PITT MEADOWS, B.C. – Keaton Gudz of won the British Columbia Golf Junior Boys’ Championship presented by Canadian Direct Insurance on Friday with a five-under-par 283 after four rounds of fierce competition.

It came down to the final hole. Tied with Trevor Yu of Vancouver at 4-under with one hole left to play, it looked like a playoff may be imminent, but the 15-year-old from Victoria, B.C. showed incredible composure hitting the clutch birdie putt to claim the title.

This year is the first year that Gudz participated in the Junior Boys’ Championship. He finished tied for 10th in the 2013 British Columbia Golf Bantam Boys’ Championship and tied for 34th in the 2013 Juvenile Boys’ Championship.

“I improved a lot over the winter and had some good scores in the start of this year,” he said. “I was looking good coming into this tournament and I just played really well.”

Gudz entered the final day of competition after an incredible five-under-par 67 took him to just a single stroke back of Yu and Chris Crisologo of Richmond, B.C., who were tied for the lead. His fantastic performance carried on into the final round, starting with a first-hole birdie. He briefly ran into some trouble bogeying the 435-yard par-4 number 16, but for the fourth day in a row, capped off his round with a birdie on the final hole.

“I wasn’t really expecting anything,” said Gudz. “I just stayed loose and played as good as I can I guess, I was really happy.”
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Yu finished tied at second with Curtis Chan. The 17-year-old playing out of Marine Drive Golf Club never dropped lower than second place and played consistently all week shooting 69-71-72-72. He entered the Championship fresh off of a win at the CN Future Link Western Championship last week.

Chan played a remarkable final round, finishing the day 7-under par. He bettered his third round score by 10 strokes to find himself in the top three. Chan will not represent BC at the Canadian Junior Boy’s Championship as he is already committed to the Boys’ Junior America’s Cup which conflicts with nationals July 29- August 1.

Graham DeLaet, Canada’s top ranked male professional golfer, will be sporting red and white each round when the 2014 RBC Canadian Open takes to The Royal Montreal Golf Club later this month.

Here’s a look at exactly what he’ll be wearing.

Top 10 Greenside Bunker Shots on the PGA Tour

Check out the top 10 shots greenside bunker shots on the PGA Tour (excluding majors), featuring heartbreaking shots, plugged lies and clutch finishes.

Little Rapids, Nfld. (Golf Canada) – Humber Valley Resort will play host to the final CN Future Links Championship event of 2014 – the CN Future Links Atlantic Championship – which will be held July 13-16, with a practice round being held Sunday, July 13.

The 54-hole stroke play championship will feature some of the country’s top junior golfers aged 11-18. Players will vie for titles in a Junior Boys and Junior Girls division, respectively.

“We are looking forward to finishing off the CN Future Links regional series on the East Coast,” said Tournament Director Cam Crawford. “For many of the competitors this event will be their first CN Future Links tournament of 2014. It will be exciting to see all that the juniors in the Maritimes have to offer.”

Play will take place on Humber Valley Resort’s River Course, which was ranked as the 9^th Best Modern Course in Canada by Golfweek in April 2014. The course was also the only Newfoundland course to make ScoreGolf’s Top 100 Canadian Golf Courses list in 2012.

“Our management, staff, and course crew have been busy preparing the course and clubhouse to welcome the athletes and their parents to the resort,” said Host Club Tournament Chair Heather Oke. “The future of golf lies in the athletes who compete in these tournaments and we want them to enjoy their golf experience here at Humber Valley.”

Defending CN Future Links Atlantic champion, Ryan Nowe of Bridgewater N.S., will be present in the field again this year. Nowe grabbed the title last season with a seven stroke victory in 2013 and also claimed second place in the 2013 Nova Scotia Junior Championship. The third place finisher at CN Future Links Atlantic in 2013, Myles Creighton of Digby, N.S., will also look to pick up the champion title this year.

In the Junior Girls division, CN Future Links Atlantic veterans include Rachel Cormier of Rothesay, N.B., Claire Konning of Indian Mountain, N.B., and Bailey Carr of Charlottetown, P.E. The trio placed in the top-15 last year, and will look to improve their standing at this year’s tournament.

The top six competitors in the Junior Boys division of each CN Future Links Championships will earn exemptions into the 2014 Canadian Junior Boys Championship, which will be contested July 28 – August 1 at Legends on the Niagara’s Battlefield Course in Niagara Falls, Ont.  The Junior Girls champion from each CN Future Links Championship will earn an exemption into the 2014 Canadian Junior Girls Championship, which runs July 28 – August 1 at Thornhill Golf and Country Club in Thornhill, Ont.

Starting times, post-round results and a full field list are available online.

The CN Future Links Junior Golf Championships are part of CN’s ongoing partnership with Golf Canada and their commitment to junior golf. Focused on supporting safe and fun activities that have a positive impact on children’s health and well being, CN’s investment into CN Future Links is helping to increase grassroots junior golf participation in communities across Canada.

With school out until September, parents across Canada are constantly trying to keep their kids entertained over the summer months. You can head to the public pool, or visit the local park…again. But why not try something new that both parents and children will enjoy?

Take a Kid to the Course Week, developed by the National Golf Course Owners Association of Canada, provides parents with the opportunity to introduce their children to the sport and play alongside each other. Forget the park where parents are often left watching their children from the bench, a trip to your local course is fun and healthy for everyone.

The hundreds of participating courses across the country not only offer free golf to children under 16 with a paid adult, but many courses will also provide additional programs such as junior clinics, free range balls, free junior club rentals, and parent/child tournaments for the duration of the week.

Take a Kid to the Course Week runs from July 7-13^th, 2014. For more information and a list of participating courses click here.

The PGA of Canada recently announced the launch of the PGA of Canada Trade-In Network.

The new national program enables golfers to trade-in their used golf clubs at any participating PGA of Canada Trade-In Network golf shop and apply the value of their trade-in towards the purchase of new golf equipment.

The program is closely based on a model which has proven very successful in the United States, where more than 12-million golfers to-date have tapped the value of their current used clubs in order to get into the latest technology at their local PGA Professional-staffed golf shop.

The PGA of Canada anticipates Canadian golfers will be equally as enthusiastic about stepping up to better equipment in the most economical way.

With the recent launch of the program, all PGA of Canada Professional-staffed golf shops now have the option to accept trade-ins towards new purchases. Most are just beginning to actively promote the new service to their members and customers.

As with all new consumer services, raising awareness is vital.

PGA of Canada Professional Lee Drydek, who has been actively promoting trade-ins at The Club at North Halton in Georgetown, Ont., has seen a very positive response to the trade-in opportunity from his customers.

“Everyone is aware they can trade-in their used cars and cell phones when it’s time for an upgrade, but they’re often surprised to hear they can do the same with their golf clubs,” Drydek says.

Drydek says that trading-up is the best way to stay current.

“Most of us wouldn’t consider hanging on to our cellphones for more than a couple years, yet many players have clubs in their bags that are several years behind in terms of their game-improvement technology,” he says. “An old cell phone will still make a call, but the new ones are so much easier to use and more powerful. It’s much the same with golf clubs. Trading-up is a great way for golfers of all skill levels to get into new equipment that will improve their performance, and by extension, their enjoyment of the game.”

The process of trading-up is made to be simple. Golfers can visit the PGA of Canada’s Trade-In Network website (http://tradein.pgaofcanada.com) to look up the trade-in value of their used clubs, print a trade-in estimate, and go to their local participating PGA of Canada Trade-In Network golf shop to receive a credit towards a new purchase. If no participating golf shop is nearby, golfers can contact the PGA of Canada Trade-In Network and they will facilitate the shipment of your trade-ins for direct payment.

Oakville, Ont. (Golf Canada) – Golf Canada is proud to announce the names of the athletes set to represent Canada in the Youth Olympic Games, taking place in Nanjing, China from August 16 – 28, 2014.

Representing Canadian golf will be Team Canada Development Squad member Tony Gil, 16, of Vaughan, Ont. and Maddie Szeryk, 17, of Allen, Tex.

Gil and Szeryk will be accompanied to Nanjing by Robert Ratcliffe, lead coach with Team Canada’s Development Squad. Ratcliffe has international playing and coaching experience and has worked with Golf Canada’s National Team program since 2007.

“It is very exciting to announce Tony Gil and Maddie Szeryk as the first Canadians ever selected to represent Canadian golf at the Youth Olympic Games,” said Jeff Thompson, Golf Canada’s Chief Sport Officer. “Both of these talented competitors are eager to succeed in representing Canada on the international stage as we prepare for golf’s inclusion in major international multi-sport events such as the Youth Olympics, 2015 Pan Am Games and the 2016 Olympic Games.”

The inclusion of golf in the 2014 Youth Olympic Games marks the first time the sport has been included in this particular event, and the first time golf has been included in an Olympic event since 1904 when George Lyon brought the gold medal home to Canada. Golf will return to the Summer Olympic Games in 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Tony Gil
2014 marks Gil’s first year representing Team Canada as a member of Golf Canada’s Development Squad. Prior to joining the National Team, Gil was a member of the Golf Association of Ontario’s (GAO) Under-17 Provincial Squad He finished tied for 12^th at the 2013 Ontario Amateur Championship and 5^th at the 2013 Ontario Junior Boys Championship. Since joining Team Canada, Gil continues to post strong results, including wins at the CJGA International Junior Challenge and the GAO Investors Group Junior Spring Classic. He also recorded a 6^th place finish at the prestigious South American Amateur and is coming off of a memorable experience at the Toyota World Junior where he finished tied for 37^th.

Maddie Szeryk
Szeryk, a GAO public player, made her mark in 2013 with three junior championship victories. Most notably, Szeryk won the 2013 Canadian Junior Girls Championship by an impressive 14 strokes. She also claimed victory at the 2013 CN Future Links Ontario Championship and the CJGA/AJGA Junior Championship. Szeryk, a dual-citizen with family ties to Ontario and Texas, recently secured her Canadian citizenship. Her 2014 results include appearances in both the USGA Junior Girls Championship and the North Texas LPGA Shootout. In addition, she won the 2014 AJGA Thunderbird International Junior in a playoff and finished third at the AJGA Under Armour/Hunter Mahan Championship.

HOYLAKE, England  — Mark O’Meara has withdrawn from the British Open because of an ailing elbow.

O’Meara won The Open in 1998 at Royal Birkdale to become the first player since Ben Hogan to win two majors in one year in his 40s. He also won the Masters.

His agent, Peter Malik, said in an email that O’Meara’s elbow has been hurting on and off since the Masters in April. He had another MRI last week and doctors recommended rest. O’Meara decided instead to play the U.S. Senior Open this week at Oak Tree in Oklahoma.

O’Meara was concerned that the firm turf of a links course at Royal Liverpool could do more damage.

He was replaced in the field by Ross Fisher. Canada’s David Hearn now becomes the first alternate.

EDMOND, Okla. – Colin Montgomerie declared Bernhard Langer the favorite heading into the U.S. Senior Open.

After 18 holes, Montgomerie may well have seized that position himself with a 6-under 65 to lead at the end of Thursday at Oak Tree National.

The Scotsman started on No. 10 and birdied Nos. 14, 15 and 16 on the way to a 33 on the back nine. He birdied six, seven and eight to finish strong in oppressive heat and humidity.

“That was the key to the round, the three birdies in a row on the front nine, my back nine,” Montgomerie said. “To birdie six, seven, eight was good. That got me to the position I am now.”

Marco Dawson was second after a 66, and Mark Brooks was third after shooting 68. Langer was one of five golfers tied for fourth with a 69.

Dawson, in his first Senior Open, started on the back nine and shot 2 under, then was steady on the front nine before scoring birdies on seven, eight and nine. The 50-year-old said it was one of the two best rounds he’s played in his six Champions Tour events. He was pleased with the performance, especially considering the course’s challenging reputation.

“It just seemed to happen, you know, birdie, birdie, birdie the last three holes, so I ended up 5 under,” he said. “I could have shot 2 under and still would have been a good round.”

Brooks birdied the 11th, 12th, 13th and 14th holes to go 4 under on his first five holes. He shot 3 under on the back nine and even on the front nine.

“I’ve been playing here since high school,” he said. “I’m comfortable here. My mother and father both are Oklahomans, so I got a lot of Oklahoma blood in me.”

Langer, who entered the Senior Open having already won three events this year, was in a five-way tie for fourth along with Vijay Singh, Kirk Triplett, Scott Dunlap and Gene Sauers.

“They say you don’t win a tournament on the first day,” Langer said. “You can certainly lose it with a bad round, so, you know, I’m somewhere in the top 10 or top 20 after today, which is a good spot to be. Still have three rounds to go.”

Kenny Perry, last year’s Senior Open winner, shot a 75.

Mother Nature was a factor for various reasons.

Play was delayed for 77 minutes at the start due to the threat of lightning, and play was suspended because of darkness at 8:54 p.m. CDT, with three players still on the course.

Wilting 90-plus degree heat with humidity hit in the afternoon. Darrell Kestner completed 14 holes Thursday before withdrawing and being treated for a heat-related issue.

Peter Jacobsen, who withdrew from last year’s Senior Open in Omaha after nine holes because of dehydration, made it through the opening day in Edmond. He shot a 1-under 70, then held a sports drink as he answered questions.

“I learned a really good lesson,” he said. “My doctor told me, `Don’t ever get dehydrated because it’s very debilitating on your body.’ I walk around with water and Gatorade and lot of liquid, especially here when we know it’s going to be humid and hot.”

Heavy rains Wednesday softened the course, but the heat Thursday made it hard later in the day. Changing winds added another degree of difficulty to an already long, tough course.

“It is kind of difficult to judge the wind out here,” Montgomerie said. “You’re always going to get breeze out here in Oklahoma. That’s part of the test out here.”

Weather is expected to remain a factor through the rest of the tournament, with temperatures expected to soar. Montgomerie said it will amount to a physical examination.

“It’s going to be grueling over the next three days,” he said. “Concentration levels will be difficult to maintain for everybody out there, not just myself. I look forward to the challenge of trying to compete against the rest of the field, the golf course, which is superb, and also the weather conditions, which are very foreign to myself and most competitors, to be honest. We don’t usually play in 100 degrees. It’s going to be interesting over the next three days.”

The lone Canadian in the field is Rod Spittle, who opened with an up-and-down even-par 71 that included four birdies and four bogeys. He’s six shots back of the lead, tied for 18th.

SILVIS, Ill. – Jordan Spieth felt great Thursday on the first tee of the John Deere Classic. He heard not only his name, but, for the first time, the phrase “defending champion.”

A par followed. Then another, and another after that. And then a bogey.

The playoff winner from 2013 was suddenly reeling.

“It was a struggle,” Spieth said of the round, an even-par 71 he salvaged with birdies on the 16th and 17th holes. “I need to go find something on the range because I just wasn’t comfortable over the ball today.”

Spieth was eight strokes behind Zach Johnson, Rory Sabbatini and Brian Harman, whose 8-under-par 63s shared the lead after the opening round.

Then again, Spieth was six strokes behind the leaders entering last year’s final round, and rallied to win, beating Johnson and David Hearn in a sudden-death playoff.

“It’s going to take some incredible golf,” said Spieth, sixth on the PGA Tour money list. “But I’m putting well, so when I find my swing, I can maybe take it deep.”

That’s where the leaders were.

Johnson and Sabbatini played bogey-free golf, while Harman had nine birdies and one bogey on the par-71 TPC Deere Run – even though his regular caddie had to drop out.

They led 2004 British Open champion Todd Hamilton, Australian Steven Bowditch and William McGirt, the best afternoon finisher, by a stroke. Brendon de Jonge, Kevin Tway, David Toms and Robert Streb are two back at 6-under 65.

Harman, who bettered his best round of the year by two strokes, was 2 under through six holes when his caddie, Scott Tway, took ill. Jay Hatch of Davenport, Iowa, a high school basketball coach, volunteered from the gallery, and carried Harman’s bag the last 12 holes, which Harman played in 6 under.

Harman didn’t miss a beat when his caddie took ill.

“I called a medic over and Scottie said he was going to have to sit out at least a couple holes,” Harman said. “Jay was standing there and said, `I’ll do it. I’ll keep up.’ ”

Checking his own yardages, Harman birdied seven of his last 12 holes, and nine overall.

“If you go out and birdie half of the golf course, you feel you’ve done fairly well,” Harman said.

Johnson, who won the Deere in 2012, birdied four of his first five holes and was 6 under on his opening nine. He won the Tournament of Champions in January, but described his recent golf as “going through the motions too much.” He hasn’t finished in the top 10 since a tie for sixth in the Texas Open in March.

“I was a little spent,” Johnson explained. “I played too much and I was anxious for results. I got ahead of myself.”

His start on familiar territory was a return to form, an early birdie binge including a 22-footer on the par-3 12th and a 32-footer on the par-4 14th. At 8-under through 11 holes, the vision of a 59 crept into his thoughts.

“Very briefly,” Johnson said. “If you’re going to do it, you still have to hit it solid. Maybe I mis-clubbed on 6, but I could have birdied 8. I hit only one really bad shot, and that was the second shot at 9.”

Johnson parred his last seven holes.

“I’d rather have 59 wins than shoot 59,” Johnson said.

Sabbatini scored his best round of the year, closing with birdies on three of the last four holes.

Birdies are a must at Deere Run. Through 18 holes, 80 players were under par and another 20, including amateur Jordan Niebrugge, at even-par 71.

Hamilton’s 64 came in his first round of the season on the PGA Tour. Playing on a sponsor’s exemption, the 48-year-old native of nearby Galesburg, Illinois, has been on the Web.com Tour in recent years.

Bowditch was 8 under after a birdie at the 17th, but bogeyed the 18th. McGirt birdied the first three holes on the back nine to jump into contention and parred the last four.

Three-time Deere winner Steve Stricker fired a 68, with six birdies and three bogeys.

Sabbatini, whose best finish this season is a tie for eighth at the Wells Fargo Classic, closed strongly on the hilly Deere Run layout.

“I like this course and how it plays,” Sabbatini said. “It’s fun for spectators because there are a lot of fireworks, and fun for us players, too. This golf course requires the basics: hit the fairway, hit the green, make some putts.”

Four of Sabbatini’s eight birdies were from 17 feet or longer, the longest a 22-footer on No. 4. He ran in birdies on the second, third and fourth holes of his back nine, and another on his 16th, the par-3 seventh.

Hamilton, a decade removed from his British Open victory at Royal Troon, birdied his first two holes and was off on an improbable round of 64.

“I haven’t been playing well,” Hamilton said. “It seems if I play well, I shoot 71 or 70. Everyone else when they play well, they shoot 65 or 64. It’s a big discrepancy.”

Two Canadians are in the field this week. Brad Fitsch opened with a 1-under 70, while David Hearn was a shot back at even-par.

Ste-Victoire-de-Sorel, Qué. (Golf Canada)– After three exciting rounds at Club de golf Continental, CN Future Links Québec Champion titles have been claimed by Thornhill, Ont.’s Kelvin Lim and Alyssa Getty of Ruthven, Ont.

Excitement mounted in the third round when 12-year-old Lim and Raphaël Lapierre-Messier, 17, of St-Jean-Sur-Richelieu, Qué. battled for first place in a sudden death playoff. Lim was the eventual champion, making a birdie on the first playoff hole, to finish with 1-over-par 217 after rounds of 70-74-73. This win earns Lim an exemption into the Canadian Junior Boys Championship taking place at the end of July at Legends on the Niagara in Niagara Falls, Ont.

“It feels great to get the exemption,” said Lim after Thursday’s win. “I’m only twelve years old, so it’s exciting to be able to compete in that championship.”

Third place was shared by 16-year-old Brendon Lacasse of Châteauguay, Qué. and Brandon Seys of Port Lambton, Ont. The pair finished the championship at 5-over-par 221.

In the Junior Girls division, 17-year old Getty maintained a steady lead over her competitors during the three rounds of play, shooting an even-par 72 in Thursday’s final round for a final score of 5-over-221. Her nearest competitor, 13-year old Céleste Dao of Notre-Dame Ile-Perrot, Qué. finished 11 strokes behind with a final score of 16-over-232. Third place was claimed by Diana McDonald, 16, of Kingston, Ont. who carded a final round 78 to finish at 20-over-par 236. With this win, Getty will compete in the Canadian Junior Girls Championship at the end of the month at Thornhill Golf and Country Club in Thornhill, Ont.

“The wind was pretty strong yesterday, and I noticed that there’s a lot of wind on this course in general,” said Getty. “The fairways are really narrow, so that was the hardest part. But I’m super excited to win this tournament and get the exemption.”

Notable highlights from this week’s tournament include hole-in-ones by Gabriel Gingras, 17, of Chelsea, Qué. and Emilie Tyndall, 17, of Kirkland, Qué. Gingras aced the 145-yard eighth hole in the first round, while Tyndall fired an ace in the second round on the 160-yard Hole No. 13.

The top six competitors in the Junior Boys division of each CN Future Links Championship earn exemptions into the 2014 Canadian Junior Boys Championship, which will be contested July 28 – August 1 on the Legends on the Niagara’s Battlefield course in Niagara Falls, Ont. The Junior Girls champion from each CN Future Links Championship will earn an exemption into the 2014 Canadian Junior Girls Championship which runs July 28 – August 1 at the Thornhill Golf and Country Club in Thornhill, Ont.

Alyssa Getty (Golf Canada/ Bernard Brault)