KAPOLEI, Hawaii – For the final two days of the Lotte Championship, it was pretty clear that the only player who could beat Brooke Henderson was Brooke Henderson.

She wasn’t about to let it happen Saturday at windy Ko Olina Golf Club, where she won by four shots. The Smiths Falls, Ont., native was too talented, and she had some very important people to play for, dedicating her victory to the people involved in the Humboldt Broncos junior hockey team bus crash in Saskatchewan.

“It’s extremely sad, a terrible tragedy what happened up there,” Henderson said. “I know it kind of affected my whole country. Everybody really took it kind of personally.

“For all the survivors that are still fighting through it and all the ones that have passed away, I want to show them that we’re here for them and we’re supporting them. They’re always going to be in our thoughts and prayers.”

Canadian golfers and their caddies were wearing green and gold ribbons at the tournament this week to honour the victims of the April 6 crash. Twenty-nine people were on the team bus when it collided with a semi-truck en route to a playoff game in Nipawin, Sask. Sixteen of them have died and 13 were injured.

A champion in every way ??

Post-round interview with @BrookeHenderson: pic.twitter.com/TOL15gY5og

— Golf Canada (@TheGolfCanada) April 15, 2018

Hamilton’s Alena Sharp, who finished in a tie for 44th place at 4 over, had posted a picture on Twitter of one of the ribbons pinned to the side of her hat on Tuesday.

Henderson, who won’t be 21 until September, won her sixth LPGA Tour title, leaving her just two short of Sandra Post for most wins by a Canadian player.

She collected $300,000, giving her nearly $500,000 this year and $4 million in her three-year career. Her final-round 3-under 69 left her at 12 under, four ahead of Azahara Munoz, whose 67 was the low round on a very difficult scoring day. With the win, Henderson jumps to No. 2 on the Race to the CME Globe.

It was Munoz’s best finish in more than four years. Henderson and sixth-ranked Ariya Jutanugarn (69) were the only other golfers to break 70 on a day that featured rain squalls and winds gusting to 30 mph.

“Crazy windy again” said Henderson, who was third in greens in regulation (52 of 72) and sixth in driving distance (288.8) for the week. “Just being able to adjust to it, kind of stay poised in it. Things aren’t going to always go perfectly, but I felt like my ball striking was probably the best it’s ever been.”

6 wins on the @lpga_tour ????

A post shared by Golf Canada (@thegolfcanada) on Apr 14, 2018 at 8:32pm PDT

Jutanugarn tied for third, five back, with top-ranked Shanshan Feng (71) and third-ranked Inbee Park (72), who bogeyed the last two holes.

Henderson came into the week ranked 14th and in a comfort zone. She has never finished worse than 11th at Ko Olina.

At the halfway point, she was 10 under, bogey-free and two shots ahead. That stretched to five at the turn Friday, before putting problems brought the field back into it.

Henderson led by just one heading into the final day. She played the first 11 holes Saturday in 2 under to carve out a three-shot advantage, then faltered again. Her only bogey came on the 12th and she missed a short birdie putt at the next hole.

This time she recovered quickly, hitting driver-driver within 20 yards of the 14th green, then sinking a short birdie putt. She drained a 10-footer for another birdie one the 16th, where she four-putted Friday.

“Mentally I was in a great spot this week,” Henderson said. “I missed a couple putts, which you could argue that mentally I wasn’t there because of a couple mishits, but I think to recover from that and kind of put it in the past and then go out and make some more birdies. And, being the leader since early Thursday, that does add a little of pressure.”

Munoz and Jutanugarn put together the only serious charges of the final round. Both came up a few holes short.

Munoz, who has struggled with illness injury the past few years, climbed 13 places the final day. She was two shots back after her fifth birdie of the day, at the 14th, but parred in.

Jutanugarn, from Thailand, secured her fifth Top 10 this year but couldn’t get the eighth victory of her career. At the turn, the 2016 Player of the Year was 3 under and three back. She parred her final 11 holes.

Hawaii’s Michelle Wie tied for 11th after shooting 71.

Alena Sharp of Hamilton, Ont., finished at 4 over par in a tie for 44th. Fellow Canadians Brittany Marchand (Orangeville, Ont.) and Maude-Aimée LeBlanc (Sherbrooke, Que.) closed with shares of 50th.

Here are the clubs that are now open in Nova Scotia

Island Green

Fox Hollow

Eden

Eagle Crest

Greenwood

Paragon

The Links at Penn Hills

Berwick Heights (April 20)

Clare (April 20 @ 12 noon)

Avon Valley (April 25)

Please email david@nsga.ns.ca if your club is now open!

AUGUSTA, Ga. – The new, more social, Tiger Woods was only occasionally seen Wednesday as he made his way around the front nine of Augusta National in the final tune up for a Masters green jacket that suddenly seems very much in reach.

There weren’t many trips down memory lane with playing partner Fred Couples and no long conversations with the firefighter from Massachusetts, who had to look up occasionally at the grey skies and wonder what bolt of lightning would strike him next as he played alongside the greatest golfer of his time.

It was Woods as he might have been 10 years ago, deep in concentration and fixating so much on the smallest details that he walked off a section of the sixth green to measure just which spot he needed to land his ball on when play finally begins for real.

Woods had his game face on, and for his legions of fans that’s probably a good thing. He had a few smiles with Couples, but if the next smile out of him comes when he’s being fitted for a green jacket on Sunday, well, that’s all right with them.

The feel-good Tiger probably can’t win one of those, anyway, no matter how good his game has recently become. That’s probably why a practice round on Tuesday that included Phil Mickelson for the first time anyone can remember didn’t exactly disintegrate into a love fest.

The old Tiger playing with a touch of arrogance and a chip on his shoulder most certainly can.

That’s a bit shocking considering the path Woods has taken in recent years. Back problems, personal problems and drug problems have combined to keep him mostly on the sidelines as a new generation of golfers has taken flight.

Indeed, it’s hard to figure out just where Woods is. His swing is fine, his back feels good, and he’s been back in contention on Sunday in the last few tournaments of his latest comeback.

But he’s less than a year out of rehab, where he went after being busted for DUI in the early morning hours last May on a Florida highway. Woods was so out of it that he told police he was driving to California, and toxicology tests later revealed five different drugs in his system.

And it’s got to be hard to get the killer instinct back when you’re suddenly trying to be friends with guys you made your life’s mission to beat.

“I walked past Tiger on the range just before he came in and spoke to you guys, and I said, ‘I never thought I would see the day, Tiger and Phil playing a practice round at Augusta,”’ Rory McIlroy said. “So we had a bit of a laugh about that.”

That it took Woods until he was in his 40s to be able to relate to most of his fellow players – and some of his fans – isn’t all that surprising for anyone who has read the exhaustive new biography “Tiger Woods” that details his great successes and biggest lows.

The book describes him as a product of his parents, who were determined to raise a champion but also raised a loner who found his only solace on the golf course.

“Even the most basic human civilities – a simple hello or thank you – routinely went missing from his vocabulary,” authors Jeff Benedict and Armen Keteyian wrote. “A nod was too much to expect.”

There were a few nods on Wednesday, though they were perfunctory at best. On the seventh hole, Woods actually mouthed “thank you” to fans who cheered him on the way to the tee box, and earlier on the driving range he signed a few autographs.

Most importantly, though, the driver was finding the fairway and the putts were going where he wanted. In the practice round a day earlier, Woods had made eagle on both the par-5s on the back nine.

If he hasn’t exactly been fan friendly, it doesn’t seem to matter to those who continue to watch him in numbers no other player can come close. He’s a legend with flaws, but a legend nonetheless and any mention he might be nearby always gets fans rushing to whatever hole he’s playing.

Woods fit in fine Wednesday in a curious practice round pairing with the 58-year-old Couples and Matt Parziale, the amateur golfer and professional firefighter who squeezes in amateur tournaments between shifts at the firehouse in Brockton, Massachusetts. Parziale won the U.S. Mid-Amateur Championship to get a spot in the Masters at the age of 30.

Woods complimented Parziale’s game, and said nice things to a Masters representative about his caddie father after the round. But this was clearly a day to fine tune his game, a day to get ready for his first Masters in three years.

There were a few smiles at the end of nine holes, but the real smiles can wait until Sunday.

AUGUSTA, Ga. – Vandini Sharma of Chandigarh, India, is the 16-year-old sister of Shubhankar Sharma, who makes his debut at the Masters this week. Her short stories have won literary awards. She has agreed to write a first-person account of her experience at the Masters for The Associated Press.

When reporters and all the new people who’ve recently entered our world ask my brother what it felt like to make the Masters at 21, Shubhankar gently shrugged, and said it wasn’t completely unexpected. After years of hard work and the magical last four months that have flown by, the sun is beginning to dawn on our journey’s horizons.

My first view of the Masters popped up like a jack-in the-box. I felt struck out of the blue. This was the first golf tournament I’d known as a toddler and memorized with care.

Its reputation was fortified by years of sleepless memories. My father and brother would sit rooted for hours, exhilarated and enthralled, before the blaring midnight TV screen. The Masters symbol was gradually emblazoned upon my mind; the classic soundtrack now hums through my dream world of hazy childhood memories.

The first time it really sunk in that Bhai, (brother in Hindi, as I address Shubhankar) would play the Masters came well after my father first shared the news.

And it involved a bit of mischief.

As little sisters do, I pickpocketed Bhai’s phone on the final day of the Indian Open as I was asked to take care of it. Then later, sneaking into a quiet corner with my back against the wall, I had a go at cracking the iPhone’s password. The first thing that glowed to life on screen when I touched it was the wallpaper. There was an invitation that began, “The Board of Directors cordially invites …’.

In that moment, I could imagine Shubhankar opening the email and taking a screenshot to pin up, and the sudden feelings of pride and exhilaration of his whole journey washed over me. With the whirl of tournament weeks and crazy time zones, we’d never got to talk about the moment he knew it was happening.

And this reflected everything Bhai felt.

Not to be outdone by fiendishly modern methods, though, the Masters officials sent an old-style parcel post weeks later. I picked it up coming home from school and the moment I read the words, “Augusta, Georgia,” my mother and I snapped it open. A neat stack of soft parchment letters inscribed in green ink slipped out – addressed to none other than Mr. Shubhankar Sharma residing in Sector 12 Panchkula, Chandigarh.

A memory was pulling itself loose in my mind, of being 6 years old and stepping into the shower to discover the mirror fogged up with water vapour. The previous 12-year-old occupant, my Bhai, had squiggled in cursive letters, “The Masters,” above a trophy titled “Shubhankar.”

The first thing I did was to spread out the letters from Augusta on our sofa, photograph them and send him a ceremonial video, prim, with a thick British accent. You could imagine the Harry Potter vibes of a first Hogwartsian letter. Our spiritually devoted mother then placed these precious cards in the home’s temple, and blessed them.

This homely celebration was humbly sweet, but it did little to prepare me for the actual press conference I’d attend at Augusta National on Tuesday. It was hosted in a vintage hall with a small set of senior journalists and the solemn gaze of great men hanging in oil portraits on the walls.

No matter how aware one is of the monotonously repetitive way sportsmen tend to drone on, a blinding haze of gleeful affection tends to take over when it’s your own brother at the mic.

“What does it feel like to be now known as the future of Indian golf?” he was asked.

In that moment a spotlight I hadn’t imagined lit in my mind.

Later on, Bhai described the kids playing back home and our small Indian golfing community. These were all the people I was familiar with, in my 16 years of following him around fairways and greens.

Although Bhai accepts the pressure with Zen-like calm, I knew the truth – the hopes of 1.3 billion people were riding the currents of history once more.

Everyone we’ve ever known would be looking on, as only the fourth Indian in history sets foot on Augusta National’s majestic grounds.

It’s moments like these I’m trying to begin to get used to that make my chest swell like a helium balloon.

Something of a merry tussle happens in my mind – between the goofy big brother I’ve known forever and the golfing prodigy, who was beginning on the path of legend.

This week I’ve also been determined to explore my privilege of being here.

The overwhelming maiden impression I had in the past 36 hours of the Masters was of old-school grandeur.

There was the famous oak tree, the cheerful staff and painted signs, plus ice-cold lemonade cups. A general whiff of elegance lingers everywhere you go.

I’ve sat on oak benches ten times my age. I have pretended to calmly hover as Tiger Woods walked by ten feet away. The American people, though, seemed as freewheeling, chilled and casually friendly as no others I’ve ever observed.

I also lucked out to get into the snowy white clubhouse, where the portraits of all past champions beamed down upon me.

This gifted me a profound moment of thinking about the significance of legends. In time, today’s champions would become history as well, and the game of golf would evolve on, rewarding the worthy and raising new heroes.

Seeing the bushing, poplin-skirted women captured around Jack Nicklaus in a portrait made it easier to imagine us modern girls being photographed for the memory of new generations.

It all seems surreal.

In writing this piece, I’ve attempted to remember any conversations with my brother on the Masters. It is a piece of work actually, in light of Bhai’s unwavering ambition to be as silly and non-serious as possible off the course. Thus naturally, I found something goofy to round off.

In late autumn three years ago, my brother was 18 and chatting about his favourite player’s Masters performance as we walked down the pot-holed neighbourhood roads, hand-in-hand.

“When I get to the PGA I’m going full Rocky mode. Just like go underground for six months and get ripped. Grow out my hair,” he said.

I laughed. “Your face will be hairy too, Bhai. Like a mountain savage.”

“Oh yeah. They won’t be able to recognize me,” Bhai shrugged with a bit of mock attitude. “I’d be silent and talking to no friends. Just playing m’game and winnin’.”

“Really, win your first Masters?”

“You’ll see Vanni,” he’d said. “I’m going to get us there one day.”

OAKVILLE – Team Canada alumnae and LPGA Tour veteran Jennifer Kirby has decided to step away from professional golf.

The news came down as the Paris, Ont. native made the news public via an interview with TSN’s Bob Weeks.   In the article, Kirby cites a lack of passion and enjoyment for her decision to leave the game.

As soon as Weeks shared his article on Twitter Friday, messages and kudos started to pour in for Kirby.  The LPGA Tour veteran showed class, taking the time to respond to each one.

It was a pleasure to have the opportunity to coach @kirbyjennifer @TheGolfCanada. Smart, tough, dedicated – a real winner! Plus many laughs too! With skills like that success in life will follow you! #alwaysadragon ??? https://t.co/mLGQct50bJ

— Derek Ingram (@dingramgolf) March 24, 2018

I admired you as a golfer growing up. And then I got to know you, and beyond a golfer, this is one of the many reasons I admire you as a https://t.co/4cVvm2wLZX listened to your heart and were honest. So excited for what the future holds for you?@kirbyjennifer https://t.co/euWp3s7QS9

— Brittany Marchand (@Britt_Marchand) March 24, 2018

Jen is a fantastic young lady, over and above being a great player. Tour life is hard, JK got a great education at Alabama and will be a great addition to any business! Wish her all the best https://t.co/DuFSO2nO8V

— Tristan Mullally (@tmullallygolf) March 23, 2018

Kirby joined Golf Canada’s Team Canada program as a member of the Development Squad in 2007 before graduating to the National Team in 2010. In 2009, Kirby made history by becoming the first golfer to win Ontario Junior, Ontario Amateur, Canadian Junior and Canadian Amateur titles.

“As an amateur they gave me every opportunity I could ask for,” Kirby said.  “I travelled all around the world representing my country. They gave me all the tools to succeed and all the opportunities to play against good competitors. Every day I’m very thankful to have gone through that program.”

She led the University of Alabama Crimson Tide to a national title in 2012.

In 2013, she won her first event as a professional – Canadian Women’s Tour event in Quebec – and secured her LPGA Tour card on her first attempt, where she finished 5^th.

Her time on the LPGA and Symetra Tour has mixed results.

Kirby doesn’t know what lies ahead for her, but she hinted to Weeks that she may like to pursue a career coaching or mentoring girls just getting into professional golf.

On behalf of all of us at Golf Canada, best wishes Jennifer. Thank you for everything you’ve done for Canadian golf.

The USGA and The R&A have unveiled the new Rules of Golf, to be implemented on 1 January 2019.

The USGA and The R&A finalised golf’s new Rules this month after an extensive review that included a request for feedback from the global golf community on the proposed changes. Golfers can now access the official 2019 Rules of Golf by visiting www.RandA.org or www.usga.org/rules.

The process to modernise the Rules began in 2012 and was initiated to ensure that the Rules are easier to understand and apply for all golfers and to make the game more attractive and accessible for newcomers.

As the National Sport Federation and governing body, Golf Canada worked alongside The R&A and the USGA on the Rules modernisation initiative.

#Golf‘s new rules will go into effect on Jan. 1, 2019. Here are 5 key changes ??#GolfRules2019⛳️

More ➡️ https://t.co/9pS0gslInt pic.twitter.com/Ct48VVtPvI

— Golf Canada (@TheGolfCanada) March 14, 2018

While the majority of proposed Rules remain intact in the final version, several important changes to the initial proposals and further clarification of many Rules were incorporated.

The most significant adjustments made following the review of feedback received from golfers around the world, includes:

• Dropping procedure: When taking relief (from an abnormal course condition or penalty area, for example), golfers will now drop from knee height. This will ensure consistency and simplicity in the dropping process while also preserving the randomness of the drop. (Key change: the proposed Rules released in 2017 suggested dropping from any height).
• Measuring in taking relief: The golfer’s relief area will be measured by using the longest club in their bag (other than a putter) to measure one club-length or two club-lengths, depending on the situation, making for a consistent process for golfers to establish their relief area. (Key change: the proposed Rules released in 2017 suggested a 20-inch or 80-inch standard measurement).
• Removing the penalty for a double hit: The penalty stroke for accidentally striking the ball more than once in the course of a stroke has been removed. Golfers will simply count the one stroke they made to strike the ball.  (Key change: the proposed Rules released in 2017 included the existing one-stroke penalty).
• Balls Lost or Out of Bounds: Alternative to Stroke and Distance: A new Local Rule will now be available in January 2019, permitting committees to allow golfers the option to drop the ball in the vicinity of where the ball is lost or out of bounds (including the nearest fairway area), under a two-stroke penalty. This Local Rule addresses the concerns raised at the club level about the negative impact on pace of play when a player is required to go back under stroke and distance. The Local Rule is not intended for higher levels of play, such as professional or elite level competitions. (Key change:  this is a new addition to support pace of play)

“We’re thankful for the golfers, administrators and everyone in the game who took the time to provide us with great insight and thoughtful feedback,” said USGA Senior Director of Rules & Amateur Status, Thomas Pagel. “We couldn’t be more excited to introduce the new Rules ahead of their education and implementation.”

David Rickman, Executive Director – Governance at The R&A, said, “We are pleased to be introducing the new Rules of Golf after a collaborative and wide-ranging review process which has embraced the views of golfers, rules experts and administrators worldwide. We believe that the new Rules are more in tune with what golfers would like and are easier to understand and apply for everyone who enjoys playing this great game.”

“The approach and process to modernise the Rules was critical to make meaningful changes that are relevant to all golfers worldwide beginning in 2019,” said Golf Canada Director of Rules, Competitions & Amateur Status, Adam Helmer. “We are confident that the outcome of this important initiative will be well received and we will work closely with our club, provincial and national partners to inform and educate Canadian golfers.”

Major proposals introduced in 2017 that have been incorporated into the modernised Rules include:

• Elimination or reduction of “ball moved” penalties: There will be no penalty for accidentally moving a ball on the putting green or in searching for a ball; and a player is not responsible for causing a ball to move unless it is “virtually certain” that he or she did so.
• Relaxed putting green rules: There will be no penalty if a ball played from the putting green hits an unattended flagstick in the hole; players may putt without having the flagstick attended or removed. Players may repair spike marks and other damage made by shoes, animal damage and other damage on the putting green and there is no penalty for merely touching the line of putt.
• Relaxed rules for “penalty areas” (currently called “water hazards”): Red and yellow-marked penalty areas may cover areas of desert, jungle, lava rock, etc., in addition to areas of water; expanded use of red penalty areas where lateral relief is allowed; and there will be no penalty for moving loose impediments or touching the ground or water in a penalty area.
• Relaxed bunker rules: There will be no penalty for moving loose impediments in a bunker or for generally touching the sand with a hand or club. A limited set of restrictions (such as not grounding the club right next to the ball) is kept to preserve the challenge of playing from the sand; however, an extra relief option is added for an unplayable ball in a bunker, allowing the ball to be played from outside the bunker with a two-stroke penalty.
• Relying on player integrity: A player’s “reasonable judgment” when estimating or measuring a spot, point, line, area or distance will be upheld, even if video evidence later shows it to be wrong; and elimination of announcement procedures when lifting a ball to identify it or to see if it is damaged.
• Pace-of-play support: Reduced time for searching for a lost ball (from five minutes to three); affirmative encouragement of “ready golf” in stroke play; recommending that players take no more than 40 seconds to play a stroke and other changes intended to help with pace of play.

Presented in digital, text-based form today, the new Rules will also now be translated into more than 30 languages and readied for final delivery via print and digital formats, including searchable Rules of Golf official apps developed by The R&A and the USGA. The full version of the new Rules of Golf in French will be available soon and posted on Golf Canada’s Rules of Golf website at  http://golfcanada.ca/rules-of-golf/

Introducing the new Rules of #golf. Effective Jan. 1, 2019 #GolfRules2019

A post shared by Golf Canada (@thegolfcanada) on Mar 12, 2018 at 7:58am PDT

Three important publications, to be distributed this September, will help players and officials, who regulate the game, and provide interpretation and guidance in how the Rules are applied:

• The Player’s Edition of the Rules of Golf: An abridged, user-friendly set of the Rules with shorter sentences, commonly used phrases, and diagrams. Written in the “second person,” The Player’s Edition is intended to be the primary publication for golfers.
• The Rules of Golf: The full edition of the Rules will be written in the third person and will include illustrations. The Rules of Golf is intended to be the primary publication for officials.
• The Official Guide to the Rules of Golf: This “guidebook” replaces the Decisions book and will contain information to best support committees and officials. It includes interpretations on the Rules, Committee procedures (available local rules and information on establishing the terms of the competition), and the Modified Rules of Golf for Players with Disabilities. It is a “long-form” resource document intended as a supplementary publication.

More than 30 “how-to apply” videos and a summary of the principal changes are now available at www.RandA.org and www.usga.org/rules.  Additional education tools will be released in September.

Players are reminded that the current edition of the Rules of Golf (2016) must be applied when playing, posting scores or competing for the remainder of 2018. The Rules of Amateur Status and the Rules of Equipment Standards were not part of this review process.

As an extension of their support of the Rules of Golf worldwide, Rolex has made a commitment to support The R&A and the USGA’s efforts to modernise golf’s Rules. The Swiss watchmaker’s contribution to excellence in golf is based on a rich heritage stretching back more than 50 years, forged through pivotal partnerships at every level of the game, from the sport’s leading professional and amateur competitions and organisations, to players at the pinnacle of their sport worldwide.

Women’s Amateur and Senior Championship
Truro Golf Club
July 6-8
Registration opens on May 1, 2018

MCT Men’s Amateur Championship 

River Hills Golf and Country Club
July 5-8
Registration opens on May 1, 2018

COBRA PUMA Bantam Championship
 Northumberland Links 
July 10-11

COBRA PUMA Junior Championship
Northumberland Links 
July 10-13

MCT Men’s Mid-Amateur 
Hartlen Point Forces Golf Club
July 20-22

• Men’s and Women’s Amateur Championship
• Men’s and Women’s Senior Championship
• Junior Boys and Girls Championship
• Men’s Mid-Amateur Championship