TORONTO, ON – The Markland Wood Golf club is very excited to be the chosen host for the 2014 Toronto Star Ladies Amateur.  Perhaps even more exciting is the planned visit of one of Canadian golf’s greatest stars – Marlene Stewart Streit.

Marlene is the most successful amateur golfer in Canadian history and was inducted in to the World Golf Hall of Fame in 2004 – the first Canadian to gain that honour.  Her list of wins on home soil is incredibly impressive, but it is her quality of play away from Canada that helped her receive her most distinguished award.

Marlene is the only woman ever to win the Canadian, British, American and Australian amateur titles.  The most recent of those victories was the 2003 USGA Senior Women’s Amateur which she won at age 69, becoming the oldest champion in USGA history.

On Monday June 23^rd, Marlene will be arriving at the course at 10am and will be on-site until the early afternoon.

More information on her incredible accomplishments has been shared by The World Golf Hall of Fame and  the USGA.

Top 10 Emotional Wins on the PGA Tour

Golf is as much a mental game as it’s a physical one. Occasionally, a win can mean the world to golfer who has been struggling in either their game or personal life. Here are some Tour winners who’s victory overwhelmed them in the moment.

Top 10 Aces on the Champions Tour

The over-50 crowd proves they’ve still got it in this top 10 segment put together by the Champions Tour… and you thought Zach Johnson’s hole-in-one at Pinehurst this past weekend was impressive, lets see him do it again in 20 years.

I found myself nervously pacing the carpet of the lobby of the stately Fairmont Southampton in Bermuda, mulling over ways to kill a few hours before my afternoon tee time. Should I go to the Willow Stream Spa? They have a wonderful indoor/outdoor pool there with a waterfall.

Should I stroll the beach? It’s arguably the most breathtaking I’ve seen. Should I wander over to the course early? after all, the Fairmont’s undulating Turtle Hill Golf Club, with ocean views at every turn, is among the finest par-3 courses anywhere in the world. Such are the considerations of the anxiety ridden amateur unaccustomed to tournament golf. I was fresh from one of my best rounds in at least a year, scrambling madly to par the final nine holes in shooting a six-over par 60 in Round One of the Bacardi World Par-3 Championship (now known as the Grey Goose World Par-3 Championship). That had put me into the last group of the handicap division for the final round, and I was both exhilarated and terrified. I mean, there were actual fans watching me play, a few media members with cameras, competitors scrutinizing my every move.

Recreational players like me will probably never qualify for the RBC Canadian Open (okay, truth be told, I’m not even good enough to caddie in the Open), but there are a number of events around the globe that specifically cater to less accomplished golf enthusiasts seeking a little competition on a lot of quality layouts — many in some of the world’s most appealing vacation spots. Sun destination tourneys include the much-lauded Jamaica Invitational Pro-Am presented by Appleton Estate rum, which is contested over Jamaica’s elite courses such as the spectacular (and punishing) White Witch and Cinnamon Hill. How big a deal is this event?

Its official sponsors include Cobra Puma Golf, Bridgestone and American Airlines. Your arrival gift bag is valued around $550 and there’s $15,000 in team and on-course prizes, not to mention a $30,000 purse for professional participants.

Then there’s the Scottsdale Open presented by Waste Management, a slickly run three-round event for two-player teams that features a trio of the most famous tracks in Arizona: Grayhawk, Troon North and the TPC Course at the Fairmont Scottsdale Princess. The latter, just three weeks shy of staging the PGA Tour’s Waste Management Open, was in absolutely mint condition when I teed it up earlier this year. It also allowed participants the opportunity to play the famed par-3 16th—aka The Thunderdome—with its amphitheatre-like stands already set up for the Tour event. Or there’s the World Amateur Handicap Golf Championship in Myrtle Beach, with more than 3,000 competitors from around the world. Looking for an even more esteemed setting? Try the inaugural Dean’s Scottish Clans Golf World Championships. Set for June 23-27 at the prestigious Gleneagles Golf Resort in Scotland, it’s a four-round event featuring World Top-50 course Kingsbarns, as well as Gleneagles’ famed King’s, Queen’s and Centenary courses, the latter of which is playing host to this year’s Ryder Cup matches in September. The tournament is inviting anyone with blood ties to Scotland to compete over sacred ground — either as a single or as part of a four-player team — while dipping deeply into all things Scottish, from the bagpipes and Highland dancing to tours of whisky distilleries and other vital attractions.

While the entry fees vary, all of these fun-filled affairs have something in common: Every event requires that all participants have up-to-date, verifiable Handicap Factors. Yes, some of those figures are invariably more speculative than others—one need only look at the performances of many a supposed high handicapper at the PGA Tour’s annual Pebble Beach Pro-Am, where 16-handicappers seem to routinely shoot 78…gross…in the wind. But that doesn’t diminish the appeal for the rest of the amateur field. And while you may not be able to finagle an invite to a PGA Tour stop in Pebble Beach, your Golf Canada Handicap Factor is your private invitation to a multitude of unique and unforgettable events the world over.

To become a member of Golf Canada and your provincial golf association, click here.

Île-Bizard, Que. – The second of three 2014 RBC Canadian Open Regional Qualifiers took place Monday at Elm Ridge Country Club with Montreal’s Beon Yeong Lee claiming medalist honours to earn a place in the field at the 2014 RBC Canadian Open at The Royal Montreal Golf Club, July 21-27, 2014.

Lee, a PGA Tour Canada member, fired a bogey-free 6-under 66 and will make his second trip to the RBC Canadian Open after qualifying in 2010.  He’s currently ranked No. 34 on PGA Tour Canada’s Order of Merit.

On Monday, a total of 105 players competed over 18 holes of stroke play at Elm Ridge Country Club with the top-15 percent of the field and ties (16 competitors and ties) advancing to the final Monday Qualifier to be held Monday, July 21st at Club de Golf St-Raphaël in Île-Bizard, Que.

Ben Silverman of Concord, Ont. finished in solo second at 4-under par to earn a trip to Final Qualifying, while five players shared third place at 2-under par including, Braeden Cryderman of Huntsville, Ont., Matthew McMahon of Brockville, Ont., Raoul Menard of Ange-Gardien, Que., Louis-Pierre Godin of Trois-Rivieres, Que. and Francis Berthiaume of Valleyfield, Que.

Rounding out the list of players advancing to the final Monday qualifier for the 2014 RBC Canadian Open were Montreal’s Lucas Greco, Peter Campbell of Baddeck, N.S., Remi Bouchard of Candiac, Que. and Ryan Sevigny of Stittsville, Ont., who finished in a tie for 8th at 1-under par.

Eric Laporte of St-Liguori, Que., Dave Levesque of Ste-Catherine, Que., A.J. McKenzie of Pierrefonds, Que., Billy Houle of St-Charles-Borromee, Que., Maxime Barre pf Granby, Que. and Mathieu Perron of St. Hubert, Que., also made it through after even-par 72’s.

BERLIN – Martin Kaymer’s historic victory at the U.S. Open has been largely met by indifference in his homeland.

Kaymer became the first champion from Germany with an eight-shot victory on Sunday, but his success barely caused a ripple at home, where attention was firmly focused on football.

Germany opens its World Cup campaign against Portugal on Monday, meaning Kaymer’s triumph could not have come at a worse time for attention. Chancellor Angela Merkel is in Brazil.

Some of the congratulations he did receive even had a football flavor.

Germany and former Cologne forward Lukas Podolski was one of the few to recognize Kaymer’s “legendary performance” in a tweet. The German Olympic Sports Confederation also tweeted its congratulations.

Thankfully, the World Cup was only once every four years. Kaymer, a Cologne fan, will just have to do it again as defending champion.

For the first time in more than 60 years, the British Open is headed across the Irish Sea.

The R&A announced Monday that golf’s oldest championship will return to Royal Portrush in Northern Ireland for the first time since Max Faulkner won in 1951. That was the only time it was held outside Scotland or England since the Open began in 1860.

“We have every confidence Royal Portrush will prove to be an excellent venue in every way,” R&A chief executive Peter Dawson said. “There is passionate support in Northern Ireland and we expect there will be huge interest.”

Dawson said it was the “worst-kept secret,” although one mystery remains – the year.

To bring the links course up to modern standards of a major championship, the R&A has recommended using the golf architecture firm Mackenzie & Ebert to create new 17th and 18th holes. Royal Portrush club members would have to sign off on the proposal, though that is likely to be a formality.

The next available date is 2019. Dawson said it could be “a year or two longer than that.”

“It has been more than 60 years since the Open was played here, and it’s been too long,” Dawson said. “And we’re very excited to be coming back.”

For years, there has been a quiet push to bring the Open back to Portrush and the movement picked up momentum with the success of three players from Northern Ireland. Graeme McDowell won the 2010 U.S. Open at Pebble Beach. Darren Clarke captured the British Open a year later at Royal St. George’s. Rory McIlroy won the U.S. Open in 2011 and then the PGA Championship in 2012.

Throw in Padraig Harrington, and Irish golfers won seven of 22 majors during one stretch.

What really caught Dawson’s attention was when Royal Portrush staged a wildly successful Irish Open in 2012, which attracted some 130,000 fans for the week. And then Martin Ebert suggested the right changes to the links course to make it all work.

More than just a golf course, the Open now requires room for such amenities as a television compound and a tented village. Dawson said the R&A would be investing several million pounds (dollars), without giving a more detailed estimate.

“No Open venue is immune from the march of time,” he said. “They all move and they all have to keep up. This isn’t any different from that, except that it hasn’t had an Open for a long time.”

Portrush also has held the Senior British Open six times, and is hosting the British Amateur this week.

The British Open this year is being played at Royal Liverpool in Hoylake, which had gone 39 years until it returned to the rotation in 2006 with a popular win by Tiger Woods. Turnberry off the Ayrshire coast in Scotland went 17 years without an Open, despite a history that include the famous “Duel in the Sun” between Tom Watson and Jack Nicklaus. That required work on the roads to alleviate traffic.

Dawson said the work involved to get Royal Portrush in shape for an Open “is a little bit more.”

“That perhaps reflects the time gap,” he said. “It’s over 60 years since the championship has been here. The requirements of a modern championship are very different from what they were then. But it’s something that’s manageable.”

For the first time in more than 60 years, the British Open is headed across the Irish Sea.

The R&A announced Monday that golf’s oldest championship will return to Royal Portrush in Northern Ireland for the first time since Max Faulkner won in 1951. That was the only time it was held outside Scotland or England since the Open began in 1860.

“We have every confidence Royal Portrush will prove to be an excellent venue in every way,” R&A chief executive Peter Dawson said. “There is passionate support in Northern Ireland and we expect there will be huge interest.”

Dawson said it was the “worst-kept secret,” although one mystery remains – the year.

To bring the links course up to modern standards of a major championship, the R&A has recommended using the golf architecture firm Mackenzie & Ebert to create new 17th and 18th holes. Royal Portrush club members would have to sign off on the proposal, though that is likely to be a formality.

The next available date is 2019. Dawson said it could be “a year or two longer than that.”

“It has been more than 60 years since the Open was played here, and it’s been too long,” Dawson said. “And we’re very excited to be coming back.”

For years, there has been a quiet push to bring the Open back to Portrush and the movement picked up momentum with the success of three players from Northern Ireland. Graeme McDowell won the 2010 U.S. Open at Pebble Beach. Darren Clarke captured the British Open a year later at Royal St. George’s. Rory McIlroy won the U.S. Open in 2011 and then the PGA Championship in 2012.

Throw in Padraig Harrington, and Irish golfers won seven of 22 majors during one stretch.

What really caught Dawson’s attention was when Royal Portrush staged a wildly successful Irish Open in 2012, which attracted some 130,000 fans for the week. And then Martin Ebert suggested the right changes to the links course to make it all work.

More than just a golf course, the Open now requires room for such amenities as a television compound and a tented village. Dawson said the R&A would be investing several million pounds (dollars), without giving a more detailed estimate.

“No Open venue is immune from the march of time,” he said. “They all move and they all have to keep up. This isn’t any different from that, except that it hasn’t had an Open for a long time.”

Portrush also has held the Senior British Open six times, and is hosting the British Amateur this week.

The British Open this year is being played at Royal Liverpool in Hoylake, which had gone 39 years until it returned to the rotation in 2006 with a popular win by Tiger Woods. Turnberry off the Ayrshire coast in Scotland went 17 years without an Open, despite a history that include the famous “Duel in the Sun” between Tom Watson and Jack Nicklaus. That required work on the roads to alleviate traffic.

Dawson said the work involved to get Royal Portrush in shape for an Open “is a little bit more.”

“That perhaps reflects the time gap,” he said. “It’s over 60 years since the championship has been here. The requirements of a modern championship are very different from what they were then. But it’s something that’s manageable.”

PINEHURST, N.C. – In the final group at a major for the first time, Rickie Fowler was on the putting green about 45 minutes before his tee time with six other players.

All were women.

Defending U.S. Open champion Justin Rose was walking over a bridge when he passed another player headed to the practice range. Rose stopped and turned his head. It was Pernilla Lindberg of Sweden.

Sunday at the U.S. Open was unlike any other.

Even as the men were wrapping up their championship, the women arrived to prepare for the U.S. Women’s Open – the second half of an unprecedented doubleheader at Pinehurst No. 2.

“It’s cool to run into the girls,” Rory McIlroy said. “I would like to see it happen more often. I think it’s a good thing. I think it’s a good thing for women’s golf to give them a little bit more exposure. … I’m going to tune in on and watch next week just to see how they get on around here and see how they fare.”

USGA officials had expressed hope for some cross-promotion between the events. They got that, from Natalie Gulbis taking swings at the driving range to Sandra Gal watching German countryman Martin Kaymer in the final men’s group.

“I hope putting them back-to-back works out,” Phil Mickelson said. “All of the execution from the USGA’s side gets cut in half. You only have to do it once instead of twice, and hopefully they will be able to make it more profitable and put more money back into the game.”

The U.S. Women’s Open begins Thursday.

DECATUR, Ill. – Madison Pressel won the Decatur-Forsyth Classic on Sunday for her first Symetra Tour title, beating Ashley Tait with a birdie on the first hole of a playoff.

Pressel, LPGA Tour player Morgan Pressel’s younger sister, birdied the par-3 17th and finished with an even-par 72 to match playing partner Tait at 6-under 210 at Hickory Point.

Tait blew a late four-stroke lead, dropping a stroke on the par-4 15th and making a double bogey on the 17th. She finished with a 74.

Pressel earned $15,000 to jump from 110th to 17th on the money list with $17,126, with the final top 10 earning 2015 LPGA Tour cards. The 22-year-old former University of Texas player opened with rounds of 67 and 71.

South Korea’s Hye-Min Kim and Canada’s Ashley Sholer tied for third at 4 under. Kim shot 68, and Sholer had a 70.

Canadian scores were as follows:

T3. Ashley Sholer – 72-70-70–212 (-4)
T11. Jessica Wallace – 70-70-74–214 (-2)
T11. Samantha Richdale – 74-68-72–214 (-2)
T18. Nicole Vandermade – 72-72-71–215 (-1)
T21. Maude Aimee LeBlanc – 72-73-71–216 (E)
T28.Brogan McKinnon – 69-73-75–217 (+1)
T34. Sara Maude Juneau – 69-74-75–218 (+2)
T71. Angela Buzminski – 72-74-77–223 (+7)
86. Jessica Shepley – 74-73-80–227 (+11)
MC. Christine Wong – 73-75–148 (+4)
MC. Kirby Dreher – 77-74–151 (+7)
MC. Erica Rivard – 77-75–152 (+8)

PINEHURST, N.C. – The man who drove NBC Sports analyst Roger Maltbie’s golf cart during the third round of the U.S. Open is facing four charges after an incident with a state trooper on the course, a North Carolina State Police spokeswoman said Sunday.

According to a police report, Tommy Lineberry was charged with felony assault on a law enforcement officer, felony hit and run, driving while impaired, and resisting, obstructing and delaying a law enforcement officer.

Spokeswoman Pam Walker said the 59-year-old Lineberry, from Wilmington, was released from the Moore County jail Saturday night after posting bail.

Lineberry didn’t immediately return a telephone message seeking comment.

The trooper said Lineberry ignored instructions to stay put, then hit the officer with his golf cart.

Maltbie was walking Saturday with the final group of Martin Kaymer and Brendon Todd. Lineberry’s job is to drive Maltbie to get in position for the next shots.

An Associated Press reporter who witnessed the incident heard Lineberry tell the trooper, “I’m supposed to get the cart to Roger.”

“When a state trooper tells you to stop, THAT’S what you’re supposed to do,” the trooper responded, inches from Lineberry’s face.

The trooper was holding traffic behind a walkway as the players teed off on the 11th hole. He told Lineberry that the cart struck his leg. The trooper asked for any the names of witnesses, and three people in the gallery immediately handed him their business cards.

The trooper ran after and then collared Lineberry, quickly placing him in handcuffs.

PINEHURST, N.C. – Martin Kaymer returned to the elite in golf with a U.S. Open victory that ranks among the best.

A forgotten star for two years while building a complete game, Kaymer turned the toughest test of golf into a runaway at Pinehurst No. 2 on Sunday to become only the seventh wire-to-wire winner in 114 years of the U.S. Open.

Kaymer closed with a 1-under 69 – the only player from the last eight groups to break par – for an eight-shot victory over Rickie Fowler and Erik Compton, the two-time heart transplant recipient and the only player who even remotely challenged the 29-year-old German.

So dominant was Kaymer that no one got closer than four shots over the final 48 holes.

Only a late bogey kept Kaymer from joining Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy as the only players to finish a U.S. Open in double digits under par. He made a 15-foot par putt on the 18th hole, dropping his putter as the ball fell into the center of the cup, just like so many other putts this week.

“No one was catching Kaymer this week,” Compton said, who closed with a 72 to earn earned a trip to the Masters next April. “I was playing for second. I think we all were playing for second.”

This U.S. Open really ended on Friday.

Kaymer set the U.S. Open record with back-to-back rounds of 65 to set the pace at 10-under 130. He began Sunday with a five-shot lead, and after a 10-foot par save on the second hole, Kaymer belted a driver on the 313-yard third hole. The ball landed on the front of the green and rolled to the back, setting up a two-putt birdie.

“He kind of killed the event in the first two days,” Henrik Stenson said. “He went out and shot two 65s and left everyone in the dust.”

Fowler, in the final group of a major for the first time, fell back quickly on the fourth hole. He sent his third shot from a sandy path over the green and into some pine trees and had to make a 25-foot putt just to escape with double bogey. Fowler played even par the rest of the way for a 72.

Compton birdied the eighth hole and got within four shots until he took bogey on the par-3 ninth, and Kaymer followed with an 8-iron to 4 feet for birdie.

Kaymer finished at 9-under 271, the second-lowest score in U.S. Open history next to McIlroy’s 268 at Congressional in 2011.

He won his second major – the other was the 2010 PGA Championship at Whistling Straits in a three-man playoff – and this one wasn’t close.

“Martin was playing his own tournament,” Fowler said.

Kaymer joined Seve Ballesteros, Ernie Els, Woods and McIlroy as the only players to win two majors and be No. 1 in the world before turning 30 since the world ranking began in 1986. He is the fourth European in the last five years to win the U.S. Open, after Europeans had gone 40 years without this title.

It’s a rebirth for Kaymer, who reached No. 1 in the world in February 2011, only to believe that he needed a more rounded game. His preferred shot was a fade. Kaymer spent two hard years, a lot of lonely hours on the range in Germany and his home in Scottsdale, Arizona.

He fell as low as No. 63 in the world until going wire-to-wire (with ties) at The Players Championship, considered the strongest and deepest field in golf.

But the big payoff came at Pinehurst No. 2.

“I didn’t make many mistakes the last two wins that I had in America – especially this week,” said Kaymer, who moves to No. 11 in the world.

Kaymer has as many majors as Bernhard Langer, the two-time Masters champion and a mentor to Kaymer. Langer sent him text messages earlier in the week.

“We’ve almost a German Grand Slam – almost,” Kaymer said. “I hope it will make Bernhard proud. I’m sure it will make all of Germany proud.”

The biggest challenge for Kaymer was tuning out the crowd, with enormous support for Fowler, who enjoys pop star qualities in America. The fans clapped when Kaymer’s ball bounded off the back of the green, and even when a superb shot from the native weeds on No. 4 rolled off the front of the green.

He marched along, dropping a shot on No. 7 with a shot left of the green that made him play away from a bunker to avoid a score worse than bogey, and another on the par-5 10th when a shot from the sandy area sailed over the green, and he used putter to send the next shot back toward the fairway.

But after back-to-back birdies, including a 30-footer on the 14th, the only question left was the margin.

Woods still holds the most dominant U.S. Open win – 15 shots at Pebble Beach in 2000. McIlroy won by eight shots on rain-softened Congressional in 2011, winning with a record score of 16-under 268.

“I’m wondering how he did it,” McIlroy said. “Obviously, if you limit the mistakes, you might end up a couple under for the week. But to do what he’s doing … I think it’s nearly more impressive than what I did at Congressional.”

Kaymer’s father was home in Germany, where he said Father’s Day was celebrated a few weeks ago.

“I didn’t get anything for my father that day,” Kaymer said. “So maybe this works.”

Among those who congratulated Kaymer on the 18th green was Sandra Gal, a German player on the LPGA Tour. The Women’s U.S. Open takes over Pinehurst No. 2 on Monday.