Former Canadian Women’s Amateur Champion Jennifer Kupcho on winning big and what the Augusta National Women’s Amateur exemption means going forward.

TSN recaps Thursday’s opening round from Magna Golf Club.

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AURORA, Ont. – Canada’s Brooke Henderson is quite comfortable in the role of defending champion.

She showed why during a strong opening round Thursday morning at Magna Golf Club.

Henderson fired a 6-under-par 66 for a two-shot clubhouse lead on South Korea’s Amy Yang, Australia’s Su Oh and England’s Georgia Hall with several players still on the course.

With impressive length off the tee and a putting stroke that was reliable, the 21-year-old from Smiths Falls, Ont., displayed the same form that carried her to victory a year ago in Regina.

“It’s nice to be in a position where I had a good round, everything seemed to go right for me,” Henderson said. “Hopefully I can continue to stick to my gameplan, make a lot of birdies, and I would love to be in this position on Sunday.”

Hall, who started on the 10th tee, had four birdies over a seven-hole stretch. Her lone bogey came on the par-3 eighth hole.

“I didn’t really look at the leaderboard,” she said. “It’s just the first round and there’s a lot of rounds left to play. All it is is a good start, but I’m very happy with it.”

Australia’s Minjee Lee and American Jessica Korda were in a large group at 3-under 69. American Stacy Lewis and South Korea’s Jenny Shin were another stroke back at 70.

Cool, breezy conditions greeted players with morning tee times like Henderson, who has successfully defended titles on two occasions over her LPGA Tour career.

The 6,709-yard course has wide fairways and sets up nicely for big hitters. Henderson, who’s ninth on the Tour in average driving distance, gave herself opportunities and took advantage.

“For me when I’m playing well, (it’s) my ball striking, hitting a lot fairways, greens, and then just hoping I’m making some putts too,” she said.

Henderson said she felt calm on the first tee as dozens of supportive fans lined the block area. She crushed her opening drive and was on her way to a solid front nine that included four birdies.

Her lone hiccup came on the 399-yard, par-4 fourth hole after her drive found a bunker. Henderson, who settled for bogey, missed only one other fairway on the day and hit 16 of 18 greens.

“I just tried to keep things really simple,” she said. “When I showed up this morning it was really cold and windy and I was like, ‘Uh oh.’ But in the back of my head it was also sort of like Sunday last year, so I figured it might not be a bad thing.”

Henderson closed with a 65 at Wascana Country Club in 2018 to become the first Canadian winner of this event in 45 years.

She was rewarded for her aggressive play at that tournament, but had to be more careful here with swirling winds making club selection more challenging.

After setting up on the par-3, 167-yard 17th, Henderson returned to her bag and had another chat with her sister and caddie Brittany. With a tough pin position behind a greenside pond, Henderson decided to play it safe by landing on the right side of the green and then two-putting for par.

Henderson pulled her drive on the 18th hole but rebounded with one of her best shots of the round. With a favourable lie in the rough, she elevated the ball nicely, cleared a bunker in front of the green and stuck the ball within four feet.

She hit the birdie putt to the delight of the partisan gallery.

“All the birdies pretty much fell for me today, which is a great feeling,” Henderson said. “It’s going to be hard to back up. Hopefully I’ll go out and keep hitting it well.”

Henderson has won nine career LPGA Tour events, a record for Canadians on the PGA or LPGA Tours. She’s sixth on the LPGA money list this year.

Fifteen Canadians and 96 of the top 100 money winners on the LPGA Tour this year are in the field at the US$2.25-million tournament. The winner will earn $337,500.

The 156-player list will be trimmed to low 70s and ties after Friday’s second round. Favourable weather conditions were expected through the weekend.

Unlike last year, domestic television coverage is available for all four rounds with TSN and RDS picking up a simulcast of the Golf Channel feed.

However, only three hours of coverage are provided each day. The early afternoon cutoff on Thursday came just before Henderson finished her round.

The 2018 tournament was the first year in recent memory that a Canadian sports network did not broadcast the event or pick up the simulcast.

When Henderson led after 54 holes last year, Bell Media and Golf Channel reached an agreement to allow Canadian viewers to watch the last three hours of the final round.

At just 12 years old, Vancouver’s Michelle Liu became the youngest ever to tee it up at the CP Women’s Open.

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Lexi Thompson took time out of her busy LPGA schedule to deliver a Future Links junior golf clinic at Cardinal Golf Club in Aurora, Ont.

Learn more about Canada’s junior golf program here.

History is set to unfold once again at the CP Women’s Open as superstar Brooke Henderson looks to defend her title at Magna Golf Club.

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LPGA star Nelly Korda meets two of her superfans alongside their dad Gerry Dee ⛳️

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Setting the stage for Thursday’s opening round at the CP Women’s Open from Magna Golf Club.

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AURORA, Ont. – The CP Women’s Open is more like a family reunion than an LPGA Tour event for Anne-Catherine Tanguay.

Tanguay, Brooke Henderson, Alena Sharp, Brittany Marchand and Jaclyn Lee have forged a tight bond on the LPGA Tour this season, and that circle will expand to a total of 15 Canadians at the national championship this week. Tanguay spoke on Wednesday about the sense of community Canada’s elite female golfers have developed across the sport’s amateur and pro ranks.

“It’s huge. We’re really, rea–lly tight,” Tanguay said. “I mean, to have five Canadians full time on the LPGA this year, it was big. We play our practice rounds together. We go out to dinner. We really try to support each other in every way we can.”

That community spirit has centred around Lee after she had to pull out of the CP Women’s Open with an injured wrist before the final field was announced. The Calgary native is in attendance at Magna Golf Club in Aurora, Ont., to cheer on her friends.

“I just had a conversation with her about that injury,” said Tanguay. “We’re trying to support her and be there for her.”

Other Canadians in the field include Maude-Aimee Leblanc, Megan Osland, Maddie Szeryk and Valerie Tanguay from the Symetra Tour, former LPGA golfer Lorie Kane and Casey Ward, who earned a sponsor exemption after Monday qualifying and sometimes plays on the PGA of Canada.

There’s also a strong amateur contingent with Celeste Dao, Brigitte Thibault, Michelle Liu, Mary Parsons and Emily Zhu.

“It’s very nice to see a lot of Canadians playing in the field this week,” said Sharp. “There are a lot of Canadians doing really well on the Symetra Tour. I know that they’re working hard to get out here, and I think golf in Canada is on the rise.”

Tanguay believes that Canada’s burgeoning women’s golf scene is due in part to a culture of mentorship with older golfers taking younger players under their wing.

“It’s just been really, really cool having some role models,” said Tanguay. “Like I try to be a role model for the younger girls, but I’ve been fortunate to have Alena that was there and Lorie Kane that came before me and did that for me.

“I’m happy to do it too for the younger girls.”

The other major factor is the success of Henderson, the 21-year-old phenom who won last year’s CP Women’s Open to end a 45-year Canadian title drought at the national championship. This year, she set a record for most wins by a Canadian professional golfer with her ninth career tour victory.

“There are a lot of young girls that aspire to be just like her,” said Tanguay. “So I think she’s also helping to grow Canadian golf and have like more young girls involved in the game.”

Henderson often cites Sharp as her mentor, although Sharp insists their mentor-protege relationship has morphed into a friendship.

“I’m not shy to ask her about advice on things about a shot or something,” said the 38-year-old Sharp. “It’s blossomed into a nice friendship. The four of us, (caddies) Sarah Bowman and Brittany Henderson as well.

“We all get along really well and have a good time together. So it’s nice to have that on tour.”

Wednesday Pro-Am’s are a traditional part of professional golf on the TOUR and Tour associates worldwide, but there are none better than the LPGA.

Notorious in golf circles for superior pro-partner involvement, the reputation of the LPGA at the CP Women’s Open holds perfectly true. Nelly Korda, one of the stars of the game, and World Number 10, was all smiles from the very first tee early this morning. Nelly, and fellow Floridian caddy Jason, instantaneously and genuinely shook the hands of both am-players and caddies, as well as the starters and marshalls on the tee.

After ripping a drive down the middle to the “wows” of the amateurs, the rest of her nine holes were filled by her remarking “great shot” and “nice putt,” praising her playing partners, and going above and beyond to ask them about themselves, what they do, their families, the whole time with a smile on her face and genuine interest in her voice. This is her time to practice for the tournament, but her willingness and understanding about the necessity that is the pro-am experience, and fan involvement, is certainly at the forefront of her mind. You can tell she genuinely cares about the product she’s presenting, and takes it really seriously.

Nelly is one of the stars of the LPGA, has been for years, so her effort to make her pro-am partners feel comfortable on the course means the world to them, it’s almost like they don’t expect it, but are so happy to be wrong. After the nine, I asked one of the participants how he was enjoying it, to hear the answer, “It’s just wow, I’ve done other pro-ams before but this is by far the best experience. Nelly was so gracious and so kind with her time, I’ll do this again in a heartbeat.”

That’s the attitude that Commissioner Mike Whan is selling to his players, to sell to the public. It’s working too.

Whan is celebrating his tenth year in the position this year, and you need to look no further than the numbers to see the success that he has had in the role. Whan’s a marketing expert by trade, and when he came onto the LPGA Tour in 2010, he turned the management not towards pin placements and putting stats, but sponsors and corporate engagement. Better sponsors equal more money, more money equals better purses, better purses equal better players, better players equal better golf, better golf equals a better product, and a better product equals better sponsors. The positive-feedback loop is in full force.

Ten years after Whan started these wheels in motion, the LPGA now boast an All-Star Roster of title sponsors, including Rolex, KPMG, Evian, and Canada’s own, CP Women’s Open this week.

Whan has also steered into the international nature of the Tour’s players, almost doubling the number of international championships, including an international major. Total purse money is also closing in on doubling it’s 2009 total. And viewership on the Golf Channel (TSN included this week), has also seen a massive spike, with over 90% of the coverage on live TV, and viewership growing exponentially every year.

People love the LPGA. The fan’s love the LPGA. It is, after all, because they’ve created a superior product on both a macro and micro level, which make any LPGA event, but specifically the CP Women’s, the best fan experience in golf.

This photo says it all.

Nelly Korda took these two young superfans, Emelia and Eliana, inside the ropes with her to show them how the game looks from on top of the tee decks.

Nelly, one of the star players in the game, and on the Wednesday before a tournament, goes out of her way to interact with the fans above and beyond her mandated “fan interaction guidelines.”

Bringing these young golf-pro hopefuls onto the fairways with her, explaining the plush animals hanging from her bag, how she marks her golf balls, and asking them about their own golf games, (Eliana finished 2nd at the Pinehurst World Junior Championship), is all part of the overall product that make the LPGA so fantastic.

Commissioner Whan has the ability to bring the corporate sponsorship, and promote the Tour from a top-down level; and the players, like Nelly, like Fassi, like Pernilla, like Lexi, all bring the game to the fans and the participants in such a wonderfully engaging way.

It’s exciting to be a part of.

In what other game does the World No. 3 athlete, Lexi Thompson, get to watch you putt, laugh at your jokes, and give you tips on your swing. In what other sport, do you get a high-five from young superstar Maria Fassi, as she grinds over 6-foot birdie putts so YOU can win the pro-am and brag to your buddies at the office Monday.

In what other game, can two kids be brought onto the field of play, taken to a level of inspiration to be the next Korda, the next Henderson, the next Creamer.

How can you not come to this championship? Magna and the CP Women’s Open beckons the fan to walk with the best players in the world, talk to them, cheer for them, as they talk to you, cheer for you, and see how amazing we can make this game we all love, together.