “There have been numerous hours of preparation by many dedicated volunteers over the last several months to be ready for this event and there is an amazing buzz around the course and club as well as in the entire community of Woodstock.”

Team Canada’s National and Development squads will also bring their full rosters to the event. Jennifer Ha of Calgary, Augusta James of Bath, Ont. and Brittany Marchand of Orangeville, Ont. are all ranked inside the top-100 in the world and will contend for the title alongside their teammates Henderson and Tanguay. Jaclyn Lee of Calgary, Valerie Tanguay of St-Hyacinthe, Que., Naomi Ko of Victoria, Taylor Kim of Surrey, B.C. and Sabrine Garrison of Calgary will represent Team Canada’s Development Squad.

The Canadian Women’s Amateur Championship also features a Mid-Amateur competition and a Mid-Master competition. The Mid-Amateur Championship will be awarded to the lowest player over 25 years of age while the Mid-Master competition will be open to players over 40 years of age. An inter-provincial team championship will also take place in conjunction with the first two rounds of stroke play; Team British Columbia won the championship in 2013.

Additionally, the 2014 Canadian Women’s Amateur champion earns an exemption into the 2014 Canadian Pacific Women’s Open at London Hunt and Country Club in London, Ont. and the 2014 U.S. Women’s Amateur Championship.

Practice rounds will be held Monday, July 21 with championship play following Tuesday, July 22 through Friday, July 25 with 18 holes of stroke play each day. After 36 holes, the field will be cut to the low 70 and ties. Any tie after 72 holes will result in a hole-by-hole play-off.

Starting times, post-round results, full field list, and live scoring are available here.

HOYLAKE, England – Even when he’s not the favorite, Tiger Woods is still the show at the British Open.

Woods earned that attention by piling up majors at a faster rate than anyone in history, and the attention is just as great now because his recent past includes back surgery and his immediate future is more uncertain than ever. ESPN plans to show his entire round online Thursday.

Not to be overlooked at golf’s oldest championship, however, is a new generation of stars.

Rickie Fowler and Harris English will be playing ahead of him. Two groups behind will be Jordan Spieth and Hideki Matsuyama. They are among 25 players who share a bond that speaks to the state of golf. Woods has never won a major during their professional careers.

Yes, they saw his dominance on TV. They just never experienced it.

They were not around for the decade when Woods won majors with regularity, sometimes by a record score, sometimes by a record margin. They missed the days that were so Tiger-centric a player couldn’t get through an interview without being asked something about Woods.

“Tiger ruined a lot of guys’ lives,” Charles Howell III, a longtime friend of Woods who lived through those times, said earlier in the year. “He caused a lot of people some sleepless Sunday nights. But he also motivated an entire generation behind him.”

Howell’s point was that while the next generation might have been in awe of Woods, being outside the arena allowed them to study him without getting scarred. They learned from the way he worked. They were more prepared than the generation before them.

The talk at this British Open is that it is more open than ever.

But then, that’s been the case since Woods won his last major six years ago. Since that 2008 U.S. Open, 19 players have won majors, and no one has won more than two. In the 24 majors leading up to his last major, Woods won six, Phil Mickelson won three and no one else won more than one.

“Looking at the different amount of winners in the last five years at the major championships, we’re seeing so many players win,” Henrik Stenson said Wednesday. It’s so competitive. At some point there might have been 20 guys battling out for it. And now it feels like anyone in the field can win if they have a great week. So it’s definitely tighter.”

Stenson, No. 2 in the world and among the favorites this week, will be playing alongside Woods for the opening two days.

“He’s just one of the guys I need to beat if I want to do well this week,” Stenson said. “But it’s a good start if you know you can beat him.”

Woods is playing his first major of the year because of March 31 back surgery. Returning to Royal Liverpool was always the target – he won his third claret jug on these links in 2006 when it was brown and fast, not green and slower as it is this year. Woods came back sooner than he expected, missing the cut at Congressional three weeks ago in what had the feeling of a 36-hole rehab assignment.

He feels healthy. He feels strong. And he still commands a presence.

That much was clear when Woods played only two holes Wednesday as spectators scrambled for a view. He brings energy and excitement to a golf tournament.

Does he bring intimidation?

The Open is his next opportunity to see if he can regain the mystique that a younger generation has yet to experience. Matt Kuchar, who played a practice round with Woods on Sunday, doesn’t think it will take much. He’s not sure Woods ever lost it.

“The kids today grew up idolizing him,” Kuchar said. “He gets back on form again, I don’t think that intimidation factor is gone at all. These are the kids that grew up watching him and wanting to be him.”

Kuchar said it can be intimidating to play alongside, although Patrick Reed sure wasn’t flustered having Woods in the group ahead of him at Doral, and Spieth didn’t looked rattled when he shot 63 at Torrey Pines (the North Course) with Woods in his group.

Is there a difference between watching dominance on TV and seeing it in person?

“You’re saying a different intimidation for the guys who are now just coming up and just watched it on TV as opposed to my generation that were actually losing by 10 to it?” Kuchar said with a laugh. “I’m not sure. If I was to go shoot baskets with Michael Jordan right now, I would be pretty intimidated. So it’s probably similar. The guys that played against him and got scored 40 on probably have a similar feeling to me in the awe that surrounds a guy like that.”

It all unfolds on Thursday, where the only mystery greater than Woods in the English weather. The final day of practice featured sunshine and rain. Hoylake when it’s green is there to be attacked – it’s the only course on the Open rotation with four par 5s. The greens are not severe. The fairways are relatively flat, which makes them more fair.

All eyes will be on Woods, and there’s nothing unusual about that. The difference is that no one is sure what they will see.

HOYLAKE, England – The Royal & Ancient Golf Club will hold a business meeting next week to determine whether to allow club members to vote by proxy for its historic September vote to have female members.

Club rules require members to be present to vote but R&A secretary Peter Dawson said Wednesday at Royal Liverpool that “it’s clear that the majority of R&A members feel that postal voting would be appropriate in this case. The rules of the club do not cater for postal voting and, therefore, those rules would have to be changed for a postal vote to be held legitimately.”

Dawson announced in April that the R&A would vote Sept. 18 whether to allow female members for the first time in its 260-year history. The club has about 2,400 members around the world, meaning the issue could be decided by only a few hundred members who live near the club if the rules aren’t changed.