There is no longer a penalty for moving loose impediments when your ball lies in a bunker.

Click here to learn more about the modernized Rules of golf.

HARRIS, Mich. – Maddie Szeryk of London, Ont. fired three rounds in the 60s, finishing in a tie for fourth place at the Island Resort Championship on Sunday.

The Team Canada Young Pro Squad member was the only competitor at the event to shoot all three of her rounds in the 60s at Sweetgrass Golf Club, finishing two strokes back of champion Daniela Iacobelli. It was Szeryk’s third top-five finish in his last four starts on the Symetra Tour.

It took 55 holes, but Iacobelli captured her third career Symetra Tour victory with a birdie in the first frame of a sudden-death playoff against Cindy Ha.

Each of Iacobelli’s three wins have come after she missed the cut the week prior.

“It feels good, there are a lot of memories here and this will just add to the list,” said Iacobelli, who also captured the 2012 Symetra Tour Championship and 2015 Tullymore Classic titles. “I think I just get a little upset with myself and come into the next tournament guns blazing.”

When the final round started at Sweetgrass Golf Club, Iacobelli was tied for 13th and looking at a six-stroke deficit. A bogey-free, 7-under par 65 moved the Florida Institute of Technology alumna quickly up the leaderboard.

“Started quick with birdie on the first three and made the turn in 5-under,” said Iacobelli, who finished at 11-under par overall. “I was like, ‘Ok, let’s step on the gas pedal,’ but the wind picked up a little bit and just tried not to make mistakes. The putter was hot this week, which is crazy since I switched grips on Wednesday. The 18th hole, I’m glad the wind was blowing the way it was because I only know how to play it as a two-shot hole. That was a bit advantageous.”

Her finish in Harris, Mich. earns exemption into The Evian Championship next month, the fourth major on the LPGA Tour schedule this year. A 2012 and 2015 Symetra Tour graduate, Iacobelli has spent three years on the LPGA Tour. However, she has never played in The Evian Championship.

“I’m excited, never been to France and looking forward to it,” Iacobelli said. “Get to experience another moment of my career, I can’t wait. That is for sure the crazier part of all this.”

Full results can be found here.

When you decide your ball in a bunker is unplayable, under the 2019 Rules you have an extra option that lets you drop “back-on-the-line” outside the bunker for total penalty of two strokes.

Click here to learn more about the Rules of golf.

CROMWELL, Conn. – Chez Reavie is a PGA Tour winner again after 11 years and 250 events.

Reavie won the Travelers Championship on Sunday, closing with a 1-under 69 for a four-stroke victory over Keegan Bradley and Zack Sucher.

The 37-year-old Reavie, whose first title came as a rookie at the 2008 Canadian Open, finished at 17-under 263 at TPC River Highlands a week after tying for third in the U.S. Open at Pebble Beach.

“It means everything,” he said. “I went through some injuries, had some long years there in the middle. But it was great, because it gave good perseverance and good perspective of what life is and what golf is.”

The former Arizona State player took a six-stroke lead over Bradley and Sucher into the round after a shooting a 63 on Saturday. He had an understated celebration, pulling his ball out of the hole at 18 and saluting the crowd with it clenched in his fist.

It was the same calm he showed throughout the day, even as, Bradley, a New England native from nearby Vermont, chipped away to the cheers of the large galleries.

Bradley made back-to-back birdies on 10 and 11 to get within three shots, just missed a 13-foot birdie putt on the 12th, then made a 9-footer on 13 to get within two strokes. His 22 foot-birdie attempt at 14 stopped just at the hole.

He got within a stroke on the par-4 15th when he made a 7 1/2-foot birdie putt after Reavie missed an 11-footer.

“The crowd was just so behind me and so loud and so, it felt like a Ryder Cup to me,” Bradley said. “Man, I’ve dreamt of this ever since I’ve come here at 10 years old. It lived up to the hype – it was awesome.”

But Reavie put the tournament away on the par-4 17th, making a 14-foot birdie putt, while Bradley three-putted for a double bogey. Bradley and Sucher each shot 67, with Sucher playing the back nine in 5-under 30.

Sucher, coming of an injury that kept him away from golf for 13 months after the 2017 Travelers, had his best ever finish in a PGA Tour event.

“The back nine was unbelievable,” Sucher said. “I mean the whole thing was unbelievable with the huge crowds, it was quite an experience.”

He came into his fourth of six medical extension start needing to earn 347 FexEx Cup points to retain his Tour card. He came in with 25 points and picked up 245 with the second-place tie.

“It’s amazing, it’s life-changing to be honest,” Sucher said. “It changes the rest of our year, it changes our plans and we have a lot of work to do to figure what else we have to do now.”

Vaughn Taylor, who started nine strokes back, made a run of five birdies to finish his final-round of 65, shooting a 29 on the back nine. His 15-foot birdie putt on 18 put him at 12 under.

“I’ve never birdied the last five holes of a tournament that’s for sure,” Taylor said

Paul Casey, who blew a four-stroke lead during last year’s final round, started the day 10 strokes behind Reavie, his former college teammate. But he hit his tee shot on the par-4 15th inside 7 feet and made eagle, then finished with a birdie to go 11 under.

The Englishman said he was hoping to match the 28 Reavie put up on the back nine Saturday to put some pressure on him. But he couldn’t do it and spent the rest of the day rooting for his friend.

Reavie, who took home just under $1.3 million, has finished in the top 20 in five of his last six starts.

Defending champion Bubba Watson, who was hoping for a fourth title in Connecticut, shot a 71 to finish at 1 under, but said he wasn’t disappointed with his week.

“I know sometimes I look like I’m angry out there,” he said. “But most of the time, I’m pretty happy.”

Brooks Koepka made quick work of his final round, also shooting a 71 to finish the tournament at an even par. He and Russell Knox needed just under three hours to play their 18 holes in the first group of the day. Koepka says he has a couple of appearances in the next two days and then will get some much-needed rest.

“I’m not going to practice and take some time away from the game and just try to realize what’s going on,” he said. “”I don’t think I’m still over Bethpage, and with these majors they are so tightly bunched, it’s difficult. I didn’t really have a chance to soak that one in and then we are playing again, it’s just a continuation that keeps rolling on.“

CHASKA, Minn. – Hannah Green never felt more nervous than standing over a 5-foot par putt Sunday at Hazeltine National with a chance to win her first major at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship.

Neither did Karrie Webb, who won seven majors in her Hall of Fame career.

Webb watched from outside the ropes, her heart racing. It was 11 years ago in Minnesota that Webb started a scholarship program to bring young Australian amateurs to majors to spend a week with her and experience golf’s biggest events. Four years ago, Green was one of those scholarship winners.

And now she’s a major champion.

Green held her nerve to the end, hitting 8-iron to 15 feet for a pivotal birdie on the 16th hole, and getting up-and-down from a bunker ono the 18th hole for an even-par 72 and a one-shot victory over defending champion Sung Hyun Park.

“I can’t believe I’m in this position right now,” said Green, a 22-year-old Australian in her second year on the LPGA Tour. “I’ve always wanted to win an event, and to win a major championship as my first is crazy.”

She became the first wire-to-wire winner of this major since Yani Tseng in 2011, and even more amazing is who she held off to claim the silver trophy. She started the final round with a one-shot lead over Ariya Jutanugarn, the most powerful player on tour and a two-time major champion. Jutanugarn didn’t make a birdie in her round of 77.

Then it was Park, another former No. 1 and two-time major winner, making an 18-foot birdie putt on the final hole for a 68 that left Green no margin for error.

Watching it all unfold was Webb, as clutch as there was in her prime, the only woman to capture the “Super Slam” of five different LPGA majors. She stayed with Green in a house all week, along with the two most recent scholarship winners – Becky Kay and Grace Kim – who were draped in Australian flags at Hazeltine.

“I feel like I won a golf tournament today I’m so excited for her,” Webb said. “You didn’t do it yourself, but you supported someone who realized that dream.”

They all charged the 18th green to celebrate with Green, spraying her with cans of beer in true Aussie fashion. It’s become a tradition on the LPGA Tour for friends to spray winners with water bottles, and Webb would not allow that to happen.

“It was Budweiser,” she said.

Green, who won three times on the Symetra Tour in 2017 to earn an LPGA Tour card, became the first Australian to win an LPGA Tour major since Webb won her last one in 2006 at the Kraft Nabisco Championship.

“I’m speechless,” Green said as she fought to get the words out through such strong emotions. “I was really nervous playing the last five holes.”

She finished at 9-under 279 and won $577,500.

It was hard work, even though Green never surrendered the lead on a cloudy day at Hazeltine with some light drops of rain at the end.

Green rolled in a 5-foot birdie putt on the par-5 seventh for a three-shot lead. With the group ahead still waiting to tee off, a 7-year-old girl handed her a blue sheet of paper. It was a poem she wrote to Green, along with the words, “You can win this.” Green, who had given Lily Kostner a golf ball at the ANA Inspiration this year, read the poem and hugged the girl, and then drilled another tee shot to birdie range.

“I had it in the back of my yardage book because I didn’t want it to get rained on,” Green said. “A couple times on the back nine when I was feeling nervous and had some time, I actually read it to myself.”

The nerves didn’t really leave, especially after making three bogeys in a four-hole stretch that dropped her to 8 under, a four-shot lead suddenly down to one.

Mel Reid closed with a 66 and posted at 6-under 282.

Nelly Korda was one behind until a soft bogey on the par-5 15th. Park birdied that hole to get to 7 under, and Green couldn’t afford any mistakes. It looked as if she had it wrapped up when she made a 15-foot birdie putt on the 16th, the signature hole at Hazeltine, followed by a par on the 17th.

Park wasn’t finished, however, and she hit her tee shot so hard on the 18th that it went through the corner of the rough into the fairway, setting up a tidy approach to the back pin position and one last birdie.

Green answered her final challenge with the bunker save, and the celebration was on with Webb and the two scholarship winners, Stacy Peters from Golf Australia and Jarryd Fenton, her boyfriend who plays on the PGA Tour of Australasia.

“I always wanted to win in front of an Aussie crowd,” Green said. “That’s what it was like today. I’m over the moon.”

Brooke Henderson of Smiths Falls, Ont., closed with a 70 to finish 2-over while Hamilton’s Alena Sharp had a 72 to come in at 6-over.

Korda (71) and Reid tied for third, while Lizette Salas (72) and Danielle Kang (70) were four shots behind. The surprise was Jutanugarn, who started the final round one shot behind on a course that measured nearly 6,800 yards, perfect for her power. She tied for 10th.

Green becomes the 11th player to win the last 11 majors on the LPGA Tour, a sign of growing parity. She also is the third winner in the last five LPGA majors who had never won on the LPGA Tour….

TOYOTA CITY, Japan – Christopher Vandette of Beaconsfield, Que., fired a 3-under-par 68 in the final round to finish third in the individual boys division at the TOYOTA Junior Golf World Cup. Canada finished sixth in the team competition.

Vandette’s score of 68 was his third round in the 60s this week. A bogey on the par-4 13th was the lone blemish on the 17-year-old’s scorecard. His score of 63 on Thursday was tied for the lowest round of the competition, helping him finish five shots back of winner Samuel Simpson of South Africa.

Laurent Desmarchais saved his best round for last, as his 4 under performance brought him to 3 under for the tournament. The Longueuil, Que., native was bogey-free on the back nine and finished in a tie for 20th.

Jeevan Sihota of Victoria, B.C. also shot under par, with his 1 under earning him a 34th place finish.

William Duquette of Laval, Que., withdrew from the competition before the final round and finished in 60th.

The quartet of Vandette, Desmarchais, Sihota and Duquette were competing individually, with each nation’s three lowest scores counting towards the team competition.

Canada ranked sixth of 15 teams in the team competition at 14 under, having gained eight shots in the final round. South Africa won the event at 41 under, 11 shots clear of Japan in second.

In the girls division, Japan won the team event with a score of 18 under, three strokes ahead of the United States. Cory Lopez of Mexico, Rose Zhang of the United States and Cassie Porter of Australia finished tied for first in the individual competition at 11 under.

Full scoring can be found here.

The RBC Canadian Open is always an event to remember. To make this a successful championship, RBC and Golf Canada rely on the hard work and dedication of volunteers.

Click here to learn more.

by Golf NB 

2019 East Coast Junior Championships – 1st Round Pairings & Tee-Times

For Immediate Release:

The Covered Bridge Golf and Country Club will see a lot of junior golf action this summer with several of the country’s top junior championships making their way to Hartland, NB in 2019.

Kicking things off on June 25^th & 26^th will be the 2019 East Coast Junior Championship, the first of three major events Covered Bridge will see in the coming months, followed by the Future Links, driven by Acura Atlantic Championship from July 16^th to 18^th and capped off by the Canadian Junior Boys Championship which will be held from August 12^th to 15^th.

The 2019 East Coast Junior Championships presented by Golf NB will be played in 36 holes over two days and will offer the highly competitive field the opportunity to compete for the East Coast Junior Boys, Junior Girls and Bantam Boys titles respectfully.

With last year’s Junior Boys champion Tyler Hashmi (PEI) moving to the Amateur ranks, Junior Girls champion Camille Lafierne-Oulette (QC) choosing not to defend her title and 2018 Bantam champion Jordie Cooper jumping into the junior ranks, the field is wide open for new champions to be crowned.

This tournament will offer 33 New Brunswick junior golfers the chance to meet those from other provinces, with 30 players coming from Quebec, 17 visiting from Prince Edward Island and 16 joining us from Nova Scotia; 96 junior golfers in total will come together for two days of great competitive golf.

This diverse group of juniors will lend to a great tournament, great golf, and good fun.  We look forward to seeing what the players bring to the course and crowning our 2019 Golf NB East Coast Junior Champions.

• For more information or to register for the 2019 East Coast Junior Championship please CLICK HERE.
• For more information on the Covered Bridge Golf & Country Club please CLICK HERE.

CHASKA, Minn. – Michelle Wie returned to competition Thursday in the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship looking as if she had never left.

She was icing her right hand. She shot a 12-over 84.

And then she wondered, through tears, how much time she had left.

“It’s hard,” Wie said after matching her highest score on the LPGA Tour as a pro. “It’s just one of those situations where I’m not entirely sure how much I have left in me. So even on the bad days, I’m just like trying to take time to enjoy it.”

At this point, her voice was cracking and she began wiping tears from her eyes as she stood outside the clubhouse at Hazeltine National.

“It’s tough,” she said, before walking away.

Wie has lived with fame her entire career, from winning the U.S. Women’s Amateur Public Links at age 13, competing against the men on the PGA Tour at age 14 and turning pro at age 16. She has five LPGA victories, most notably the U.S. Women’s Open at Pinehurst No. 2 in 2014, most recently the HSBC Women’s World Championship at the start of the 2018 season.

The most recent injury was to her right hand. She had surgery in October, returned in Thailand in February and had to withdraw from her title defence in Singapore a week later as she still coped with pain.

Wie sat out a month and returned at the LPGA’s first major and then her hometown event in Hawaii, both times missing the cut. She withdrew from the U.S. Women’s Open three weeks ago, and didn’t start hitting balls again until last week.

Hazeltine proved to be too tough for someone whose hand is that fragile, and that was before dark clouds, cooler temperatures, wind and rain arrived as she was finishing a round to forget.

Wie had two birdies to go along with two double bogeys, six bogeys and a quadruple bogey on the par-3 eighth over the water, her penultimate hole.

“It was kind of a little foolish to think that I would shoot really well – just hitting golf balls last week – at Hazeltine,” Wie said. “It’s a tough golf course but I’m really, really happy that I played. Just feeling a lot of joy just being out there and competing again. It’s going to take time and I’ve just got to be patient, and thankfully I have all afternoon to get warm again and take care of my wrist.”

Wie also shot an 84 in the third round of the Evian Masters in 2007. Her highest score on any tour was an 85 at the CJ Nine Bridges Classic in 2004 when she was 14.

She played with Lydia Ko, who saw a good attitude to go along with a big struggle.

“Clearly, she loves the game and she’s passionate about it and she’s not out there just because she’s a golfer. She loves it,” Ko said. “She loves being out here with the girls and that’s why even though has to go through the treatments and everything, she keeps coming out and trying. … She’s definitely got nothing to lose. She’s proven herself in all different levels. She’s a U.S. Women’s Open champion. But it shows how much she loves the game.”

Wie had said earlier in the week she talked to the LPGA Tour about taking a medical leave the rest of the year. She thought she was getting healthy enough to rehabilitate and try to play without pain.

“Every bit of my body wants to play and it sucked sitting out of the U.S. Open,” she said. “I just didn’t want to do it again and I’m here.”

Just maybe not for long.

A quartet of Canadians are in the field. Brooke Henderson, sits in a tie for 84th at 4 over, and Alena Sharp is one stroke behind Henderson in a tie for 103rd. Jaclyn Lee and Anne-Catherine Tanguay are both tied for 124th at 7 over.

The PGA of Canada’s oldest and most prestigious championship takes place next week at Whistle Bear Golf Club in Cambridge, Ont.

Seventy-two of the association’s best players look to capture the 98th playing of the PGA Championship of Canada.

Teeing it up at Whistle Bear and looking to add their name to the P.D. Ross Trophy includes 22 past PGA of Canada national champions, eight of whom are past PGA Championship of Canada winners.

Additionally, 43 of the top 50-ranked players from the RBC PGA of Canada Player Rankings presented by RBC are in the field, including the entire top 10.

“It’s absolutely wild how stacked the field is for this year’s PGA Championship of Canada,” said the PGA of Canada’s managing director of championships and foundation Adam LeBrun. “When you have all these past national champions, plus a number of up-and-coming players from across the country, you’re going to have a first-rate championship that ultimately produces a worthy champion.”

For the full field and first-round tee times, CLICK HERE.

Built on more than 230 acres, Whistle Bear is regarded as one of southern Ontario’s most distinctive golf destinations. Host of the 2004 and 2005 PGA Championship of Canada (as part of the Nationwide Tour schedule), the links-style venue features more than 100 bunkers throughout the 18 holes, as well as water on more than half of the holes.

Re-launched in 2011, the PGA Championship of Canada was contested strictly as a match play event thru 2014 with players from the four brackets—Stan Leonard, George Knudson, Al Balding and Moe Norman—looking to advance through the six rounds to capture the P.D. Ross Trophy. However, the 2015 championship at Cabot Links saw a format change, with 64 top-ranked players from the PGA of Canada Player Rankings presented by RBC playing two rounds of stroke play. The top-16 players from the 36-hole stroke play portion of the event filled out the four match play brackets with the eventual champion winning four match play rounds.

This year’s championship at Whistle Bear will follow the same format.

Pierre-Alexandre Bedard looks to become the first back-to-back winner of the championship since Knudson won in 1976 and 1977. The 23-year-old from Club de Golf Cap Rouge bested Gordon Burns 1-up on a relentlessly hot and humid Friday at Credit Valley Golf & Country Club in the championship’s final match.

“This is definitely the biggest win of my entire life and I’m so proud of myself,” Bedard said after his win in 2018. “It’s so incredible to have my name on the same trophy as all the legends who came before me, not to mention all my fellow Quebecers who have won this championship over the past couple years.”

Since 2011, six PGA of Canada members from Quebec—Vincent Dumouchel, Eric Laporte, Dave Levesque, Marc-Etienne Bussieres, Jean-Philip Cornellier and  Bedard—have captured the PGA Championship of Canada.

In addition to Bedard, past champions of the PGA Championship of Canada include Moe Norman, George Knudson, Al Balding, Bob Panasik, Tim Clark, Lanny Wadkins, Jim Rutledge, Wilf Homenuik, Stan Leonard, Lee Trevino and Arnold Palmer.

PGA of Canada Player Rankings presented by RBC points are also up for grabs at Whistle Bear. The eventual winner will take home 60 points, with the runner up gaining 50 points. The player who earns the most ranking points (in national and zone events) in 2019 will be awarded the Mike Weir Player of the Year crown at next year’s Canada Night.

Attendance to the PGA Championship of Canada is free and spectators are encouraged to attend during championship play.