PERTH, Australia – Team Canada’s Hugo Bernard opened the Australian Amateur on Tuesday with a 4-under-par 68 at the Waneroo Golf Club to hold a share of 4th place.

The Mont-Saint-Hilaire, Que., product jumped to a hot start, going birdie-eagle-birdie in his first three holes to sit inside the top-five against competitors from 15 countries across the world. Bernard, 24, will tee-it-up Wednesday at co-host Lake Karrinyup Golf Club for the second and final stroke play round.

Team Canada teammates Joey Savoie (La Prairie, Que.) and Josh Whalen (Napanee, Ont.) sit T20 and T55, respectively.

The top 64 men and 32 women will advance to Thursday’s match play draw.

Impressive opening 68 by @Hbernard63 at @Wanneroogc to start #AusAm. And some bonus weather advice for those shivering at home in @TheGolfCanada. pic.twitter.com/l7sIYe8vgL

— Golf Australia (@GolfAust) January 16, 2018

Japan’s Yuna Nishimura leads the women’s division at 6 under par; there are no Canadians in the field.

The Amateur Championships are Australia’s oldest golfing events, dating back to 1894.

Past winners include Michael Clayton, Michael Campbell, Mat Goggin, Brett Rumford, Kristie Smith and Nikki Campbell, and more recently Cameron Smith, newly crowned Australian Open champion Cameron Davis, former world No.1 Lydia Ko, Minjee Lee and current world No.12 Hye-Jin Choi, who won in 2017.

With both champions receiving exemptions into their respective Australian Opens, they are the most prized titles in Australian amateur golf.

Click here for full scoring.

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina – National Amateur Squad member Chris Crisologo hoisted the South American Amateur trophy on Tuesday following a four-stroke victory at the Martindale Country Club.

The Richmond, B.C., native struggled early in the final round, going 4 over par through his first five holes before recovering on the back nine with four birdies. Crisologo, 23, recorded the tournament’s two lowest rounds (64-66) to hold a lead as large as seven. He went on to close the event at 13 under par, four strokes clear of runner-up Alejandro Tosti of Argentina.

With the win, the Simon Fraser University junior becomes the first Canadian male to capture the event. LPGA star Brooke Henderson of Smiths Falls, Ont., captured the women’s division in 2013. The victory also marks Crisologo’s first win as a member of Team Canada—he joined the National Amateur Squad back in October.

pic.twitter.com/D83j7SnULp

— AAG (@GolfAAG) January 16, 2018

Fellow countryman Matt Williams of Calgary finished the 13th edition of the event with a 3-under-par 69—his best score of the tournament. The University of Houston of Houston junior finished the event at 4 under par in a tie for 12th.

In the women’s division, Team Canada Development Squad member Céleste Dao finished T8 at 1 over par. The Notre-Dame-de-lÎle-Perrot, Que., product carded four birdies in her final round to record her best score of the tournament with a 3-under 69.

Teammate Ellie Szeryk of London, Ont., finished tied for 22nd at 9 over par (72-79-74-72).

Click here for full scoring.

Chris Crisologo campeón del Abierto Sudamericano Amateur! Congratulaciones ! pic.twitter.com/0fJVQBp75E

— AAG (@GolfAAG) January 16, 2018

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina – National Amateur Squad member Chris Crisologo fired a 6-under 66 on Monday to extend his lead to seven at the South American Amateur.

The 23-year-old Richmond, B.C., native posted the low round for a second consecutive day at Martindale Country Club to sit a 14 under through 54 holes.

The Simon Fraser University junior will look to become the first Canadian male to win the event when he tees off in tomorrow’s final round at 1:30 p.m. local time. LPGA athlete Brooke Henderson of Smiths Falls, Ont., captured the event in 2013 with a wire-to-wire victory in Bogotá, Colombia, to become the first female Canadian to win the event.

Fellow Canadian Matt Williams of Calgary carded a 2-under-par 70 jump inside the top 20 with a share of 17th.

On the women’s side, Team Canada duo of Céleste Dao () and Ellie Szeryk (London, Ont.) sit T14 and T23, respectively. The pair of Team Canada Development Squad members are in chase of Colombia’s Silvia Garces and Maria Serrano who share the lead at 4 under par.

Click here for full scoring.

HONOLULU – Patton Kizzire figured he was in for a long day when his putting stroke wasn’t up to his standards.

He just wasn’t expecting the Sony Open to go this long.

The longest playoff in more than five years on the PGA Tour finally ended Sunday when Kizzire two-putted for par from just off the green on the par-3 17th hole, and James Hahn’s 8-foot putt to keep it going caught the right edge of the lip and spun away.

“It wasn’t pretty,” Kizzire said. “I was able to get it done.”

Kizzire, who closed with a 2-under 68, became the first multiple winner on the PGA Tour this season. He went head-to-head with Rickie Fowler and beat him by one shot in the OHL Classic in Mexico last fall for his first PGA Tour title. He was in a four-man battle on the back nine at Waialae that was whittled down to Kizzire and Hahn, who closed with a 62 to match him at 17-under 273.

And the fun was just getting started.

Kizzire had to watch three times as Hahn had a putt to win, two of those putts from 6 feet and 10 feet on the par-5 18th hole. Kizzire had two putts to win, though both of them were in the 30-foot range.

“That playoff was quite a marathon,” Kizzire said.

Canadian Corey Conners of Listowel, Ont., — the lone Canadian to make the cut — finished in a tie for 39th place at 8 under.

Hahn has won both his PGA Tour title in playoffs, at Riviera and Quail Hollow. Closing with a 62 to even have a chance was no consolation.

“I played good enough to win, but I didn’t,” he said. “So for me, no matter how many birdies I make, if I’m not coming out of the room with the trophy, it really feels like I was defeated out there. I had a putt to win it. I’m going to be playing that over and over and over again.”

The six-hole playoff was the longest on the PGA Tour in just over five years, and given how the week transpired, it was only fitting.

Saturday brought panic to the islands with a push alert of a ballistic missile strike that turned out to be a false alarm.

There was a real strike on Sunday – the audio and video production workers for Golf Channel walked out over a labour dispute, leaving the network scrambling to provide at least limited coverage of an event that ended in prime time after the NFL playoff games were over.

Golf Channel managed enough cameras to provide coverage of the final three holes – one of their on-course reporters manned a camera on the 16th tower – and all six holes of the playoff.

It was worth the wait for Kizzire. His goal is to get to East Lake for the FedEx Cup finale, and he is well on his way with two victories so early in the season.

“One win doesn’t necessarily mean a whole lot,” Kizzire said. “Two means a little more, and three is even better. I’m always looking for the next one. I’m super excited right now.”

Missing from the playoff was Tom Hoge, who did everything right in his bid to win for the first time on the PGA Tour except for one swing. He had a one-shot lead when he was between clubs on the 16th hole, and opted to hit a draw to the back-left pin. He turned it too much and it found the bunker. His next shot got hung up in the shaggy rough, he chipped that to 12 feet and missed to make double bogey to slip one shot behind.

Hoge gave himself two good chances with putts of about 7 feet. Both burned the edge. He shot 70 and had to settle for third place, his best finish on the PGA Tour.

“This sets me up a lot better for the rest of the year, and hopefully made the FedEx Cup playoffs,” said Hoge, a 28-year-old from North Dakota who hasn’t kept his full card his previous three years on tour. “More so just the confidence I had to play in the final group and play well today.”

Brian Harman, who played in the final group at both Hawaii events, was two shots behind after a tap-in birdie at No. 12. But he three-putted for bogey from long range on the 13th, took two shots to get out of the bunker left of the 16th green and had to settle for a 70. He tied for fourth.

Defending champion Justin Thomas closed with a 68 and tied for 14th. Jordan Spieth finished with eight straight pars for a 66 and tied for 18th, ending his streak of seven consecutive top 10s dating to the PGA Championship in August.

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina – Canada will be among 25 countries competing in the 13th edition of the South American Amateur at Martindale Country Club from Jan. 13-16.

Four elite amateurs will make up the Canadian contingent: Chris Crisologo (Richmond, B.C.), Matt Williams (Calgary), Céleste Dao (Notre-Dame-de-lÎle-Perrot, Que.), Ellie Szeryk (London, Ont.).

Dao and Szeryk are current members of Team Canada’s Women’s Development Squad; Crisologo is a member of the Men’s Amateur Squad and Williams is a program graduate.

Williams will lead the Canadian quartet in Saturday’s opening round, teeing off No. 1 at 8:20 a.m. The University of Houston junior will be paired alongside a familiar face in Colombia’s Camilo Aguado, who held the 54-hole lead at the 2017 Canadian Men’s Amateur at Toronto Golf Club and Islington Golf Club. Aguado finished the championship tied for 4th, while Williams closed with a share of 8th.

Defending women’s champion, Isabella Fierro, will tee off No. 1 at 1:10 p.m. local time—the Italian finished T16 at the 2015 World Junior Girls Championship in Ottawa, Ont.

LPGA superstar Brooke Henderson of Smiths Falls, Ont., captured the event in 2013 with a wire-to-wire victory in Bogotá, Colombia, to become the first (and only) Canadian to win the event.

Click here for tee times.
Click here for full scoring.

Golf Digest released its third biennial edition of the World 100 Greatest Courses on Thursday, which included nine Canadian courses from coast-to-coast. View the full list on their website here.

No. 9

Cabot Cliffs
Inverness, N.S.

No. 20

St. George’s Golf & Country Club
Etobicoke, Ont.

No. 36

National Golf Club of Canada
Woodbridge, Ont.

No. 43

Cabot Links
Inverness, N.S.

No. 51

Capilano Golf & Country Club
West Vancouver, B.C.

No. 60

Hamilton Golf & Country Club
Ancaster, Ont.

No. 87

Highland Links
Ingonish Beach, N.S.

No. 89

Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge Golf Club
Jasper, Alta.

No. 99

Banff Springs Golf Club
Banff, Alta.

HONOLULU – Zach Johnson and Chris Kirk each made seven birdies and shared the lead in the Sony Open.

Jordan Spieth made eight birdies and for the second straight year walked away from Waialae Country Club amazed that he could be six shots behind.

A year ago, it was because Justin Thomas shot 59 playing in the same group.

On Thursday, it was one hole.

Spieth hit four trees with four shots on the par-4 eighth hole – his 17th of the opening round – starting with a tough break when his tee shot caromed off the trunk of a tree and down an 8-foot deep ditch that left him no good options. He wound up with a quadruple-bogey 8 and had to settle for a 69.

He signed his card, signed autographs and declined requests to speak to the media.

Canadians Mac Hughes (Dundas, Ont.) and Corey Conners (Listowel, Ont.) opened with even-par rounds to hold shares of 78th place. Fellow countryman Ben Silverman (Thornhill, Ont.) carded a 1-over-par 71.

Johnson and Kirk kept clean cards playing on opposite sides of the draw and closed with different brands of birdies on the par-5 18th hole – Kirk two-putted from about 10 feet, while Johnson found a bunker, laid up and hit a wedge to 5 feet.

They were a shot ahead of Brian Harman, Vaughn Taylor, Kyle Stanley and PGA Tour rookie Talor Gooch.

Mac Hughes of Dundas, Ont., and Corey Conners of Listowel, Ont., shot 70’s and Ben Silverman of Thonrhill, Ont., was 1 over 71.

Thomas, who set the PGA Tour scoring record for 72 holes in his wire-to-wire victory, opened with a 67 and was all smiles at the end. Thomas, an Alabama alum, won a bet on the college football championship that required Georgia graduate Kevin Kisner to wear a Crimson Tide jersey on the par-3 17th.

“It’s definitely the best Kis has ever looked in a jersey,” Thomas said.

Kisner kept the jersey and plans to auction it off for charity. He shot 68.

More than half of the field – 77 players – broke par in the mild trade wind and relentless sunshine down the road from Waikiki Beach.

Kirk had only one top 10 last year – his final event of the year in the RSM Classic at Sea Island – and nearly two months off didn’t appear to half any momentum. He might have been rusty, but not when it comes to island life.

Because of the chilly weather in the South, Kirk brought his family out to Oahu a week ago Monday. He practiced a little in the morning at Ko Olina and hung out with his wife and children in the afternoon. He realized how littlegolf he had played during the short off-season when he reached into his bag and found golf balls that he had marked for the final round at Sea Island.

“I’ve probably been off long enough now that you never know what’s going to happen,” he said. “I really had no expectations whether I was going to play good or bad after having some time off. But this is a golf course that I’ve traditionally done pretty well on, and a place that I really love. So you always feel like it’s possible.”

He hit wedge to about 3 feet on the 15th and 16th, and that final birdie on the par-5 18th was a two-putt from 10 feet.

Dry weather, a fast course and the trades allowed a rarity for Johnson, who hit wedge into the green on the 480-yard opening hole. That was first of three straight birdies, and he had ample more opportunities, including a shot that hit the pin on No. 10 and settled 3 feet away. He missed that, though the two-time major champion wasn’t too discouraged. He picked up an unlikely birdie on the 13th from the fairway bunker by making a 25-foot putt, and he made a 20-foot birdie on the next hole.

“Just kept the course in front of me and played solid golf,” Johnson said, winless since the 2015 British Open at St. Andrews. “Made a few putts, missed a few putts. But I’m very encouraged with the direction.”

Spieth played well enough to be right there with them except for a pair of long three-putt bogeys – and that one tee shot.

His drive on No. 8 was not terribly offline, and the trees to the left are a common spot. This one hit the trunk of a tree and tumbled down a wide (and dry) ditch about 8 feet below the fairway. He studied his options. He found none.

He could have dropped it with a penalty stroke, but there was nowhere to go. His plan was to hit out of the sandy base of the ditch toward the trees closer to the fairway. If it hit the trees and dropped out, he would have been closer than the drop and at least had an opening to the putting surface.

It hit one of the smaller branches and came back toward him, about a yard short of go back down into the ditch. For his third shot, he had a gap toward the front of the green (the pin was back left), but out of a fluffy lie, the ball came out high and hit more trees, bouncing left and settle near another tree.

Next, he had to go under the tree in front of him and over a tree guarding the green. He only got the first part right.

At this point, he was lying 4 and was only a few yards away from the second tee, waiting for another group to tee off. His only choice there was to dump it into the bunker, where the sand was thin. He hit that out to 30 feet and two putts later had a snowman (8).

GAUTENG, South Africa – Branden Grace and Chase Koepka shot 7-under 65s to share the first-round lead at the SA Open on Thursday.

Koepka, the younger brother of U.S. Open champion Brooks Koepka, was among the morning starters and set the clubhouse target by hitting an eagle and seven birdies in his third tournament of his debut season on the European Tour.

Grace had three eagles – at Nos. 2, 8 and 15 – as he bids for a ninth European Tour title and to complete the set of wins at his native South Africa’s three most prestigious events. He has already won the Alfred Dunhill Championship in 2014 and the Nedbank Golf Challenge last year, as well as the Joburg Open in 2012.

England’s Chris Paisley was alone in third place after shooting 66.

Canada’s Austin Connelly recorded a 2-under 70 to sit inside the projected cutline in a tie for 31st. Canadian Golf Hall of Fame member Mike Weir notched five birdies against four bogeys and one double-bogey en route to posting a 1-over 73.

Adam Hadwin had a career year in 2017, and as the calendar changes, he added two more honours.

The Golf Journalists Association of Canada (GJAC) is proud to announce Hadwin, Josh Whalen, Judith Kyrinis, and Brooke Henderson are the 2017 Players of the Year as voted by GJAC members across the country. Hadwin’s magical season where he notched his first PGA Tour victory, shot 59, and played on the Presidents Cup team was also named the Canadian Golf Story of the Year.

“GJAC is happy to honour these golfers and their accomplishments in 2017,” said Robert Thompson, GJAC president. “The accomplishments of the winners – and each of the nominees – show how strong Canadian golf is right now. GJAC wishes the best of luck to in the year ahead.”

Hadwin’s first PGA Tour victory came in March after a thrilling Sunday at the Valspar Championship, where he won by one over Patrick Cantlay. In January, Hadwin became the eighth golfer in PGA Tour history to shoot a sub-60 round.

Just weeks after his win, Hadwin got married and closed on his first home to cap a whirlwind start to 2017. He ascended to inside the Top 50 in the world (becoming Canada’s highest-ranked male golfer in the process), played all four majors, and participated in the Presidents Cup in September.

Henderson continued her impressive start to her LPGA Tour career, winning twice – at the Meijer LPGA Classic and the McKayson New Zealand Women’s Open – and nearly defending her title at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship. She finished sixth on the LPGA Tour’s 2017 money list, earning just over $1.5 million in 30 events (the most on Tour).

She was the only unanimous choice out of the four winners.

Kyrinis had a stellar 2017 campaign capped off with a victory in an all-Canadian final at the U.S. Senior Amateur. She also won the Ontario Women’s Senior Amateur and Mid-Amateur Championships, along with finishing runner-up at the prestigious North and South Senior Women’s Amateur, and fifth at the Canadian Women’s Senior Amateur.

Whalen finished No. 1 on the Golf Canada Amateur Order of Merit for his fine campaign in 2017. He finished third at the Canadian Men’s Amateur and notched six top-20 finishes during his senior year at Kent State University.

Laurence Applebaum, CEO of Golf Canada, caught up with journalist Ian Hutchinson of Golf News Now in a phone interview on Wednesday to discuss the successes of 2017 and what’s ahead for Golf Canada in 2018 and beyond.

Listen to the clip here.