Waiting about 10 minutes to find out he won the 2024 Rogers Charity Classic didn’t bother Ken Tanigawa one bit.

After all, Tanigawa hadn’t experienced victory on the PGA Tour Champions circuit since winning the KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship in June 2019.

“It has not sunk in, but it feels amazing,” said the 56-year-old American golfer, who was born in Japan but currently resides in Scottsdale, Ariz. 

“Every year that goes by, you’re not getting younger. You kind of wonder, sure, if you’ll ever win. You sprinkle hope out there. You hope you can and you keep working at your game.”

A day after tying the course record at Canyon Meadows Golf and Country Club, Tanigawa had eight birdies during a round of 6-under 64 on Sunday to finish atop the leaderboard at 17 under.

“I played an amazing round yesterday, but you just let it go,” said Tanigawa, who won US$360,000. “You’re starting all over from scratch again today.

“I didn’t think about it or carry on. Expectations to shoot low weren’t there — not to play good nor bad. Just go out and you do your best from the first shot on and see what you can shoot.”

Tanigawa had already finished his round when he found out his final score of 193 was good enough to beat second-place finisher Richard Green by two strokes.

“I was told that Richard bogeyed 17, so he needed to eagle 18 and I knew it was hard to get home in two,” Tanigawa said. “You never know. Weird things happen in this game, so it was nice that it was over.”

Tied at 16 under with Green through 16 holes, Tanigawa birdied the par-4, 17th hole. Playing in the last group, Green bogeyed the hole and then only managed to par No. 18 to finish alone in second place at 15 under.

“It’s just a shame that things just at the end there didn’t really fall my way,” said Green, who finished second for the third time this season. “I thought they were going my way there a little bit through the middle of the round, and probably my start today (with a bogey on the first hole) didn’t really help me very much.

“It’s nice to be competing and contending for golf tournaments. It’s fun. I enjoy being out there contending week in, week out, and I’ll keep rattling the cage.”

Darren Clarke and Jason Caron finished in a tie for third at 14 under, while Mario Tiziani was alone in fifth at 13 under.

Canadian Golf Hall of Famers Stephen Ames and Mike Weir both shot rounds of 3-under 67 on Sunday.

Ames, a former Calgary resident, finished as the top Canadian at 10 under in a six-way tie for 10th place.

“It wasn’t the greatest ball striking, but I got it around,” Ames said. “I was able to capitalize on holes that I hit some good shots on and made birdies with it.

“Overall it was a bit up and down, but I think it was good that I was handling the bad shots and moving forward and not worrying about too much.”

Currently sitting second in the season-long Charles Schwab Cup money behind Ernie Els, who also finished at 10 under in Calgary, Ames received a nice ovation from the crowd when he walked up to the 18th green before tapping in his par putt.

“Every time I come back here I get that, so it’s wonderful,” Ames said. “No matter where I finish, you get that reward, which is nice. I think all our Canadian fellows get that.”

Weir finished the tournament in an eight-way tie for 20th at 8 under.

“Overall, I felt like I played pretty good so hopefully that will be momentum (for) next week,” said Weir, who will tee it up at The Ally Challenge in Grand Blanc, Mich., from next Thursday to Sunday.

“It’s phenomenal here at this event. This is one of the premium events on the PGA Tour Champions. The fan support is incredible for myself, Stephen and all the other Canadians, so it’s a great place to play.”

Alan McLean of London, Ont., carded an even-par round of 70 on Sunday to finish one shot back of Weir in a tie for 28th spot.

Gordon Burns of Ajax, Ont., carded a 2-under round of 68 on Sunday to finish the event in a tie for 73rd at 4 over, while Calgary’s Steve Blake shot 79 and finished well back of the leaders at 22 over.

SNOQUALMIE, Wash. — Canadian Stephen Ames successfully defended his Boeing Classic title Sunday, birdieing the par-5 18th for a 5-under 67 and one-stroke victory over Ernie Els, Steven Alker and Robert Karlsson.

The 60-year-old Ames, a naturalized Canadian from Trinidad and Tobago, won his third PGA Tour Champions title of the season and ninth overall. He won four times on the PGA Tour.

“This stage right now, this is all icing on my cake, so I’m just enjoying this and I’m going to take it as long as it goes,” Ames said.

He finished at 11-under 205 at The Club at Snoqualmie Ridge.

“I’m enjoying the winning, let’s put it that way,” Ames said. “It is fun, no doubt about that. This year I’ve been very consistent, more than I was last year, which was actually one of my goals.”

Els and Alker played alongside Ames, each shooting 68. Els also has three victories this season. Second-round leader Karlsson shot 75 in the final group.

Charlie Wi (75) and Kirk Triplett (71) tied for fifth at 8 under.

Local favourite Fred Couples tied for 18th at 4 under after a 71.

As Ellie Szeryk lined up her final putt to seal the win at the B.C. Women’s Open, she spied longtime friend Brooke Rivers lurking around the green with a bottle of water.

Sure enough, when Szeryk made the putt, the chase was on with Rivers trying to douse her with water.

“I ran as far as I could, but she still got me quite good,” Szeryk said with a laugh. “But it was fun. In golf you usually do that to your really good friends when they win. 

“So it was really sweet that she did that. It’s like an unspoken honour.”

Szeryk beat Rivers by four strokes at Pitt Meadows Golf Club on Sunday in their professional debuts. Both golfers also earned berths at the CPKC Women’s Open, July 25-28 at Calgary’s Earl Grey Golf Club.

“It was just really nice to be able to have followed through on something that I had been thinking about,” said Szeryk. “It’s not always easy to golf. It’s just three rounds and you have no idea what the course is like and how it’s going to play.”

Earning their way into the national women’s championship, rather than relying on a sponsor’s exemption, was a relief to both players.

“I knew that there’d be a good opportunity for that,” said Szeryk, from London, Ont. “It’s been on my mind the last couple of months, like since I signed up. 

“I knew I needed to make sure I had my game right so I could take advantage of it because I knew that they weren’t going to be a lot of sponsored exemptions for this Canadian Open.”

Rivers agreed.

“It does feel really good to earn the exemption spot on my own through good play,” said Rivers, from Brampton, Ont. “It also feels a little more rewarding while being there because you feel like you had done everything in order to put yourself there.”

Rivers added with a laugh: “It’s a little bit easier when booking travel that you don’t have to do it the week before.”

Both Szeryk and Rivers turned pro after the conclusion of the NCAA golf season. They’re both spending time with family and practising before the ORORO PGA Women’s Championship of Canada tees off at TPC Toronto at Osprey Valley in Caledon, Ont., on July 2.

“I’m really excited to turn pro, and it’s something that I’ve wanted to do my whole life,” said Rivers, who played one season at Wake Forest University. “It’s something I’ve been working toward my whole life. 

“I just felt that I was in a position where I was ready to turn pro and I was ready to start competing.”

Golf Canada announced the early commitments to the 50th playing of the Women’s Open on Monday, with eight of the current top-10 and 83 of the top-100 players on the Race to the CME Globe Standings entered in the national women’s championship.

The 156-player field will be competing at Earl Grey Golf Club for the first time in tournament history. It will be the seventh time that Alberta hosts the Women’s Open and first time since 2016.

LPGA TOUR — Hamilton’s Alena Sharp is in the Dow Championship three days after making Canada’s Olympic golf team for a third time. Maddie Szeryk, Ellie’s older sister, just missed out on beating Sharp to the Olympics by 1.41 points in the women’s world golf rankings. Brooke Henderson of Smiths Falls, Ont., No. 14 in the world, is also in the field at the Midland Country Club in Midland, Mich. They will be joined by Maude-Aimee Leblanc of Sherbrooke, Que., Savannah Grewal of Mississauga, Ont., and amateur Vanessa Borovilos of Toronto.

EPSON TOUR — Brigitte Thibault of Rosemere, Que., is the top-ranked Canadian playing in the Dream First Bank Charity Classic. She’s 120th on the second-tier Epson Tour’s points list. She’ll be joined at Buffalo Dunes Golf Course in Garden City, Kan., by Vancouver’s Leah John (160th), as well as Selena Costabile of Thornhill, Ont., and Kate Johnston of Ayr, Ont., who are unranked.

PGA TOUR — Taylor Pendrith of Richmond Hill, Ont., is the top ranked Canadian at No. 30 on the FedEx Cup standings. He will be in the field at the Rocket Mortgage Classic at Detroit Golf Club, where he finished tied for second in 2022. Adam Svensson (76th) of Surrey, B.C., Ben Silverman (113th) of Thornhill, Ont., and Roger Sloan (194th) of Merritt, B.C., are also in the field.

KORN FERRY TOUR — Myles Creighton of Digby, N.S., is No. 23 on the Tour’s points list heading into the Memorial Health Championship. Edmonton’s Wil Bateman (33rd), Etienne Papineau (50th) of St-Jean-Sur-Richelieu, Que., Sudarshan Yellamaraju (100th) of Mississauga, Ont., and Jared du Toit (118th) of Kimberley, B.C., are also in the field at Panther Creek Country Club in Springfield, Ill.

CHAMPIONS TOUR — Calgary’s Stephen Ames leads the Canadian contingent into the U.S. Senior Open Championship. He’s No. 1 on the Charles Schwab Cup money list with two victories so far this year. Mike Weir of Brights Grove, Ont., is 25th on the list and also in the field at Newport Country Club in Newport, R.I. David Morland IV of Aurora, Ont., is also playing the event.

AMERICAS TOUR — Matthew Anderson of Mississauga, Ont., remains the atop the points list of the third-tier Americas Tour heading into this week’s ATB Classic. He’s one of 18 Canadians playing Northern Bear Golf Club in Strathcona County, Alta.

Although Canada’s lone PGA Tour Champions event will have a different name, the goal will still be the same for Mike Weir.

Like he did during his three previous appearances at the Shaw Charity Classic, Weir will do his best to finish at the top of the leaderboard this August at the tournament – now called the Rogers Charity Classic – at Canyon Meadows Golf and Country Club.

Weir had a ninth-place finish in 2021 before finishing well back of the leaders the past two years.

“For me, I think I probably played a little bit too aggressively,” Weir said. “I think it’s got me into a little bit of trouble. 
“This year I’ve got to find a few more fairways and get the flatstick heated up a little more and hopefully make a few more putts.”

Weir finished sixth at last week’s Insperity Invitational near Houston, a tournament he won in 2021 for his lone senior circuit victory so far.

The Canadian Golf Hall of Famer would like nothing more than to become the first Canadian to win a PGA Tour Champions tournament on home soil this summer.

“Hopefully I’ll make a good run at it this year,” said Weir, who noted he’ll face stiff competition from fellow Canadian Stephen Ames, who has won twice this season.

“He’s been playing some phenomenal golf, probably some of the best golf of his career.

“It’s great to see.”

Weir added that he was also happy to see Rogers Communications as the new title sponsor. The company made a $1-million donation to kick-start fundraising for this year’s tournament.

“Shaw obviously did such a great job for all those years,” said the 2003 Masters champion, who recently signed on as a Team Rogers athlete. “Now you have Rogers taking over and seeing it through and continuing on the great tradition that Shaw started.”

American Ken Duke won the tournament last year.

“It’s been one of the premier events on (the) PGA Tour Champions (tour),” Weir said in a phone interview. “Players love coming up to play and it’s a great golf course. We really get some great fan support. The crowds really come out.”

Weir will serve as captain of the International squad at the 2024 Presidents Cup at the Royal Montreal Golf Club in late September.

DULUTH, Ga. — Stephen Ames celebrated his 60th birthday with a successful title defense in the Mitsubishi Electric Classic, closing with a 5-under 67 on Sunday for his eighth PGA Tour Champions victory.

A stroke behind Paul Broadhurst after matching the tournament record Saturday with a 64, Ames had two eagles in the final round. He won by four strokes, finishing at 14-under 202 at TPC Sugarloaf for his record third victory in the event.

Broadhurst, the 58-year-old Englishman coming off a victory last week in the Invited Celebrity Classic, closed with a 72 to tie for second with Doug Barron (69). K.J. Choi (70) and Steven Alker (71) were 9 under.

Ames became the first multiple winner this year on the tour, also taking the Chubb Classic in February. He has six victories in his last 29 starts after winning twice in his first 175 — the first at TPC Sugarloaf in 2017 — on the 50-and-over tour. A naturalized Canadian citizen from Trinidad and Tobago, Ames won four times on the PGA Tour.

Ames opened with a birdie on the par-4 first, eagled the par-5 sixth and par-4 13th and birdied the par-4 14th. He bogeyed the par-4 15th and 17th and birdied the par-5 18th.

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NAPLES, Fla. — Canada’s Stephen Ames captured his seventh PGA Tour Champions title on Sunday without hitting a shot when the final round of the Chubb Classic was canceled because of a massive storm system moving across Florida.

Tournament officials originally planned to play only nine holes for the final round at Tiburon Golf Club until a forecast of the storm getting stronger led to the cancellation.

Ames shot an 8-under 64 on Saturday to build a three-shot lead over Rocco Mediate, and he was declared the winner. Ames now has five wins in his last 24 starts on PGA Tour Champions.

It was the second time in three weeks the final round was canceled at a PGA Tour-sanctioned event, this time on a different coast. The AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am was washed out on Sunday with Wyndham Clark the 54-hole winner.

Ames finished at 13-under 131 and earned $270,000. Rocco Mediate, who opened with a 63, was runner-up after a 71 on Saturday. Ernie Els was part of a four-way tie for third.

Steven Alker, who won the last two Champions events dating to the end of last season, wound up in a tie for 15th.

It was the first time since the 2021 Insperity Invitational in Houston that a PGA Tour Champions event, typically 54 holes, was reduced to 36 holes because of weather.

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Brooke Henderson loves breaking records and this week she’s got a dubious one hanging over her head.

Since 2016, no LPGA Tour player has won the opening tournament of the season and then won a second title in the same year. Henderson, from Smiths Falls, Ont., kicked off 2023 with a victory at the Diamond Resorts Tournament of Champions on Jan. 22 and is in the field at this week’s CME Group Tour Championship, the climax of the professional women’s golf season, still looking for her second win of the year.

“It’s a really weird stat that I don’t like very much,” said Henderson with a laugh. “I thought I would break it earlier but maybe it kind of got in my head a little bit. 

“This would be the perfect week to break that and bookend the season; win the first one, win the last one, that would be obviously ideal.”

Henderson is the only Canadian in the 60-golfer field at Tiburón Golf Club’s Gold Course in Naples, Fla. She enters the tournament ranked 14th in the CME Globe rankings.

At last year’s CME Group Tour Championship, Henderson had an outside shot at finishing atop the standings, but was hampered by a back injury. Instead, New Zealand’s Lydia Ko won the event and the season’s championship.

“The off-season, for me last year was huge,” said Henderson. “I put in a lot of work to strengthen and heal and it has really paid off. 

“Knock on wood, I don’t have the issues that I had last year. That was another thing coming into this week: I was really excited that I’m a lot healthier than where I was this time last year.”

The PGA Tour also concludes its season with the RSM Classic. Adam Svensson of Surrey, B.C., is the defending champion. His victory at Sea Island Golf Club’s Seaside Course in Saint Simons Island, Ga., last year was the start to a breakout season for Svensson.

“It is my best year here on the PGA Tour,” he said. “I feel like I’ve played my best golf in my career and I feel like I’m getting better and better. 

“Hopefully, I can keep it going.”

The RSM Classic is the seventh and final PGA Tour event of the FedExCup Fall. All seven tournaments featured winner’s benefits, including a two-year PGA Tour exemption, 500 FedExCup points and invitations to The Sentry, The Players Championship, the Masters and the PGA Championship in 2024.

Svensson enters the event 37th on the FedEx Cup standings, guaranteed a PGA Tour card next season as well as spots in the circuit’s premium events. 

He’ll be joined by at least seven other Canadians next season. 

Nick Taylor (25th) of Abbotsford, B.C., Corey Conners (26th) of Listowel, Ont, Adam Hadwin (45th) from Abbotsford, Mackenzie Hughes (53rd) of Dundas, Ont., and Taylor Pendrith (86th) of Richmond Hill, Ont., have also retained their tour cards. 

Roger Sloan of Merritt, B.C., and Ben Silverman of Thornhill, Ont., have earned cards through their rankings on the second-tier Korn Ferry Tour.

Svensson has played more PGA Tour golf than most of the top 50 players on tour, including most of the fall events. He said that’s just a product of his passion for the sport more than any kind of strategy.

“I love playing I love competing and I feel like I learn so much each week,” said Svensson. “Even if I don’t play good I still learn and if I play great I learned so I feel like the more events I play … the better I get.”

Conners, Hughes, and Pendrith are also in the field at the RSM Classic this week, as is Michael Gligic of Burlington, Ont. Gligic is 204th on the FedEx Cup standings and needs a strong showing this week to clinch a tour membership for next year.

Stephen Ames has never felt better physically or mentally, and his ball striking might be the best it’s ever been.

In other words, it’s the perfect time to return to Calgary.

Ames won last week’s Boeing Open for his fourth victory on the Champions Tour this season, putting him third in the Schwab Cup standings. He’ll be in the field on Thursday when his hometown hosts the Shaw Charity Classic.

“Oh, the confidence is there, there’s no doubt about that,” said Ames. “The fact that I know where I’m at and how to fix things instantly when I’m on the course, how to feel a little bit more relaxed playing golf and enjoying it, yeah. I’m in that zone

“Right now (my confidence), it’s helpful and it’s … probably helping me the most with my play right now.”

Ames also won the Trophy Hassan II on Feb. 11, the Mitsubishi Electric Classic on May 7 and the Principal Charity Classic on June 4 this season. But his seven-stroke victory on Sunday was perhaps the most impressive.

He said that the best way to keep that momentum rolling in Calgary aside from making sure he didn’t have too many celebratory drinks after winning the Boeing Open is to keep things simple.

“It’s always the process, trying to keep that as simple as you can and not worry about the result, which is what we’ve been doing very well this year,” said Ames. “At the end of the day you want to be as simple as you can be mentally, have simple thoughts, no thoughts, whatever you want it to be.

“Make it as simple as possible and then the rest of it just happens.”

There are three other Canadians in the field at Canyon Meadows Golf and Country Club.

Mike Weir of Brights Grove, Ont., is the second-highest ranked Canadian on the Champions Tour at 38th in the standings. Alan McLean (No. 123) of London, Ont., and David Morland IV (No. 194) who’s originally from Aurora, Ont., will also play at the Shaw Charity Classic.

Ames has historically done well in Calgary but never won there. It’s his hope that his evolved mental approach will help him finally emerge victorious in his hometown.

“We tend to beat ourselves up a little bit too much as players,” he said. “You’ve got to take the day as it strides along or the week as it strides along.

“You’ve got to have your ups and then your downs and dealing with the downs is obviously very important. I think I’ve learned to do a good job of that over the years.”

Stephen Ames continued the best year of his PGA TOUR Champions career on Sunday with a victory at the Boeing Classic at the Club at Snoqualmie Ridge just outside Seattle.

Nursing a one-shot lead over defending Boeing champ Miguel Angel Jimenez and defending Schwab Cup champion Steven Alker entering the final round, the 59-year-old Ames fired a bogey-free, 9-under 63 to win by seven strokes and record his fourth victory of 2023. Only Steve Stricker has more (five).

Ames chipped in for eagle on the par-5 first hole to push his advantage to two, and it never got closer the rest of the way. He also eagled 18 to finish at 19 under and tie the tournament scoring record. Ames played his last five holes in 6 under to shoot 30 on the back nine.

It stood in stark contrast to a year ago, when Ames led the Boeing heading to the back nine only to shoot 3 over coming in and be overtaken by Jimenez to finish in a tie for third. The Canadian played quickly and confidently on Sunday, and he rolled in seemingly every putt he looked at.

“Even up to 14 it was still a ballgame because it was only two shots still in it,” Ames said. “I mean, when Steven missed the birdie putt on 14 and I made mine, then it went to three again. Like I said, it was still a ballgame, still had to play golf coming in.

“A lot of players always get themselves ahead of the game and you’ve got to stay in the present, which I kept telling myself.”

Alker and Jimenez simply couldn’t keep up with Ames on this day. Both went out in even par, digging their hole to four strokes. Jimenez wound up in second after a 3-under 69. Alker shot 1-under 71 to tie for third with K.J. Choi, who shot 65.

But it was another Sunday that was all about Ames. It was the fourth time in 2023 he entered the final round with a lead, and the fourth time he closed successfully. It was a bit of a home game as well: Ames’ Vancouver home is about a short, two-hour drive from Snoqualmie. He rolled in a 20-footer on the par-3 17th, the hardest hole on the course, for birdie and followed with an eagle on the par-5 18th after hitting driver, long iron to 3 feet.

“I kept pushing myself as the closing holes were coming in just to keep in front, keep pedaling, keep pushing the pedal, and I did,” Ames said. “The way I ended up finishing, I didn’t expect that that, but it came out on top, which is nice.”

Alker could only tip his cap.

“He didn’t miss a shot,” Alker said. “He made the putts he needed to. I think all his wins have been, I don’t know, five-shot wins this year at least, so it’s pretty impressive.”

Ames got his big year started in February at the Trophy Hassan II in Morocco with a five-shot victory. He won the Mitsubishi Electric Classic outside Atlanta in May by four, and he claimed the Principal Charity Classic in June by a shot.

DULUTH, Ga. – Stephen Ames capped off his dominant week on the TPC Sugarloaf with a 4-under 68 on Sunday that gave him the tournament scoring record and a four-shot victory in the Mitsubishi Electric Classic.

Ames joined David Toms as the only multiple winners on the PGA Tour Champions this year. He previously won the Trophy Hassan II in Morocco.

Ames had a three-shot lead going into the final and was never seriously challenged. He drove into the water on the final hole and still made a 30-foot par putt to finish at 19-under 197. Ames broke his own 54-hole record at Sugarloaf by four shots. He also won in 2017.

Miguel Angel Jimenez birdied the final hole for a 68 to finish alone in second.

Brett Quigley tried to make a run at Ames and got within three shots until a bogey-double bogey finish for a 69 to finish alone in fourth.

Ames, from Calgary, won $300,000 and moved up four spots to No. 4 in the Charles Schwab Cup standings. What made this victory more special was having his son, Ryan, as his caddie for the week. Ryan Ames is a PGA of Canada member and aspiring teaching pro.

“The fact I ended up winning was icing on the cake,” Ames said.

Steve Stricker didn’t make a birdie until the back nine and then shot 32 to tie for seventh, keeping his lead in the Charles Schwab Cup. He has finished in the top 10 in all seven of his PGA Tour Champions events this week, and 11 in a row dating to last August.