SYDNEY – Kel Nagle, a former Canadian Open (1964) and British Open (1960) winner, as well as a member of the World Golf Hall of Fame, has died. He was 94.

The PGA of Australia said in a statement Thursday that Nagle died overnight at a Sydney hospital. It did not give a cause of death.

The Australian golfer, who won a tournament every year for 26 years after turning professional in 1946, collected 61 victories on the PGA Tour of Australasia and two on the U.S. tour.

His win at St. Andrews came by one stroke over Arnold Palmer, who was attempting to win his third consecutive major that year after taking the Masters and U.S. Open.

Nagle finished second to Gary Player at the 1965 U.S. Open at Bellerive in St. Louis, losing an 18-hole playoff to the South African. Player said then that Nagle was “one of the best short-game players” he had seen.

Nagle also won the Australian PGA championship a record six times and was inducted into the World Golf Hall of Fame in 2007.

He also played on the PGA Senior Tour (now Champions Tour) in the United States in 102 events from 1981-1989.

Nagle’s other achievements included wins at the 1954 World Cup in Montreal and 1959 World Cup in Melbourne with partner Peter Thomson, a five-time British Open champion.

“It’s a sad day for golf, we’ve lost a champion of our game,” said PGA chief executive Brian Thorburn.

In 1980, Nagle was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia for service to the sport of golf and was inducted into the Sport Australia Hall of Fame in 1986.

“Kel was a giant of the game,” said Golf Australia chief executive Stephen Pitt. “But much more than that, he was an ambassador for his sport and his country, universally liked and admired by his peers.”

PHOENIX – Waste Management has announced that the RBC Canadian Open was named the winner of the second annual Sustainability Challenge, a contest sponsored by Waste Management to encourage all PGA TOUR tournaments to engage in and advance sustainable practices at their respective events. With this distinction, the RBC Canadian Open joins the ranks of the Sustainability Challenge inaugural winner, the Shell Houston Open and the Waste Management Phoenix Open as PGA TOUR tournaments that demonstrate the value of responsible sustainability practices.

The RBC Canadian Open received the highest cumulative score for Materials Management, Natural Resources Tracking and Conservation, Economic Impact and Overall Sustainability. Waste Management sustainability experts scored participating tournaments’ submissions and were pleased to note that ninety-one percent of the 22 PGA TOUR tournaments that submitted applications have a recycling program in place and track their diversion of waste from landfills. As the winner, RBC Canadian Open leadership will attend the upcoming Waste Management Phoenix Open and Waste Management’s fifth annual Executive Sustainability Forum.

RBC Canadian Open employs numerous sustainable practices at the carbon-neutral tournament including: diverting waste from landfills through recycling and organics collection; providing free filtered water at water stations located across the grounds; donating unused food to local food banks; offering sustainable transportation options and more. The Royal Montreal Golf Club, home of the 2014 RBC Canadian Open, is also certified as an Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary golf course, a designation earned for its certification in six categories: Environmental Planning, Chemical Use Reduction & Safety, Water Conservation, Water Quality Management, Wildlife & Habitat Management, and Outreach & Education.

“We are committed to making the RBC Canadian Open a green event,” said Bill Paul, Chief Championship Officer for Golf Canada. “We are proud to work with RBC and all of our partners to ensure our tournament continues to be a positive example of best practices to reduce the event’s environmental impact within the markets we conduct the championship.”

“RBC is proud of our work with Golf Canada and our other event partners to ensure that the RBC Canadian Open continues to be a positive example of best practices to reduce the event’s environmental impacts,” says Sandra Odendahl, Director, Corporate Sustainability, RBC.

“As a zero waste event, the award-winning Waste Management Phoenix Open has set the ‘green’ standard for sustainability in sports,” said Jim Trevathan, executive vice president and chief operating officer for Waste Management. “The Sustainability Challenge provides Waste Management the opportunity to recognize the successes of a growing number of PGA TOUR tournaments like the RBC Canadian Open that are expanding their green initiatives so that others will continue to be encouraged to ‘green’ the game of golf.”

KAPALUA, Hawaii – Tim Clark plans a return to Torrey Pines, this time to compete with his long putter rather than to make a passionate protest of the rule to ban them.

Clark has accepted the new rule outlawing the anchored stroke required for the putter he has used the last 17 years. This is the last year before the rule goes into effect, and Clark isn’t about to waste it by tinkering with a new club or a new stroke. He wants to play good golf.

That said, he already is thinking about the change and he’s not willing to share his solution.

“I’ve got some pretty good ideas, but I’m not going to tell you just in case they try to ban those,” Clark said with a laugh. “But I think I’ve got a pretty good handle on it. I’m not as concerned as I was maybe at the start of last year because I think I’ve figured something out now and I’ll be fine. But I’m not going to spend my time practicing it now while I’m trying to play tournaments this year with what I’ve used.

“Once they tell me it’s done, then it’s done. Then it will be easier to change.”

He said he will stop at the Scotty Cameron putting studio in the San Diego area after the tournament to work on some putters that fit his ideas. Otherwise, he sees 2015 as a time to build on a year in which he won the RBC Canadian Open and lost in a playoff to Bubba Watson at the HSBC Champions in Shanghai.

Clark is starting his year at the Hyundai Tournament of Champions for the first time in four years. It’s a good spot to be, and even though he is among the shortest hitters in golf, the expansive Plantation Course at a par 73 doesn’t bother him.

Zach Johnson, not known for his length off the tee, won last year. Besides, Clark learned long ago to play to his strengths. Even though Watson could hit the ball some 80 yards longer, when they played a par 5 in a playoff at Shanghai, Watson didn’t think he had an advantage because of Clark’s short game.

Part of that short game is putting, and that part is about to go through a significant overhaul.

The USGA and R&A – and by extension, Golf Canada – proposed the new rule on anchored strokes at the end of 2012, and at a players’ meeting at Torrey Pines with the USGA a few months later, Clark showed up even though he wasn’t playing the tournament. He became the face of protest for the dignified manner in which he argued against banning a stroke that had been around for some 40 years, and for the damage it would cause for recreational players.

The PGA Tour took a stand against the rule, though it was adopted, anyway.

Clark said it affected his game at the start of last year until he realized the change was inevitable.

“Eventually, I realized you’ve got to stop worrying about it and just go out and play golf,” he said. “And I did that, and that’s probably why I was able to win in Canada. I didn’t have that worry in there. Like I say, my thought is to come out and be a better putter. Stop worrying about what’s happened and what’s going to happen and come out and be a better putter.”

Another past RBC Canadian Open champion, Carl Pettersson, also uses a long putter that he presses against his sternum. So does Adam Scott, a former No. 1 in the world, and Kevin Stadler. Others, such as Keegan Bradley, used a belly putter. Bradley switched to a conventional putter at the Hero World Challenge last month.

“I think the belly guys are going to find it pretty easy,” Geoff Ogilvy said. “But the guys who have split hands, like Stads, Scotty, Timmy, that’s different. That’s a big change. Putting attached from your belly and moving it away, it’s not that big of a change. You lose your security blanket, but it’s effectively the same stroke.”

Scott gets the most attention because he won the Masters – the first Masters champion with an anchored stroke – and because of his prominence. But he didn’t change until 2011. Clark made the switch when he was in college and hardly anyone was using the club known as a broom-handle putter.

For the last 17 years, he has not placed his hands together on the club. The left hand has been high on his chest, the right hand at his waist.

“In my case, I’ve never gone back and forth. I found something I felt comfortable with,” Clark said. “Obviously, there are weeks I putted terribly. It wasn’t a case of changing putters, it was a case of working on it.”

The RBC Canadian Open means something different to everyone. To some, it’s an opportunity to introduce their children to the game, to others, it offers motivation to perfect their swing. Tony Harris, however, looks at the national championship a little differently.

As the official artist of the RBC Canadian Open, Harris recreates some of Canada’s most renowned courses on canvas. A golfer himself, he insists on producing imagery that appeals to both the artistically inclined and the golf enthusiast.

“If I’m commissioned to do a painting of a golf course I want to find the hole that shows the character of the entire course,” Harris said of his passion for painting courses. “If it’s going to be one hole, I’m hoping to really display the character of the entire 18 hole experience. Even as a non-artist looking at a golf painting, you’d be able to see if you’ve played St. George’s 18th hole [because] you’d know you’re about 200 yards out and you’re going to have to hit a soft fade to that back right pin if you want to get it close. That’s what I try to do for the golfer, not necessarily as an artist, but I always want that picture to make sense to the golf purist who understands and knows golf.”

Producing these pieces is not a simple task, and usually takes longer than most golf tournaments themselves. Harris noted that most pieces take him between 50 – 80 hours to complete, and this is after the initial photography of the golf course.

“I work from photograph. I take pictures and I’ll often do some sketchwork from the course.I’m usually there for the entire day so the light can fall at different times,” he continued. “Unless I’m absolutely sure of what hole to paint, I’ll generally spend time between two different holes to give myself some options. I’ll travel between the holes, do sketches, and take lots of pictures early in the morning.”

And Harris’ favourite course to paint? Augusta National, naturally.

“I could paint Augusta National forever,” he said. “I’ve done four different paintings of No. 12 from so many different spots; it’s just one of those things that will just never get old.Even though it’s the same every year, every year there’s always a different time of day that makes the hole look different.”

Harris has not only mastered the art of golf landscapes, but maintains an extensive collection of sports portraits as well. Having painted some of the NHL’s biggest names including Henrik Sedin and Mike Fischer, as the world evolves into one based on instant digital photography, it is refreshing to watch Harris continue to capture the action and emotion of professional sports on canvas.

The 17th hole at The Royal Montreal Golf Club.

MONTREAL – When Jim Furyk’s charge to a third RBC Canadian Open title stalled in the final round, Tim Clark decided to go for it.

The 38-year-old South African, whose wife Candice is Canadian, fired five birdies on the back nine to overtake Furyk on the 15th hole and hold on to win the US$5.7 million tournament at Royal Montreal on Sunday.

Recovering from a first-hole bogey that put him four shots off the lead, Clark shot a five-under-par 65 to finish at 17-under-par 263 and claim his second career PGA Tour victory and the $1,026-million winner’s prize.

“It looked like Jim wasn’t going to make any mistakes,” said Clark, who had moved into contention with a 64 on Saturday. “He was pretty solid, so I knew I had to make birdies.

“At that point, there was nothing to lose. Suddenly I got hot and I went with it.”

It was another frustrating defeat for Furyk, who has now lost seven tournaments in a row in which he led after 54 holes. He went into the final round with a three-stroke cushion but never found traction. He shot 69 to come second at 16-under 264.

“I kind of controlled my own destiny,” said Furyk. “I’ve got to shoot three or four (under par) and it would have been impossible to catch me, or darn near it.

“I left the door open with even par on the front nine and Tim took advantage and shot 30 on the back.”

Furyk has not won since a victory at the 2010 Players Championship that gave him the FedEx Cup title and PGA player of the year honours. He fell short in a bid to join elite company in Tommy Armour, Sam Snead and Lee Trevino by becoming the fourth player to win the Canadian Open three times after his victories in 2006 and 2007.

Instead, it went to the stocky Clark, the long putter user who needed a win after battling elbow trouble in recent years.

The win moved him from 85th to 27th in FedEX Cup standings and gave him entry into next week’s World Golf Championship event in Akron, Ohio and into the PGA championship. He also gets fully exempt status on the PGA Tour through the 2015-16 season.

While Graham DeLaet’s bid to became the first Canadian to win his national open in 60 years fell short, the trophy went to a player with connections, and a history, in Canada.

Clark’s wife Candice is from Toronto and has family in Montreal. He won his first professional tournament at the New Brunswick Open on the Canadian Tour in 1998 and followed a week later with a win at the CPGA Championship.

“The irony of it is Canada could be the location of my first win and my last one,” he said. “To come back here, it’s full circle.

“That was 16 years ago when I was just cutting my teeth as a professional golfer and I was fortunate enough to be given some starts up here, so I have fond memories.

“It’s certainly one I’ve wanted to win for a long time. Any national championship to me is special. particularly to the people from that country. It’s an honour for me to be the open champion.”

DeLaet was in contention after he and Furyk tied the course record with 63s in the second round on Friday, but he went 70-68 in the last two rounds to finished at 10-under 270. He took the low Canadian honour by one stroke over Brad Fritsch of Ottawa, who closed with a 64 to end up at 9-under, tied for ninth with Kevin Kisner and Graeme McDowell.

“I fell a little short, but it was fun,” said DeLaet, Canada’s top-ranked player. “So many people were cheering for me.

“Now I know how Tiger and Phil and those guys feel all the time because it was pretty neat. Coming down 18 was a special moment.

Justin Hicks shot 64 to leap into third place alone at 13-under 267 in his best performance of the season.

Matt Kuchar (65), Michael Putnam (66) and Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano (66) finished tied for fourth at 11-under 269.

Golf Canada and the PGA Tour moved up the starting times by two hours and had the players go out in threesomes from both the first and 10th tees to try to fit in the final round between forecast rainstorms.

It almost worked to perfection. Most of the field had finished their rounds when a cloudburst halted play for 26 minutes with the final group – including Furyk, Clark and Kyle Stanley – had only four holes left to play.

Clark and Furyk were tied at 15-under when the rain came. When play resumed, Clark birdied to take the lead. Both players birdied the 17th to set up a dramatic final hole.

Clark left a 44-foot putt about six feet short, but Furyk missed left on a 12-footer and Clark sealed the win by holing a six-foot putt.

“Once he missed his putt, I didn’t want to have to go into a playoff, knowing he can take it over the water (off the 18th tee) and I have to play over to the right,’ said Clark. ”So it was huge for me to get it finished right there.

“I got hot with the putter on the back nine. To stand over that putt and still feel confident was really nice.”

DeLaet, from Weyburn, Sask., tied for seventh with Dicky Pride, who matched the course record with a bogey-free 63. He won the Rivermead Cup as low Canadian.

Pride had the course record at 64 the last time the event was held at Royal Montreal in 2001 only to see Scott Verplank and David Morland go one shot better the next day.

“I had to get my course record back,” said Pride, who birdied the 17th and 18th for the record. “So to tie them and go back and get it, I’m pretty happy about that.

“And I was thinking about it on 18 too, which is an idiotic thing to do, but I made the putt anyway.”

Fritsch had a 10-foot putt on the 18th in a bid for a share of the record, but missed by perhaps a centimetre.

But the 36-year-old in the Ottawa Senators golf shirt used his 64 to finish the event at 9-under. His bogey free round included three birdies and an eagle on the back nine. Fritsch just made the cut on Friday with a birdie on the 18th.

“We made the most of the weekend,” said Fritsch. “We felt like we were playing with house money this weekend just because we felt lucky to even be playing.”

“I played great today. On the back nine, I made a bunch of putts and made some good shots coming down the stretch.

Taylor Pendrith of Richmond Hill, Ont., capped a strong first Canadian Open experience with a 69 to finish as the low amateur at 3-under.

David Hearn of Brantford, Ont., and Adam Hadwin of Abbotsford, B.C. both shot 71s and finished at 2-under. Mike Weir of Bright’s Grove, Ont. had 71 to finish at 2-over par.

Clark tied the tournament low total score of 263 with Johnny Palmer (1952) and Scott Piercy (2012).

MONTREAL – There doesn’t appear to be any stopping Jim Furyk from claiming a third RBC Canadian Open title.

The 44-year-old Furyk steamrolled his way to a bogey-free 65 in the third round at Royal Montreal on Saturday to go to 15-under-par 195 and take a three-shot lead over South African Tim Clark, while crowd favourite Graham DeLaet of Weyburn, Sask., saw his hopes sag with a three-putt on the 18th to fall seven strokes off the lead.

A forecast of thunderstorms may complicate the final round on Sunday, but Furyk is in solid position for his first PGA Tour win since the Tour Championship in 2010.

He said a key to closing out the US$5.7 million tournament will be “not really worrying about what position I’m in. Not looking at the leaderboard too much. Going out there and trying to attack the golf course the same way I have the first three days.

“I noticed there aren’t many leaderboards on the course, that might be a good thing.”

He will play the final round in a threesome with Clark, whose only Tour win was the 2010 Players Championship, and Kyle Stanley, whose lone win was at the 2012 Phoenix Open.

Clark had the low round of the day at 64 to move to 12-under. Stanley has been near the lead all week and shot 68 to take third place at 10-under par.

Furyk is a 16-time winner on Tour and will have the edge in experience. But he cautioned that the soft greens and fairways at Royal Montreal have made for low scoring and that anyone close is a threat.

“The guys that are out there who have played well for three days are all capable,” said Furyk. “Timmy Clark’s got a lot of experience. Kyle’s won before.

“The guys out there have all played well. They’ve played good rounds. You saw Graham and I shoot 7-under (on Saturday). There is a good round out there, so guys can go out there and shoot a low one and definitely put heat on the last group.”

Jamie Lovemark, whose best finish so far this season was a tie for 28th in January, shot 67 to take fourth place at 9-under.

But the galleries were watching DeLaet, Canada’s top player who is trying to become the first Canadian to win his national open since Pat Fletcher in 1954.

But after raising hopes as he and Furyk tied the course record playing together with Matt Kuchar in the second round, he managed only an even-par 70 to stay at 8 under in a tie with Joe Durant (67), Scott Brown (69) and Tim Petrovic (72).

The 32-year-old DeLaet missed a par putt on the second, but kept himself afloat until he sank a long putt for eagle on the par-5 12th. He followed with a birdie on the 14th to get to 10 under, but then put his tee shot on the 15th into a hazard for bogey.

The crowd gave him a rousing ovation as the bearded DeLaet walked up the 18th fairway, but he got too aggressive on a 9-foot birdie putt and then missed a short one for par.

“I kept plugging away,” said DeLaet. “I knew I wasn’t that far off and if I could just finish a couple under par maybe I’d have a shot (on Sunday.)

“Disappointing to three-putt the last. I really wanted to make that birdie and got over-aggressive. But it was a fun day. The crowds were amazing out there. Hopefully, I can do something special.”

If DeLaet was dejected or angry at himself, it didn’t show when he met the media off the 18th green. And he wasn’t about to concede defeat despite the gap with the leaders.

“Jim is obviously in control of his game right now, but if someone posts something you never know what could happen,” he said. “I’m just going to give it my best. I’ve got 35 million people pulling for me, so that’s pretty cool.”

Furyk won the world’s third-oldest national championship in 2006 at the Hamilton Golf and Country Club and followed with a win in 2007 at Angus Glen in Markham, Ont.

A third win would put him in a tie for second all-time with Tommy Armour (1927, 1930 and 1934), San Snead (1938, 1940 and 1941) and Lee Trevino (1971, 1977 and 1979). Leo Diegel won four titles in the 1920s.

Coming off a final round 65 to finish fourth at the British Open last Sunday, Furyk has had only one bogey, on the fourth hole of the first round, at Royal Montreal.

The third round was more complicated, but he cited up-and-down saves for par on the first, sixth, 11th and 16th for keeping his hot play alive.

“The first couple of days I struck the ball really well and never had myself in too much trouble,” he said. “Today I found a way to score and get the ball in the hole.”

In his career, Furyk has won 10 of 25 times when leading after three rounds.

Clark got off to a phenomenal start, with a birdie on the first and an eagle on the second, and then ran off three birdies on the final six holes. The 38-year-old’s experience likely makes him the most dangerous challenger.

“It’s always great to get off to a good start,” said Clark. “Saturdays are normally the toughest day to score on, so you dream of a start like that.”

Clark is coming off a strong showing at the John Deere Classic, where he tied for fifth, helping to turn around a middling season that included a problem with his left elbow that needed a cortisone injection.

“Right now I feel good and I am able to swing how I want to,” he said. “Three months ago I started to hit the good again, but I just wasn’t scoring. Finally, the last few tournaments, I’ve started to score.”

With thunderstorms in the forecast, start times were moved up two hours to 8 a.m. ET, with the players in threesomes rather than the usual pairs for the final round. The third round was played in breezy, overcast weather, with only a brief, light rain in the afternoon.

Amateur Taylor Pendrith of Richmond Hill, Ont., rebounded from a 75 on Friday with a 68 to go to 2 under. He was 4 under through 17 holes, but the big hitter put his tee shot in a hazard and hit a weak chip shot for double bogey on the 18th.

He was happy with his week so far however, which included an opening-round 65.

“Just getting out here and experiencing what the PGA guys experience every week is pretty awesome,” the 23-year-old said. “My goal for the week was just to come out here and have some good rounds.

“Just like any other tournament, if I play good I’ll make the cut. I had a good day and a bad day, but I made the cut, which was awesome. It’s great to play two more rounds on the weekend.”

Brad Fritsch of Ottawa shot a bogey-free 67 to move to 3 under for the tournament, while Adam Hadwin of Abbotsford, B.C., was at 3 under after a 68. David Hearn of Brampton, Ont., was also at 3 under after a 70.

Mike Weir of Bright’s Grove, Ont., was 1 over on the day and for the tournament.

“No bogeys out here with the wind blowing a bit – I played nicely,” said Fritsch, whose sand shot on the 18th helped save par. “Burned the edge a lot today, but I also had some good up and downs.

“It was nice to get up and down on the last, just to make sure it was bogey-free.”