PGA TOUR AMERICAS

Will Cannon erased a five-stroke deficit and birdied three of his final four holes for a one-shot victory in the Fortinet Cup Championship. The win was the first of his career and vaulted him up to No. 6 in the Fortinet Cup standings, earning him one of 10 Korn Ferry Tour cards for next season. Cannon started the season-ending tournament 60th on the points list. Sandy Scott birdied the final hole to finish runner-up and in the process move into the top 10 in Fortinet Cup points race to earn his ticket to the Korn Ferry Tour next year. John Keefer, who finished number one on the points list and earned full exempt status next season, finished in a three-way tie for third with Luke Long and third round leader Michael Brennan. Brennan led Cannon by five shots through 11 holes before playing the next three holes in 7-over par to end his chances of winning the tournament. …Matthew Anderson was the only Canadian to earn a Korn Ferry Tour card for next season after finishing third in the Fortinet Cup standings. …Stuart Macdonald, who started the final tournament inside the top-10, fell to No. 11 and missed out on earning a Korn Ferry Tour card by four points. …A.J. Ewart, who won three weeks ago to put himself in contention for a promotion to the Korn Ferry Tour, missed the cut and slipped down to 23rd in the final points standings. …Along with Macdonald and Ewart, Brendan MacDougall, Chris Crisologo, Joey Savoie, and Thomas Giroux all finished inside the top 80 and retained their PGA Tour Americas status for next season. Crisologo was one of three players who played their way into the top 80 this weekend.

PGA TOUR CHAMPIONS

Y.E. Yang made a 10-foot birdie putt on the first playoff hole to defeat Bernhard Langer and win the Ascension Charity Classic. It is his first career Champions Tour title in his third year on the senior circuit. Yang is the fourth first-time winner this year and joins K.J. Choi as the only other South Korean to win in 2024. Langer was attempting to pick up a win for the 18th straight year on the Champions Tour. He is the tour’s all-time wins leader with 46. The 67-year-old shot his age or better for the 16th and 17th time with weekend rounds of 67-64. Stewart Cink was looking to win for the second straight start and after taking the lead with a birdie on No. 15, he made bogey two holes later and could not birdie the final hole to join the playoff. There were no Canadians entered in the event.

NEXT EVENT: Sanford International (Sep 13)

EUROPEAN TOUR

Matt Wallace of England made an eight foot birdie putt on the first playoff hole to beat Alfredo Garcia-Heredia at the Omega European Masters. It is his fifth career European Tour title but his first in six years. He ended a five year winless drought with a win in the Dominican Republic on the PGA Tour last year. Garcia-Heredia erased a four stroke deficit with a birdie on the final hole to force the playoff but could not complete the comeback on the extra hole. Andrew “Beef” Johnston — one of golf’s most charismatic players – made back-to-back birdies at Nos. 14 and 15 to pull within one shot of the lead but could only manage pars the rest of the way. It was his best tour result in four years. …Aaron Cockerill snapped a streak of four straight missed weekend cuts

NEXT EVENT: Amgen Irish Open (Sept 12)

CANADIANS ENTERED:  Aaron Cockerill

ASIAN TOUR

Kensei Hirata survived bogeys on two of his final three holes for a one stroke victory over Travis Smyth at the Shinhan Donghae Open. It was his second win in as many starts, having won last week’s event on the Japan Golf Tour. This week’s event was tri-sanctioned by the Asian, Japan and Korean Tours. Smyth started the final round by making seven straight birdies and eight in his first nine to hold a share of the lead at the turn. But he finished up with nine consecutive pars while Hirata collected three birdies on the back nine to go up by three strokes, cushioning his late hole stumbles.

NEXT EVENT: Yeangder TPC (Sept 26)

CANADIANS ENTERED: Richard T. Lee, Jared du Toit

EPSON TOUR

Fatima Fernandez Cano carded a final round 67 to win the Guardian Championship by one stroke. It is the Spaniard’s third career Epson Tour title and comes after she finished runner-up a week ago. Fernandez Cano has four top-5 finishes in her last five starts and the win moves her to No. 3 in the Race for the Card standings. Ingrid Lindblad of Sweden missed a 20-foot par putt on the final hole to force a playoff – the only blemish on her scorecard. She picked up her second career second place finish and third top-10 result in just her sixth career start. Leah John carded a final round 70, giving her three rounds of 70 or better for the first time this season, to finish solo third. It’s her second career top-10 result and second in the last four starts for the tour rookie.

NEXT EVENT: Tuscaloosa Toyota Classic (Sep 13)

CANADIANS ENTERED:  Leah John, Maddie Szeryk, Brigitte Thibault, Selena Costabile (reserve), Kate Johnston (reserve)

MONTREAL, Québec, Canada – The Presidents Cup and American Junior Golf Association (AJGA) announced today the final teams for the 2024 Junior Presidents Cup, with the event’s fourth edition set to tee off on Sept. 22 at Le Club Laval-sur-le-Lac – Blue Course in Montreal, four days before the 2024 Presidents Cup begins play at nearby The Royal Montreal Golf Club. The 12^th and final Junior Presidents Cup players for the U.S. Team and International Team were finalized as of Sept. 5, with Michael Riebe of Encinitas, California, and China’s Hanjie Yu earning the final spots on the U.S. and International teams, respectively.

The Junior Presidents Cup is a two-day, team match-play competition featuring the top 24 junior boys, 19 years old and younger. The juniors are split into teams of 12, half from the United States and the other half from around the world, excluding Europe. Taking place just days before the start of the biennial Presidents Cup, the Junior Presidents Cup was developed to give the world’s best non-European juniors a unique playing opportunity to compete in an international team match-play competition and showcase the global reach of junior golf.

Le Club Laval-sur-le-Lac was founded in 1917 and is considered to be one of the most prestigious clubs in the country, ranking among the Top 100 golf courses in Canada. The Junior Presidents Cup will be played on the Blue Course, which was redesigned in 2013 by 2024 International Presidents Cup Captain Mike Weir and Ian Andrew, who had also worked as the restoration architect of the Green course at Le Club Laval-sur-le-Lac for some time prior.

Hanjie Yu is the third player from China to join the 2024 International Team. He is No. 229 in the World Amateur Golf Ranking® (WAGR®) and has two wins in international competition this year. He gained entry to the team as the highest-ranked player in the World Amateur Golf Ranking® (WAGR®) who was not otherwise qualified as of Sept. 5.

Eight countries are represented on the International Team, with China fielding three players and Vietnam and Thailand each with two representatives. Indonesia, New Zealand, India, Canada and Colombia are also represented. The International Team is led by 2013 Presidents Cup alumni Graham DeLaet as they seek their first victory in the Junior Presidents Cup.

For the United States team, Riebe, a Vanderbilt University verbal commit, has three top-10 AJGA Invitational finishes this season, including a fourth-place finish at the Rolex Tournament of Champions. He also had top-five finishes at the Boy’s Junior PGA Championship and the Western Junior Championship on a national junior golf stage. Riebe makes his first appearance on the United States team as the highest-ranked player on the Rolex AJGA Rankings who was not otherwise qualified as of Sept. 5.

Riebe also competed in the Wyndham Cup in July for the West Team. He will look to bring that match play experience into the Junior Presidents Cup. The U.S. Team is represented by eight different states, including two players from Florida, Texas, North Carolina and California. Additionally, eight players are Rolex Junior All-Americans (Miles Russell, Tyler Watts, Blades Brown, Will Hartman, Ronin Banerjee, Tyler Mawhinney, Jackson Byrd, Michael Riebe).

2017 Presidents Cup participant Charley Hoffman will captain the U.S. Team as they look for their fourth-consecutive victory in the competition after lifting the cup at Plainfield Country Club (2017), The Royal Melbourne Golf Club (2019) and Myers Park Country Club (2022).

The 12-player teams for the 2024 Junior Presidents Cup are listed below:

International Team – Captain Graham DeLaet

United States Team – Captain Charley Hoffman

*Captain’s Pick

Click here for complete Junior Presidents Cup Team Standings.

The 2024 Presidents Cup will be held at The Royal Montreal Golf Club, Sept. 24-29. For more information about the Presidents Cup, or to purchase tickets, please visit PresidentsCup.com. For 2024 Junior Presidents Cup information, visit AJGA.org.

###

About the Presidents Cup

The Presidents Cup is a biennial global team competition between the United States and an International team that represents the rest of the world excluding Europe. The competition, which is contested by the PGA TOUR, alternates between venues in the U.S. and overseas. The Presidents Cup will return to The Royal Montreal Golf Club in Montreal, Québec, Canada, September 24-29, 2024. Since the event’s inception in 1994, more than $56 million has been raised for charity from event proceeds, as well as contributions made on behalf of the Presidents Cup. 1Password, Cognizant and Rolex are the exclusive Global Partners of the Presidents Cup. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, or visit PresidentsCup.com for more information.

Team Alberta leads the Inter-Provincial Team Championship by four shots over Team Ontario 

Victoria, B.C. – Cloudy and overcast weather conditions made for an outstanding start at Royal Colwood Golf Club as the opening round of the 110th Canadian Women’s Amateur presented by BDO officially began on Tuesday. The leaderboard fluctuated throughout the day, but Australia’s Momo Sugiyama shot a 6-under 66, positioning herself as the leader by one shot after the opening round. 

Sugiyama of Gold Coast, Australia, carded a total of seven birdies. After an opening nine of 1-under 35, she birdied holes 10, 12, and 14 before back-to-back on 16 and 17 to come home in 5-under 31 as she paces the field into round two. 

“It feels great. I played solid today and made lots of putts, I am happy with that and obviously this is a big tournament and I played it last year and enjoyed it so it’s a huge honour to be the leader,” said Sugiyama. “I am going to try to do the same thing for round two as there is a lot of golf left and keep hitting fairways and making as many putts as I can.” 

Caitlin Peirce from Adelaide, Australia carded a total of seven birdies firing a 5-under 67 to sit in second place, only one stroke back of Sugiyama after the opening round. 

“I was hitting it pretty close so I had a lot of short birdie putts but these greens are pretty slick so if you are in the wrong spot, it can be pretty tricky,” said Peirce. “Hopefully I play tomorrow like I did today, keep holing some putts, hit it good and see how it goes.”  

Casey Weidenfeld (Pembroke Pines Fla.) and Ashley Kozlowski (Littleton, Colo.) are both heading into the second round tied for third place following rounds of 4-under 68. 

Six Canadians ended their round inside the top-10. Team Canada NextGen member, Anna Huang of Vancouver sits in a tie for fifth with Ashleen Kaur of Cypress, Texas, three shots back of the lead following rounds of 3-under 69. Reigning Canadian Junior Girls champion and Team Canada NextGen member Shauna Liu (Maple, Ont.) is currently in a six-way tie for seventh after shooting 2-under 70. Team Canada member and defending champion Lauren Kim of Surrey, B.C. is one of those tied with Liu after carding five birdies, to also sit at 2-under 70. Team Canada NextGen member Swetha Sathish of Oakville, Ont. is also among those tied for with Liu and Kim at 2-under. 

Team Alberta, consisting of Eileen Park of Red Deer, Alta., Jenna Bruggeman of Edmonton, and Grace Bell of Calgary lead the Inter-Provincial team competition at even par. Team Ontario, looking to defend their national title currently sit four strokes back of Alberta at 4-over.  

The 2024 champion of the Canadian Women’s Amateur Championship will earn direct exemption into the 2024 U.S. Women’s Amateur Championship and the 2025 CPKC Women’s Open at Mississaugua Golf and Country Club. 

For the full leaderboard, following Tuesday’s opening round of the 110th Canadian Women’s Amateur Championship, click here. 

For more information on the 110th Canadian Women’s Amateur Championship, click here. 

GOLF CANADA AMATEUR CHAMPIONSHIPS 

Golf Canada annually conducts more than 30 golf competitions and qualifiers nation-wide – including nine National Amateur Championships – which play host to more than 3,000 domestic and international athletes from all corners of the world. In partnership with our host clubs, thousands of volunteers, provincial golf associations and our proud sponsors, Golf Canada is dedicated to supporting player development through world-class competition since our inception in 1895. Officiated by certified Canadian Rules of Golf officials, Golf Canada’s amateur competitions are fully compliant with golf’s international governing bodies and include marquee events such as the Canadian Men’s and Women’s Amateur Championships as well as the Canadian Junior Girls and Junior Boys Championships. Golf Canada’s amateur championships are proudly supported by BDO Canada, Canadian Pacific Kansas City (CPKC), Titleist, FootJoy, Sport Canada, Levelwear and JOURNIE Rewards. For more information and scheduling visit https://www.golfcanada.ca/competitions-calendar/ 

Mississauga, Ont.  The Canadian Golf Superintendents Association (CGSA), in conjunction with other global superintendent groups, is recognizing those who are essential to golf’s success with an international “Thank a Golf Course Superintendent Day,” encouraging all golfers, those who are in the golf business or anyone who benefits from the game to thank superintendents for their hard work and dedication to the game. 

“Thank a Golf Course Superintendent Day” will be celebrated September 10, 2024.

In addition to CGSA, other groups taking part in the global event include the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America (GCSAA), British and International Golf Greenkeepers Association (BIGGA), the Australia Sports Turf Managers Association (ASTMA), and The Federation of European Golf Greenkeepers Associations (FEGGA). All together the groups represent more than 31,000 golf course management professionals in 78 countries around the world.

The celebration will include commercials that will appear on the Golf Channel, print advertisements and social media messages sharing the many ways that superintendents benefit the game and their communities.

Golfers and others are encouraged to join in the conversation on social media using the hashtags “#ThankASuper” or “#ThankAGreenkeeper” depending on their country’s nomenclature. In addition, golf courses and other groups are encouraged to provide special recognition for their superintendent and course maintenance staff on Sept. 10. A social media tool kit will be available on golfsupers.com with materials to aid in the celebration. 

During the 2023 Thank A Golf Course Superintendent Day, social media messages reached more than 14.7 million followers around the world while broadcast media reached an additional 18 million people.

Mark Darbon has been appointed Chief Executive of The R&A and Secretary of The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews.

Darbon will succeed Martin Slumbers in the role leading the governing body and the organisation, which runs The Open and AIG Women’s Open and invests in developing golf around the world in November. He will also become Secretary of the 270 year-old Club which has a global membership of more than 2,400.

A former senior member of the team leading the London Organising Committee for the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games in 2012, Mr Darbon is leaving his role as CEO of Northampton Saints, the Premiership Rugby club, to take up the St Andrews-based position.

Darbon (45) led Northampton Saints to their first Premiership title since 2014 last month and implemented a commercial strategy which enabled the rugby union club to bounce back from the pandemic to achieve record revenues in consecutive seasons.

“I am thrilled and honoured to be taking up these positions with The R&A and The Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St Andrews and to be moving into golf, a sport I have always loved,” he said. “The R&A is a globally renowned organisation and does so much to ensure that golf prospers from grassroots through to the professional game. I am looking forward to working with a hugely talented team of staff, the Club membership and such an impressive array of partner organisations to achieve even more success in the years to come.”

Darbon started his career as a management consultant at Marakon Associates, before joining Diageo plc where he held a number of strategic and commercial roles, living and working in markets all over the world, including the USA, Russia, China and Australia.

“Golf Canada proudly welcomes Mark Darbon as the new Chief Executive and Secretary of the R&A, said Laurence Applebaum, Golf Canada’s CEO. “We look forward to our continued great work between our organizations growing and developing the game of golf.”

Having transitioned into sport event organisation in 2009, Darbon held several senior roles with the London Organising Committee for the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games and was latterly Head of Olympic Park Operations, overseeing the Olympic Park which housed nine competition venues with 20,000 employees and welcomed 250,000 spectators a day throughout the 2012 games. He went on to serve as an Expert Adviser to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) from 2013 to 2018.

Following London 2012, Darbon was Senior Vice President of Tough Mudder Inc in New York and was involved in planning, promoting and staging mass participation events in North America, Latin America, Europe and Australasia.

Before joining Northampton Saints as CEO in 2017, Darbon served as CEO of Madison Sports Group, a sports events and content company which created an award-winning international series of professional track cycling events and, in doing so, brought a series of new sponsorship arrangements and media rights deals to the sport.

Darbon is a graduate of Worcester College, Oxford University, where he read geography.

As well as being a keen golfer, playing to a Handicap Index of 3.1 as a member of Northamptonshire County Golf Club and Saunton Golf Club, Darbon is a former Under-21 England hockey international and a Full Blue for hockey at Oxford University. He is a non-executive director of England Hockey and Women’s Premiership Rugby.

Darbon is married with two children and plans to move his family to St Andrews when he takes up his new role.

The Golf Journalists Association of Canada (GJAC) Virtual Summit presented by RBC: Economic Impact of Golf in Canada took place May 24, 2024, as part of an ongoing GJAC series intended to help membership stay connected, as well as to generate discussion and opportunities around important issues in the game.

GJAC Virtual Summits presented by RBC are recorded for public viewing. You can watch this recording below.

The format consists of a moderated question and answer period, followed by a brief opportunity for questions from attendees. 

Panelists for this Virtual Summit included:

• Tom McGuire, Principal/Co-founder, 21FSP Advisory Inc.
• Laurence Applebaum, Golf Canada
• Jeff Calderwood, National Golf Course Owners Association

Moderator: Dan Pino, Golf Canada

In an exciting development for the Mississaugua Golf and Country Club, Jeremey MacRae has been appointed as the new Chief Executive Officer (CEO), effective July 8, 2024. This announcement comes with high anticipation from the Board of Directors and the Search Committee.

Jeremey J. MacRae, C.C.M., C.C.E., brings an impressive portfolio of over twenty years of leadership experience in the private club industry to his new role. His expertise spans across various domains of facility management, including golf, curling, tennis, wellness, aquatics, multi-unit operations, and food and beverage services. With a track record of elevating member experiences and operational efficiency, Jeremey is poised to lead the Mississaugua Golf and Country Club into a new era of success.

Prior to joining Mississaugua, Jeremey served as the Chief Operating Officer at Weston Golf and Country Club, a renowned establishment with a legacy dating back to 1915. During his tenure, he played a pivotal role in transforming Weston into one of Ontario’s premier golf courses. Under his leadership, member services, facilities, and overall operational efficiency witnessed significant enhancements.

Jeremey’s expertise in food and beverage operations is particularly noteworthy, honed through key roles at esteemed establishments. His journey includes successful stints as Food and Beverage/Clubhouse Manager at Brampton Golf Club and Beach Grove Golf and Country Club, where he focused on delivering exceptional dining experiences. Additionally, Jeremey served as Assistant Director of Food and Beverage at Inn at St. John’s Hotel Golf & Conference Centre in Plymouth, Michigan, where he contributed to substantial revenue growth and successfully hosted events for large gatherings.

Adept at leading and motivating teams, Jeremey currently manages a diverse range of amenities at Bayview, including an acclaimed 18-hole golf course, six year-round tennis courts, a state-of-the-art fitness center, and a bustling social and events calendar.

His commitment to excellence extends to industry education and professional development, evident through his certifications as a Certified Club Manager (C.C.M.) and Certified Chief Executive (C.C.E.), along with active participation in industry associations and prestigious conferences.

In his role as CEO, Jeremey will oversee all aspects of Mississaugua Golf and Country Club’s day-to-day operations, fostering relationships with staff, members, guests, and the community. His collaborative leadership style and member-centric focus are set to usher in a new era of success and growth for the club, solidifying its reputation as a premier destination for recreation and camaraderie.

Jeremey, who resides in Oakville with his family, brings not only professional expertise but also a passion for sports and family. When he’s not on the golf course or tennis court, he can be found coaching his children’s baseball teams or spending quality time with his wife, Amy, and their two children, Avery and Clarke.

Mississaugua Golf and Country Club was recently announced as host of the 2025 CPKC Women’s Open.

An NCAA conference title was riding on Brooke Rivers’s putter, but she kept her mind clear.

Rivers, a Team Canada member from Brampton, Ont., sank a 12-foot putt on the 18th green to break a tie in her match and lift the Wake Forest Demon Deacons to the ACC conference final with a 3-1 win over North Carolina on Sunday. 

The championship match against the Clemson Tigers was called that night due to darkness. With Wake Forest ahead in three matches and the top seed in the tournament, the Demon Deacons won the title, a scenario that was set up by Rivers’s cool demeanour earlier in the day.

“I just thought of the putt at hand and no external factors,” said the 19-year-old Rivers. “So I tried to clear my mind of anything consequential and focus more on what I was doing in that moment.”

“The only thing running through my head was the putt that I had to hit and how I was going to actually hit that putt.”

Wake Forest won the eighth conference title in program history after the two rain delays, advancing the Demon Deacons to the regional finals as they look to defend their 2023 U.S. collegiate national title.

Rivers said that she likes how match play — the format used in the medal rounds of varsity golf — boils the sport down to its essence.

“You just control what you’re doing and what you can do instead of putting your focus and emphasis on another person,” said Rivers. “You just control what you’re able to control.”

Wake Forest women’s golf coach Kim Lewellen said that Rivers has shown in her freshman year that she knows how to rise to the occasion.

“Brooke is a competitor and when she’s out there, the tougher the situation, the better that she does,” said Lewellen. “She had to make a putt on the hole before that that was a left-to-right slider that was probably five, six feet, and she made that.

“When we really needed her to clinch that point she had that competitiveness come out and there was no doubt in her mind.”

Wake Forest will be one of six host sites for the 2024 NCAA Regionals in two weeks at Bermuda Run Country Club in North Carolina. In each regional, 12 teams and six individuals not on those teams will compete. 

The low five teams and the low individual not on those teams will advance to the finals. 

NCAA — Lauren Kim of Surrey, B.C., tied for third on the individual leaderboard to help the University of Texas women’s golf team win Big 12 Championship with a commanding 12 stroke victory on Saturday at the Clubs at Houston Oaks. The Canadian freshman earned a Big 12 All-Tournament Team honours.

LPGA TOUR — Rookie Savannah Grewal of Mississauga, Ont., is 62nd in the Race to CME Globe standings and is the top-ranked Canadian in the field at this week’s JM Eagle L.A. Championship. Maude-Aimee Leblanc of Sherbrooke, Que., is 137th and will also tee it up at Wilshire Country Club in Los Angeles.

EPSON TOUR — Selena Costabile of Thornhill, Ont., leads a group of four Canadians into the IOA Championship. Although she has yet to earn points on the second-tier Epson Tour this season, she is No. 773 on the Rolex women’s golf world rankings heading into play at Morongo Golf Club at Tukwet Canyon in Beaumont, Calif. She will be joined by amateur Leah John of Vancouver, Kate Johnston of Ayr, Ont., and Vancouver’s Tiffany Kong.

PGA TOUR — Nick Taylor and Adam Hadwin, who grew up together in Abbotsford, B.C., will team up at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans in Avondale, La. They are the highest ranked Canadians in the FedEx Cup standings at 21st and 33rd respectively. Best friends Corey Conners (55th) of Listowel, Ont., and Taylor Pendrith (99th) of Richmond Hill, Ont., will also be a team. Ben Silverman (103rd) of Thornhill, Ont., and Roger Sloan (189th) of Merritt, B.C., will be in different pairings at TPC Louisiana.

KORN FERRY TOUR — Edmonton’s Wil Bateman leads the Canadian contingent into the Veritex Bank Championship. He’s 18th on the second-tier tour’s points list. He’ll be joined at Texas Rangers Golf Club in Arlington, Texas, by Myles Creighton (27th) of Digby, N.S., Etienne Papineau (35th) of St-Jean-Sur-Richelieu, Que., Jared du Toit (76th) of Kimberley, B.C., and Sudarshan Yellamaraju (120th) of Mississauga, Ont.

CHAMPIONS TOUR — Calgary’s Stephen Ames is the lone Canadian in the field at the Mitsubishi Electric Classic. He’s fourth in the Schwab Cup standings heading into the three-day event at TPC Sugarloaf in Duluth, Ga., which tees off on Friday.

PGA TOUR AMERICAS — Matthew Anderson of Mississauga, Ont., sits atop the Fortinet Cup points list after winning last week’s 69th ECP Brazil Open in a 54-hole, wire-to-wire victory. He’ll be back in action at the Diners Club Peru Open in Lima on Thursday. Anderson is one of 13 Canadians in the field.

If Lauren Kim is intimidated by storied Augusta National Golf Club, it doesn’t show.

The 19-year-old collegiate golfer from Surrey, B.C., is the lone Canadian in the field at the Augusta National Women’s Amateur this week. She said that her strategy at the elite amateur event is to take the tournament one shot at a time, a strategy that paid off as she had an even-par 72 in Wednesday’s opening round.

Kim was in an 11-way tie for 29th, six shots behind leader Hannah Darling of Scotland.

“The biggest thing is to try and get up in the top 30 and make it to the weekend,” said Kim after her practice round on Tuesday. “But that’s not really going to be on my mind, I’m just going to focus on the shot ahead of me and try and stay present. That’s the most important thing.”

Kim won the 2023 Canadian Women’s Amateur Championship on Aug. 4 to play at last year’s CPKC Women’s Open at Shaughnessy Golf & Country Club in Vancouver. She also won the women’s individual stroke play championship at the Jackson T. Stephens Cup in the fourth playoff on Oct. 11.

Now a freshman on the University of Texas’s women’s golf team, Kim had a practice trip with her teammates where she got to play at Champions Retreat Golf Club, which hosts the first 36 holes of the event on Wednesday and Thursday. She also got to practice at Augusta National, which will host the final round on Saturday.

Kim said that visit helped her determine what she had to work on ahead of the event.

“I’d say a lot of shots around the greens, like short game, and it’s quite important to obviously try and hit the green but when you don’t hit the greens out here, you’ve got to make sure that you try and make the up and downs,” said Kim. “So still a lot of short game practice and putting as well.
“And some shots around the trees and some of the fairways here are a little narrow with the trees and the branches.”

Salimah Mussani, Golf Canada’s women’s head coach, is in Georgia with Kim and helped her through her official practice round on Tuesday. Mussani said that as good as Kim’s ball striking is, it’s her intellect that will see her through to the weekend.

“Her strength is her golf IQ,” said Mussani. “I think on this golf course, it’s very challenging, it’s a tough golf course, but her level of thinking her way around the golf course and managing her golf ball is going to be a real asset, especially in these first two rounds before the cut.”

That cerebral approach is why it’s so important for Kim to remain unfazed by one of golf’s most famous courses.

“She loves the big stage,” said Mussani. “She thrives in these types of situations, the Canadian Am and earlier this season the college event.
“She’s cut out for these types of things and thrives in them and really looks forward to them and looks at them as opportunities. It’s the right mindset, for sure.”

LPGA TOUR — Brooke Henderson of Smiths Falls, Ont., was sixth on the Race to CME Globe standings heading into the first round of the T-Mobile Match Play presented by MGM Rewards on Wednesday. Maude-Aimee Leblanc of Sherbrooke, Que., was 130th on the LPGA Tour’s points list before play began at Shadow Creek in Las Vegas.

PGA TOUR — Two-time Valero Texas Open champion Corey Conners returns to TPC San Antonio this week going for his third title at the event. Conners is the highest ranked Canadian in the field, sitting 47th on the FedEx Cup standings and the official world golf rankings. The product of Listowel, Ont., will be joined by Adam Svensson (78th) of Surrey, Ben Silverman (96th) of Thornhill, Ont., Taylor Pendrith (103rd) of Richmond Hill, Ont., and Roger Sloan (179th) of Merritt, B.C.

KORN FERRY TOUR — Edmonton’s Wil Bateman is ranked 15th on the second-tier Korn Ferry Tour’s points list heading into this week’s Club Car Championship. He will be joined at the Landings Golf & Athletic Club by Etienne Papineau (30) of St-Jean-Sur-Richelieu, Que., Myles Creighton (37th) of Digby, N.S., Jared du Toit (68) of Kimberley, B.C., and Sudarshan Yellamaraju (122nd) of Mississauga, Ont.

Nick Taylor’s putter flip after winning the RBC Canadian Open was the exclamation point on arguably the best year in Canadian golf history.

Taylor drained a 72-foot eagle putt to end a four-hole playoff with England’s Tommy Fleetwood at the Canadian national men’s championship on June 11, the first time a Canadian had won the title in 69 years. But Canada’s success on the course went beyond that, with Canadians winning at every level of the professional game including four wins on the PGA Tour and one on the LPGA Tour.

“I think the state of Canadian pro golf, especially on the PGA Tour, has never been better,” said Taylor, the first Canadian to win the RBC Canadian Open since Pat Fletcher did it in 1954. “Our goal, as players, with Golf Canada is to keep that number growing of Tour members.

“The more players that we can get out here, obviously, it gives us a greater chance of winning more and more.”

Taylor, from Abbotsford, B.C., joined Corey Conners of Listowel, Ont., Mackenzie Hughes of Dundas, Ont., and Adam Svensson of Surrey, B.C., as winners on the PGA Tour in the 2022-23 season. It was the most wins by Canadians in a single PGA Tour campaign to date.

“The camaraderie is great,” said Taylor, whose victory at Toronto’s Oakdale Golf and Country Club was the fourth win by a Canadian in the season. “I feel like we play a lot of practice rounds together, houses often have dinners together, so we all rally together.

“I think we push each other to be better and I think that’s why we’ve continued to get better and reach new heights.”

Conners, who won the Valero Texas Open for a second time on April 2, said that winning is the best feeling you can have in professional golf.

“That was definitely a highlight for me,” said Conners. “I think another highlight, and something that I’m always very proud of, was making it to Eastlake — the Tour Championship — and being in the top 30 of the FedEx Cup rankings and having a chance to win the FedEx Cup. 

“Looking back on the year as a whole I would have liked to improve on some things, but making it there is a nice bonus because it means you had a great year.”

Brooke Henderson of Smiths Falls, Ont., won the Diamond Resorts Tournament of Champions on Jan. 22 for her 13th victory on the LPGA Tour, the most of any professional player in Canadian golf history regardless of gender.

“It was a little bit up and down year for me,” said Henderson, assessing her 2023. “But it was nice to try to defend my title at the Evian Championship with a runner-up finish this year, it was really fun to be back in contention. 

“Then same kind of thing to be in our Tour Championship in November, it’s always a big goal when you start the season is to be in contention to try to win that, that big money and the race, the CME Globe in November.”

Canadian success wasn’t limited to the PGA Tour and LPGA Tour, however.
Ben Silverman of Thornhill, Ont., and Roger Sloan of Merritt, B.C., both won on the second-tier Korn Ferry Tour to earn full-time PGA Tour status in 2024. That means there will be eight Canadians on tour with Silverman and Sloan joining Taylor, Conners, Hughes, Svensson, Taylor Pendrith of Richmond Hill, Ont., and Adam Hadwin of Abbotsford.

Hamilton’s Alena Sharp won an Epson Tour event and had five top-10 results on the second-tier tour, not missing a cut in 14 tournaments played. She also won Canada’s second-ever golf medal at the Pan American Games, winning bronze in Santiago, Chile. 

Sharp once again earned LPGA Tour status through final qualifying, as did Maddie Szeryk of London, Ont., and Savannah Grewal of Mississauga, Ont. They’ll join Henderson and Maude-Aimee Leblanc of Sherbrooke, Que., on the LPGA Tour in the new year.

Two more Canadians won on the PGA Tour Canada, a feeder circuit for the Korn Ferry Tour, with Etienne Papineau of St-Jean-Sur-Richelieu, Que., and Vancouver’s Stuart Macdonald each claiming a victory. Papineau finished fourth on the season-long points list to earn conditional status on the Korn Ferry Tour.

Myles Creighton of Digby, N.S., won on the PGA Tour Latinoamerica, another third-tier circuit in the PGA Tour system. Calgary’s Stephen Ames won a remarkable four times on the Champions Tour.

On the amateur side, Lauren Kim of Surrey, B.C. earned the 109th Canadian Women’s Amateur Championship and Ashton McCulloch of Kingston, Ont. won the 118th Canadian Men’s Amateur, marking only the third time both tournaments were won by Canadians in the same year since 2011. Monet Chun of Richmond Hill, Ont., became the first Canadian to make the cut at the Augusta Women’s National Amateur.

With the Paris Olympics coming in July and the Presidents Cup returning to Royal Montreal Golf Club in September, Taylor expects 2024 to be an even bigger year for Canadian golf.

“Those two are at the top of the list of things I want to be involved in, participate in, this coming year,” he said.