Connelly two shots back going into the final round of the Trophee Hassan II

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Austin Connelly is two shots behind leader Alvaro Quiros going to the final round in Morocco at the Trophee Hassan II.

Connelly started the week with a 69 before firing back to back 71’s, putting him tied for sixth going into the final round at Royal Golf Dar Es Salam.

His best finish this season on the European Tour came in February in  Malaysia at the Maybank Championship, where he finished tied for 62nd.

Connelly is a dual citizen of Canada and the United States. He was raised in Irving Texas but spent summers in Nova Scotia where his grandparents live. Connelly’s dad was born in Toronto.

Throughout his amateur career, Connelly flipped back in forth between representing the United States and Canada, maintaining the idea that he would represent whatever country furthered his game the most.

In last years Open Championship at Royal Birkdale, Connelly finished tied for 14th, with a pair of rounds in the 60’s.

Tomorrow morning Connelly tees off at 6:55 am eastern time and is paired with Joost Luiten and Alexander Bjork.

 

David Hearn in position for weekend success

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David Hearn had five birdies en route to a four under 68 today at TPC San Antonio putting him tied for fifth going into the weekend,  combining his 68 with a 70 on Thursday.

Hearn’s strong play can be credited to his work on the greens, as he leads the field this week in strokes gained-putting.

Putting has been an issue for Hearn after the ban on anchoring putters, as Hearn was a player that relied heavily on anchoring his putter for his prior success on the greens.

Hearn credited his success after today’s round to his former putter that he would normally anchor, that he has since shaved down.

Tomorrow’s round will be telling for Hearn, who ranks 204th on tour in average putts in the third round.

Hearn’s best finish on tour this season came in November at The RSM Classic, where he finished tied for 17th.  He does not have full status this season because he finished 128th in the Fedex Cup standings last season.

Hearn tees off tomorrow at 12:05 ET with Chris Kirk and Billy Horschel.

Canadians Corey Conners and Ben Silverman also made the cut are both tied for 48th.

North Mississippi Classic Canadian Preview

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Six Canadians will be competing this week when the Web.Com Tour stops in Oxford Mississippi for the North Mississippi Classic.

This will be the first edition of the North Mississippi Classic and the first time a PGA sanctioned event has taken place in Oxford.

Adam Svensson comes into the week as the most favored Canadian, ranking third on the money list, two top 10’s and a win this season.

Rookie Stuart MacDonald looks to build off his second round 64 in the Savannah Golf Championship a couple weeks ago, giving him the course record.

Ryan Yip is in the field this week after withdrawing from the Savannah Golf Championship. Yip currently sits at 33rd on the Web.Com Tour money list.

Roger Sloan looks to continue his strong play and find his way into the top 25 of the money list, as he currently sits in 30th, and his coming off a pair of 68’s in the last Web.com Tour event.

Also in the field this week are Canadians Seann Harlingten and Albin Choi both of who are looking for their first top 10 of the season.

Below are all of the Canadians tee times for tomorrow:

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Steven Lecuyer talks about his first Sunshine Tour Event

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(Photo Credit: stevenlecuyer.com)

Albertan Steven Lecuyer is competing in the Zanaco Masters in Zambia this week, in what will be his first Sunshine Tour event. Lecuyer received his Sunshine Tour card after advancing through qualifying school.

Lecuyer brought up his excitement for the week and the season, stating, “I feel very excited about my first season on the Sunshine tour, the players and venues are world class. This will be a great experience and I look forward to starting the season this week in Zambia,” he said. 

This weeks event is taking place at the Lusaka Golf Club.  Lecuyer described it as a tight driving course with small greens, which makes for a good challenge.

Lecuyer also described how he feels his game will match up against the course. “My game suits this course well, I’m hitting it well off the tee and hitting my short irons solid as well,” he said. 

An interesting aspect of this weeks tournament are the greens, as the Sunshine Tour went as far as to admittedly call them patchy. Lecuyer agreed, saying they are grainy with not much break, but he also said that if he hits it solid with pace, there will be no problem in sinking putts this week!

When asked what he would like to change from qualifying school, Lecuyer said he’d like to stay more present in his routine this week, which is something that he has been trying to change since qualifying school.

Update: Steven Lecuyer shot a 2 over round of 74, placing him in a tie for 76th after the round one.

Lotte Championship presented by Hershey preview

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The Lotte Championship kicks off Wednesday April 11th at the magnificent Ko Olina Golf Club on the beautiful island of Oahu in Hawaii. The stacked field includes 14 of the top 20 women in the world as well as a slough of former champions of the event.

Canadians in the field include: Alena Sharp, Brooke Henderson, Brittany Marchand, Anne-Catherine Tanguay, Maude- Aimme Leblanc.

Maude- Aimme Leblance has made the cut in all three events she has played and looks to improve upon her T39 finish at the Kia Classic. Meanwhile, Anne- Catherine Tanguay looks to make her first cut of the season, as does Orangeville, Ontario’s Brittany Marchand in her debut even of the 2018 season!

Sharp and Henderson are playing in two of the marquee groups. Sharp is teeing it up at 8:17 local time with former US Womens Open Champion, Na Yeon Choi and rookie phenom Emma Talley. Meanwhile, Brooke Henderson tees off at 12:50 with Bronte Law and former world number one and seven time major champion, Inbee Park.

Alena Sharp bounced back after a couple of missed cuts and last week at the seasons first major, the Ana Inspiration finished T38. Sharp looks to build off that finish this week at a tournament where she finished tied for fifth a season ago. Henderson has had an up and down season thus far and after a disappointing T48 finish at the seasons first major she looks to get herself back into contention this week on the beautiful island of Oahu!

The event kicks off a day earlier than normal and concludes on Saturday April 14th in an effort to accommodate for Korean television networks.

Canadian golfers are playing with heavy hearts this week as they honour the victims of the Humboldt Broncos bus crash by wearing green and yellow ribbons on their hats as seen below in Alena Sharps tweet:

-Jake Stronach

Canadian pro’s putting birdies and eagles towards helping Humboldt

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In the wake of the Humboldt Bronco’s bus crash that killed 15 people and injured 14 others on Friday April 6, people from all over the world have rallied together and donated money to help the healing process. Thus far over 8 million dollars has been raised to help the families impacted by this tragedy and Canadians have shown their support through placing hockey sticks outside their front doors!

Considering this, Canadian professional golfers are also doing their part to help out those affected in the aftermath of this tragedy.

PGA Tour pro and British Columbia native, Nick Taylor tweeted earlier in the week that he would be donating 500 dollars for every birdie and 1000 dollars for every eagle at this weeks RBC Heritage at Harbour Town Golf Links in Hilton Head, South Carolina!

Also, Mackenzie Tour hopeful and Saskatoon native Liam Courtney will be donating 15 dollars for every birdie, when he tees it up at Mackenzie Tour Qualifying School in three weeks time at The Club at Eaglebrooke in Lakeland, Florida.

Courtney’s contribution will also be matched by his home course, Waskesiu Golf Course in Waskesiu, Saskatchewan. As they pledged to donate 20 dollars for every birdie that he makes.

Courtney graduated from Regis Universty in Denver, Colorado last spring and hopes to earn full status on the Mackenzie Tour for the 2018 season.

Both golfers are donating to the gofundme account: https://www.gofundme.com/funds-for-humboldt-broncos

 

Seven Canadians Earn Mackenzie Tour Status at Third Qualifying School Event

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Will Bateman

Photo Credit: PGA Tour Canada Twitter Account

The third Mackenzie Tour- PGA Tour Canada qualifying school event wrapped up yesterday, April 6th with seven more Canadians earning status for the 2018 season.

Michael McGowan of North Carolina was able to take home the all-important medalist honors at the USA West #2 qualifier. After firing an even-par final round, he was able to win on the first playoff hole with a par to defeat Evan Bowser of Michigan. McGowan is now fully exempt for the 2018 season and will not be subject to the reshuffle.

Meanwhile, Canadians fared quite well at the Wigwam Golf Club in  Litchfield Park,  AZ. The top Canadian finisher in the field was Vancouver British Columbia’s David Rose who finished at -6 for the tournament to earn an exemption through the first eight Mackenzie Tour events (subject to the second reshuffle).

The famed long driver Jamie Sadlowski also earned status on the Mackenzie Tour next year after firing a final round 67 to finish tied for ninth. This earned Sadlowski an exemption through the first four events, and subject to the first PGA Tour Canada reshuffle.

Conditional status for the 2018 season was earned by Canadians; James Seymour, Patrick Williams, Will Bateman, Luke Moser and Blair Hamilton.

Moser graduated from Troy University last spring and turned professional after earning 2016 All-Sun Belt First Team and 2015 All-Sun Belt Honourable Mention honors. Moser tweeted his disappointment with his final round performance, but noted his eagerness and excitement for his first full summer ahead as a professional golfer:

There were seven Canadians in the field at Wigwam Golf Club that did not obtain any PGA Tour Canada status for the 2018 season.

These seven Canadians join: Brett Kennedy, Andrew Funk, Max Gilbert, Eric Banks, Austin James, and Raoul Menard who have previously earned Mackenzie Tour status at qualifying school.

There are still two more qualifying school tournaments for the PGA Tour Canada to commence with the USA EAST 2 qualifier to commence from April 24-27 at The Club at Eaglebrooke in Lakeland, Florida.

– Jake Stronach

Hadwin cards a 69 in the opening round of the Masters

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Adam Hadwin finished at -3 in the opening round of the Masters today, putting him three shots behind the leader Jordan Speith.

Hadwin began his day with eight straight pars, before birdieing the ninth. His back nine though was quite eventful, as he had four birdies and two bogey’s to finish at -3.

In last years event Hadwin finished T36, however, he never broke 70, finishing at +6 for the tournament.

Hadwin tees off tomorrow at 2:00 in the last group.

Weir and Hadwin’s tee times and pairings announced

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It’s Masters week and with that comes excitement around every aspect of the tournament.

Today’s excitement lies in the announcement of the pairings for the tournament’s opening two rounds, as both Canadians competing, Mike Weir and Adam Hadwin are in interesting pairings.

Former champion Mike Weir is paired with PGA Tour veteran Brendan Steele, and the United States Mid-Am champion Matt Parziale. Parziale comes into Augusta with quite an intriguing story as he is a 30-year-old firefighter from Massachusetts.

Weir, Steele, and Parziale are slated to tip it at 8:52 Thursday morning.

Adam Hadwin, on the other hand, is in a much more star-studded group. Hadwin, the 43rd ranked player in the world is paired with Patrick Reed and Charley Hoffman.  They start at 11:15 on Thursday, just behind two-time champion Bubba Watson.

Weir and Hadwin played a practice round this morning with Ted Potter Jr.

ANA Inspiration Canadian Preview

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You don’t have to wait until The Masters next weekend to watch major championship caliber golf. The first major of the professional golf season starts this week on the LPGA  Tour with the ANA Inspiration.

Canadians competing this week are Alena Sharp and Broke Henderson.  A Canadian has never won this event when it has been recognized as a major, though Sandra Post won this event in 1978 and 1979 before it was recognized as a major.

Last season Sharp and Henderson were also the only Canadians to compete in the event, Henderson finished T14, while Sharp failed to make the cut.

Henderson comes into this week with three top 10’s on the year, and a T22 last week.  Comparatively, Sharp’s best finish this year is a T18 in the first event of the season, since then she has only made two cuts in five starts.

This event is most well known for Poppies Pond, a pond in front of the 18th green which has become famous for the champion diving into it upon winning the event.

The ANA Inspiration takes place in Rancho Mirage California at Mission Hills Country Club. Henderson starts today at 8:06 pacific time. Sharp starts at 12:10 pacific time.