CP Women’s Open Archives - Golf Digest Middle East

WATCH: Highlights of the LPGA CP Women’s Open

Matt Smith — Fri, 26 Aug 2022 06:05:59 +0000

By Matt Smith
South African Paula Reto had a day to remember as she set a number of records during the the first round of the CP Women’s Open. The 32-year-old shot a bogey-free 9-under 62 at Ottawa Hunt and Golf Club to lead South Korea’s Narin An by two strokes.

Her course-record bested the 63 by Brooke Henderson in 2017. The 62, the low round of her LPGA Tour career by two strokes, ties the low round overall of the 2022 LPGA Tour season and ties the lowest round in CP Women’s Open history.

Watch the highlights here:

[parone_video_player campaign=”423″ defaultlang=”en” feed=”51-all-videos”/]

“Usually when I make two, three birdies I feel like it’s going to be a good day whether I make a few more or not. Usually under par is always good. But to go low is always fun. And to have no bogeys,” said Reto, who has represented South Africa at the Olympics. “I saved two really good par saves, which was nice. So that kind of kept the momentum going for a low round.”

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CP Women’s Open in Canada is latest LPGA event to be cancelled

Golf Digest Middle East — Tue, 30 Jun 2020 20:12:25 +0000

Stuart Franklin
Jin Young Ko won the 2019 CP Women’s Open at 26 under.

By Tod Leonard
Add the CP Women’s Open in Canada to the list of cancelled LPGA Tour events.

Citing ongoing travel and border restrictions amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the LPGA and Golf Canada announced that the tournament, scheduled for Sept. 3-6, would not be held and that it is rescheduled for Sept. 26-29, 2021, at Shaughnessy Golf and Country Club in Vancouver, B.C.

This year’s tournament was to be played the week before a major, the rescheduled ANA Inspiration in Rancho Mirage. With a gap now, the event before the ANA is the Walmart NW Arkansas Championship, Aug. 28-30.

“I understand this was a tough decision for everyone involved, but given the restrictions faced, there was simply nothing else that could be done that would have enabled us to run the event in 2020,” LPGA Commissioner Mike Whan said in a statement. “It is disappointing to miss Canada’s national championship and I know I speak for all LPGA Tour players and staff when I say we look forward to being back in Vancouver next year.”

This is the first time the Canada’s national championship has been cancelled since its founding in 1973. The event has had a couple of notable winners in the last decade. In 2012, Lydia Ko captured the title as a 15-year-old amateur, setting the record for youngest winner of an LPGA tournament. In 2018, Brooke Henderson became the first Canadian in 45 years to prevail.

Last year, world No. 1 Jin Young Ko shot 26 under and won by five shots. She’d go on to notch four victories in the season.

The LPGA is set to resume play July 31 with the newly created LPGA Drive On Championship in Toledo, Ohio. Eighteen events remain on the schedule, with seven of those outside the U.S. The tour already has lost one major—the Evian Championship scheduled for France in early August.

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Final automatic qualifying spots filled for 2019 U.S. Solheim Cup team

Golf Digest Middle East — Mon, 26 Aug 2019 00:55:59 +0000

Harry How/Getty Images
Angel Yin of Team USA plays off the crowd as she makes her way to the 12th green during the final day singles matches of the 2017 Solheim Cup at the Des Moines Golf and Country Club.

By Keely Levins
Three automatic qualifying spots for the U.S. Solheim Cup team remained at the start of the CP Women’s Open, the final Solheim Cup qualifying event for the American women. In the end, Brittany Altomare qualified via the Solheim Cup points list, and Angel Yin and Annie Park made the squad off of World Ranking. Yin played in the 2017 Solheim Cup, but Park and Altomare will be rookies on captain Juli Inkster’s team that travels to Gleneagles in Scotland next month.

Altomare has had a strong season, finishing in the top 15 five times on the LPGA Tour in 2019. Park won her first LPGA title in 2018, the ShopRite Classic, and has had three top-10 finishes in 2019. Yin, one of the longest hitters on tour, will once again be the youngest player on Team USA at age 20.

While Altomare and Yin looked like they’d likely secured spots on the team as the tournament played out outside Toronto, the last position was more uncertain. Before the CP Women’s Open, Austin Ernst was ahead of Park. But after Ernst missed the cut in Canada, Park moved ahead of her on the World Ranking list by advancing to the weekend.

Seven golfers had already locked up places on the 2019 U.S. Solheim Cup team prior to the CP Women’s Open: Lexi Thompson, Danielle Kang, Nelly Korda, Jessica Korda, Lizette Salas, Marina Alex and Megan Khang.

Two spots on the U.S. team remain to be filled. Inkster will announce her captain’s picks on Monday. There are several veteran players for Inkster to choose from, notably Cristie Kerr, Stacy Lewis, Paula Creamer, Morgan Pressel and Gerina Piller. Arguments could be made for all of them.

“I am really happy with my 10 players right now,” Inkster said on Sunday. “The problem is I have more players who deserve to be on the team than I have spots available.”

The European Team has already been finalised. Captain Catriona Matthew will bring the following players to Gleneagles in Scotland:

Celine Boutier (rookie)
Carlota Ciganda
Georgia Hall
Caroline Hedwall
Charley Hull
Bronte Law (rookie)
Caroline Masson
Azahara Munoz
Anna Nordqvist
Suzann Pettersen
Jodi Ewart Shadoff
Anne Van Dam (rookie)

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Jin Young Ko wins CP Women’s Open, extends ridiculous bogey-free streak

Golf Digest Middle East — Sun, 25 Aug 2019 21:43:27 +0000

Jin Young Ko of Korea hits her tee shot on the 2nd hole during the final round of the CP Women’s Open at Magna Golf Club on August 25, 2019, in Aurora, Canada. (Photo by Vaughn Ridley/Getty Images)

By Keely Levins
If you’re talking about winning machines in pro golf, Jin Young Ko needs to be part of the conversation. The 24-year-old from South Korea, in her second year on the LPGA Tour, won her fourth title of 2019 at the CP Women’s Open on Sunday at Magna Golf Club outside of Toronto. And it wasn’t really even close; Ko closed with a final-round 64 to comfortably beat Nicole Broch Larson by five strokes.

With the triumph, Ko is the first LPGA player to win at least four tournaments in a season since 2016, when Ariya Jutanugarn won five and Lydia Ko won four times. Two of Ko’s wins have been majors, claiming the ANA Inspiration and the Evian Championship.

While Ko was the champion, and Larson had a breakthrough tournament (before this event she was ranked No. 173 in the world), a lot of attention was on one of their final-round playing partner, Brooke Henderson. Henderson, who’s from Smith Falls, Ontario, always has the biggest crowds when the tour plays in Canada. Earlier this year when she won the Meijer Classic, she became the winningest Canadian professional golfer ever—male or female. Henderson was the defending champ at the CP Women’s Open this year, and after she shot a 29 on the back nine on Saturday to finish the third round two shots behind Ko, it looked like she was in a position to potentially win her 10th LPGA event.

Vaughn Ridley

But Ko, who finished at 26-under 262 for the week, proved too difficult to beat, playing bogey-free on Sunday to cap off a bogey-free 72 holes. Not bad for a player who didn’t even play a practice round. (All that she saw of the course was the nine holes she played in the pro-am.) Ko hasn’t made a bogey since the third round of the AIG Women’s British Open, which means her streak of bogey-free holes is at 106 holes.

Henderson didn’t play poorly by any means, Ko was just playing that much better. Henderson’s three-under final-round 69 was good enough for a T-3 finish.

“I feel like I made a lot of birdies and hopefully made it pretty exciting for them,” Henderson said. “T-3, I couldn’t really ask for anything more. It would’ve been very difficult to catch Jin Young today. She shot like a million under.”

Henderson is able to take some solace in the fact that though she wasn’t able to win, in Ko, one of her better friends on the tour did.

“We’re both out there to do our job, but we respect each other a lot,” Henderson said. “If I couldn’t win, I’m happy she did.”

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A 12-year-old(!) is making her LPGA debut this week, and everyone is raving about her swing

Golf Digest Middle East — Wed, 21 Aug 2019 04:11:26 +0000

By Alex Myers
We’ll spare you with the “What were you doing at 12?” comparisons because you definitely were not doing what Michelle Liu is doing this week. The precocious pre-teen will be making her LPGA debut at the CP (Canadian) Women’s Open. And her swing is drawing rave reviews from those at the event.

This is Michelle Liu. She’s 12(!) and playing this week at the @cpwomensopen pic.twitter.com/eHsgExQwG9

— Adam Stanley (@adam_stanley) August 20, 2019

Looks like Liu is packing plenty of pop for anyone, let alone someone who is about to enter the eighth grade. Here’s another look at the Vancouver native’s long, powerful swing:

Check out this swing! 12-year-old Michelle Liu hits one in a practice round for the #CPWO pic.twitter.com/8JZX79Iti9

— Bob Weeks (@BobWeeksTSN) August 20, 2019

Also, notice how it only takes her 10 seconds to play her tee shot. Who says the younger generation of golfers are slowing down the game?

One of the LPGA’s old guard, Christina Kim, played nine practice holes with the amateur on Monday and gave a glowing scouting report as well:

Great time today playing the back nine @cpwomensopen with Michelle, the youngest entrant this week. Check this swing out! pic.twitter.com/hfWBrjUpj1

— Christina Kim (@TheChristinaKim) August 20, 2019

Apparently, Liu doesn’t just drive for show, either:

Her stroke is absolutely beautiful and she made nearly everything! pic.twitter.com/za4z0bkRhj

— Christina Kim (@TheChristinaKim) August 20, 2019

Liu will be the youngest participant in the event’s 47-year history, but the tournament is no strangers to golf phenoms. In 2012, Lydia Ko became the youngest LPGA winner at 15 years and four months before defending her title the following year. And Liu’s idol and fellow Canadian Brooke Henderson won last year at 20.

“I hope to become a professional golfer one day and play on the LPGA,” Liu, who qualified for this event by being the top Canadian finisher in last week’s Canadian Amateur, told the Toronto Sun. “I hope to be just as great, but not better than Brooke Henderson.”

Awww. That’s adorable.

It was a wonderful day today and can’t wait to keep an eye on her scores for the rest of her career! pic.twitter.com/8pmQUqArZA

— Christina Kim (@TheChristinaKim) August 20, 2019

Same here, Christina.

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Canada’s Brooke Henderson claims emotional win at home at the CP Women’s Open

Golf Digest Middle East — Mon, 27 Aug 2018 04:37:17 +0000

Vaughn Ridley
REGINA, CANADA – AUGUST 26: Brooke Henderson of Canada hits her tee shot on the 2nd hole during the final round of the CP Womens Open at the Wascana Country Club on August 26, 2018 in Regina, Canada. (Photo by Vaughn Ridley/Getty Images)

By Keely Levins
The LPGA Tour makes only one stop in Canada this year, and Brooke Henderson made the most of playing at home, winning the CP Women’s Open by four strokes over Angel Yin. It was a big moment for the 20-year-old, but also a big moment for golf fans in her country as Henderson is the first Canadian to win the event since 1973, when Jocelyne Bourassa the former version of this event, La Canadienne.

Henderson, who’s becoming an icon for Canadians since joining the LPGA Tour in 2015, led by one at the beginning of the final round. Cut to day’s end, and she had extended that lead to a comfortable four strokes. Light rain made for good scoring at Wascana Country Club in Saskatchewan; American Mo Martin posted a new course record with a 62. Henderson capitalized as well, shooting a seven-under 65, which included four straight birdies on the back nine. She finished the week with a 21-under 267 total.

The win was Henderson’s seventh career LPGA triumph. She’s now one victory shy of tying the most on the LPGA Tour by a Canadian, a record currently held by Sandra Post at 8.

The win has even more meaning to Henderson after the year she’s had. Life outside the ropes has been difficult this summer for Henderson, as both of her grandfathers passed away within four weeks of one another. She withdrew from the U.S. Women’s Open to fly back home and be with her family when her grandfather Bob Mior passed, according to the LPGA.

“It’s been a really tough year, so to get this for my family and just for the whole of Canada, I’m really happy,” said Henderson.

Henderson won the LOTTE Championship earlier this year, making her just one of three women to win more than once on the LPGA Tour in 2018. Henderson has also notched seven other top 10’s this year.

“It’s amazing, just surreal,” Henderson said. “The crowds here have been so amazing all week, and to finish it off the way I did is really a dream come true.”

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