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Two major events featuring top Canadian players – one on the women’s side, one on the men’s side – begin Thursday. Here’s what you need to know about them, plus the latest developments in the PGA Tour vs. LIV Golf battle:
The CP Women’s Open is back.
The LPGA Tour’s only Canadian stop returns from a two-year pandemic-induced hiatus this week at the Ottawa Hunt and Golf Club in the nation’s capital. Although no longer a major championship, the tournament formerly known as the Canadian Women’s Open (and about a million other names as sponsors have moved in and out) still offers one of the richest minor purses on tour and attracts most of the top players.
Eighteen of the top 20 in the Race to the CME Globe — a season-long points competition that determines who will compete in the Tour Championship — are expected to play in Ottawa. That includes world No. 1 (and defending CP Women’s Open champion) Jin Yong Ko of South Korea and the winners of all five 2022 majors.
Among that group is the woman who will be a huge fan favorite this week. Canada’s Brooke Henderson is fifth in the world rankings after winning the second major title of her career last month at the Evian Championships in France. With 12 wins on the LPGA Tour – including the 2018 CP Women’s Open in Regina – the 24-year-old from Smiths Falls, Ont., has already won more major tour events than any other Canadian golfer in history.
WATCH | Can Canada’s Brooke Henderson win at home (again)?:
A rejuvenated Brooke Henderson returns home for the CP Women’s Open
Brooke Henderson of Smiths Falls Ont., fresh off her second major win, looks to win the national championship for the second time.
Henderson is one of 15 Canadians scheduled to compete in Ottawa. Maud-Eme Leblanc (No. 111) is the next highest in the world rankings, while Monet Chun is the most intriguing. The 21-year-old from Richmond Hill, Ont., won the Canadian Women’s Amateur last month before reaching the final of the prestigious US Women’s Amateur. Although she was defeated by 17-year-old Saki Baba of Japan, it was another impressive performance by Chun, who earlier this year led the University of Michigan to its first conference championship. On the other end of the age spectrum, Laurie Kane, 57, a four-time winner on the LPGA Tour, will be making her 30th and final appearance at the Canadian Women’s Open.
The PGA Tour will crown its playoff champion.
The top 30 players in the FedEx Cup standings have been invited to this week’s Tour Championship in Atlanta. Canadian Corey Connors entered the No. 24 after finishing fifth yesterday at the BMW Championship in Delaware.
For the Tour Championship at East Lake, players receive a starting score based on where they place in the standings. Top seed Scotty Scheffler, also ranked No. 1 in the world, starts at 10 under. Second-place Patrick Cantlay, who won yesterday in Atlanta, starts at 8-under and third-place Will Zalatoris at 7-under. Connors is part of a group of players who will start at 1-under (there is a group of equals below them). Whoever has the lowest score after Sunday’s final round wins the FedEx Cup and the $18 million US prize that comes with it.
More players are ready to switch to LIV Golf.
British Open champion and world No. 2 Cameron Smith, long rumored to be leaving for the Saudi-funded PGA Tour rival, is reportedly among seven guys to officially defect next Monday. It’s the day after the Tour Championship ends — and just in time for the next LIV event, starting September 2 in Boston.
Meanwhile, the PGA Tour and its loyalists are trying to figure out how to stop the bleeding after losing Phil Mickelson, Dustin Johnson, Bryson DeChambeau, Brooks Koepka, Patrick Reed and other big names to their ultra-rich rival. Last week, Tiger Woods chaired a meeting of 20 elite players to discuss how to reshape the tour – and retain top talent.
Woods and world No. 4 Rory McIlroy, LIV’s most outspoken critic, are reported to support a plan that would see something like 15 PGA Tour events set aside for a limited number of top players to compete for increased purses — essentially, their own LIV-style tour within the established tour. The prize money wouldn’t be as impressive as LIV’s $25 million events, and there wouldn’t be nine-figure guaranteed contracts. But it’s a lot more tangible than the moralizing the PGA Tour is currently resorting to in hopes of convicting guys for taking the Saudi money.
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