EVIAN-LES-BAINS, France – Mi Hyang Lee retained the lead in difficult weather in the third round of the Evian Championship on Saturday, as teenager Lydia Ko remained in contention to become the youngest player to win a major.

Lee shot 1-under 70 for a 10-under total of 203 and a one-shot lead over Lexi Thompson, who charged back with fine putting and a 5-under 66 card.

Chasing her first major, Lee was paired with Morgan Pressel (71), and they went toe to toe until the par-4 18th hole, when the American double-bogeyed after landing her second shot in water.

They played their final six holes in rain, wind, and gloom.

Pressel shares third place with Ko, two shots off the pace. The 18-year-old Ko shot a 67 and is pursuing her last chance to become the youngest woman to clinch a major. If she wins on Sunday, Ko will surpass Pressel, who won the Kraft Nabisco Championship at 18 years, 10 months, 9 days back in 2007.

“Obviously, this is my last chance,” said Ko, about five months younger. “I’m just going to give myself a good chance tomorrow.”

Many still have a good chance on the foothills of the Alps, with only five shots separating the 11 best players heading into the final round.

Meanwhile, top-ranked Inbee Park, seeking a career Grand Slam, made four birdies but struggled on the back nine with three bogeys for a 70. She was on 2-under 211, eight shots off the pace, with Michelle Wie (70).

Wie sank a 25-foot putt on the par-5 9th for her first eagle of the tournament.

With more bad weather expected on Sunday, players will tee off on the first and 10th tees in groups of three for the final round, with Lee of South Korea, Thompson of the U.S., and Ko of New Zealand together in the final group.

Ko, who started four strokes off the lead, produced five birdies but bogeyed the 18th for the third consecutive day.

“It was not the easiest of up-and-downs on 18, but I have not played the 18th hole well this week,” she said.

Many players were caught off guard by the bad weather, with Pressel getting some help from a TV channel employee who ran to her locker to bring her a rain jacket.

“Very thankful to the guy,” Pressel said.

Thompson, who mixed six birdies with a sole bogey on the par-3 16th, relied on her dad to bring her an umbrella with four holes to play.

The round began under blue skies, and Pressel immediately applied pressure on Lee with a birdie on the par-4 first hole. Lee could not match her, conceding two consecutive bogeys on the course looking over Lake Geneva.

Lee had another bogey on the par-3 14th but emerged from the round with four birdies and a superb par-putt on her final hole.

Pressel put herself in trouble on the par-5 9th, driving her ball onto a rough patch of grass below the fairway. She missed her putt from the edge of the green to drop her first shot. She said her double bogey on the final hole was probably due to a bad choice of club, a 4 hybrid, for her second shot that found the water.

“It’s just the grass was so wet that it did not get up in the air,” she said. “I thought I could hit the shot.”

Amy Yang was tied for fifth place, three shots behind Lee, after a flying start with an eagle on the first hole, which she bogeyed in the second round.

A broad smile illuminated the South Korean’s face when she realized her shot landed straight in the hole. The U.S. Open runner-up high-fived her caddie and continued her surge back among the top five. She sank a birdie-putt on No. 3, and picked up one more shot with a 15-footer on the par-4 4th. But Yang also bogeyed three holes and finished with a 68.

Brooke Henderson of Smiths Falls, Ont., finished the day at 1-over 72 to move into a tie for 41st place. Hamilton, Ont., product Alena Sharp posted a 75 and is tied for 51st.

EVIAN-LES-BAINS, France – What she lacks in experience, the 22-year-old Mi Hyang Lee makes up for with advice from her 69-year-old caddie.

The South Korean took the sole lead at the Evian Championship after a 4-under 67 Friday in the second round. With a 9-under total of 133, Lee heads into the weekend of the final major of the season with a one-shot lead over American Morgan Pressel.

While Pressel has already won a major, Lee is chasing her first one. She has showed that she can hold her nerve when it really matters – claiming her only victory on the U.S. LPGA Tour last year at the Mizuno Classic after coming out on top of a three-way playoff with a birdie on the fifth extra hole.

To add an extra dose of knowledge to her game, she recently hired veteran caddie Mike Harig. They started working together in July.

“I’m a young player and he’s pretty old, 69 years old, the oldest caddie on the tour,” Lee said. “He has a lot of experience, so that’s a lot of help for me.”

Pressel gave herself a chance of a second major win after making eight birdies.

Meanwhile, top-ranked Inbee Park, seeking a career Grand Slam, made six birdies but struggled on the back nine with two bogeys and a double bogey on the par-4 No. 11. She is tied for 20th, eight shots off the pace, with two Americans – Michelle Wie and Beth Allen. Wie hit a second-round 66 after an opening 75.

Pressel carded a 6-under 65, the lowest score so far at the tournament. She was tied for 12th when starting the day in cold and rainy conditions and bogeyed twice in her five first holes, before thriving once the sun broke through.

“I didn’t let that (start) bother me, and just kept trying to plug along and make more birdies, and was able to do so,” said Pressel, after her best round in 10 Evian appearances.

On a course she knows inside out, the 27-year-old Pressel is oozing with confidence.

“This is my 10th year but only the third year on this new golf course, but it’s still similar,” she said.

Pressel’s U.S. Solheim Cup teammate, Lexi Thompson, who shared the lead with Lee at 5 under after the opening round, is now trailing the South Korean by five shots after shooting a 1-over 72.

Holding a share of the first-round lead for the first time, Lee picked up where she left off on Thursday night. Back on the course Friday at 8:18 am, she birdied the par-4 1st hole and added three more before the turn.

She birdied the par-5 13th but fluffed an easy birdie putt on the par-3 16th after landing a very long iron three feet from the hole, and stumbled with a bogey on the par-4 18th.

Nicole Broch Larsen, fresh from winning the Helsingborg Open on the European Tour, had no problem with the early showers on the shores of Lake Geneva, starting her second round with two birdies in her four first holes.

Playing in the Evian Championship for the first time, she hit three more birdies on her back nine to make up for a bogey on the par-3 5th. She carded a 67 that lifted her to third place on the leaderboard, two shots behind Lee.

“I struggled a little bit with my driver on the back nine but I kept it together, kept fighting. I had an eagle chance on 13, 5-meter putt, but it just lipped out. I finished with a birdie so it was nice,” the Dane said.

Meanwhile, Karrie Webb carded 74 after opening with 71 to share 45th place on 3 over. Webb, who is attempting to win her sixth different major, did not hide her frustration, biting her fingers and slamming the grass with her clubs at least twice on the undulating Evian course.

China’s Shanshan Feng had another 68 and moved fourth at 6-under, with Lydia Ko two shots adrift of her and tied for fifth. The 18-year-old Ko shot a 69 and is pursuing her last chance to become the youngest woman to clinch a major. If she wins this week she will surpass Pressel, who won the Kraft Nabisco Championship at 18 years, 10 months, 9 days.

Hamilton, Ont., native Alena Sharp posted a second round of 3-under 68 to move into a tie for 32nd place. A day following her 18th birthday, fellow Ontarian Brooke Henderson of Smiths Falls carded a 74 and sits T37.

EVIAN-LES-BAINS, France – Lexi Thompson played a four-hole stretch in 5 under and finished with a 5-under 66 on Thursday in the Evian Championship for a share of the lead with Mi Hyang Lee.

The 20-year-old Thompson began her run with a birdie on the par-4 12th, hit a 7-iron to 20 feet to set up an eagle on the par-5 13th, and added birdies on the par-3 14th and par-5 15th. She parred the final 12 holes in her bogey-free morning round in the major championship.

“It feels great to have a stretch of holes like that,” Thompson said. “But you just have to take one shot at a time and not get ahead of yourself because, I mean, shots can get away from you out here. If you hit it in the rough, the rough’s pretty thick.”

Thompson won the Kraft Nabisco last year for her first major title, and took the Meijer Classic in July for her fifth career title. She has three top-10 finishes in her last five starts, and will play in the Solheim Cup matches next week in Germany against Europe.

“Obviously, Solheim Cup was my No. 1 goal to be on that team to represent my country, so I’m very happy to be going to Germany next week,” Thompson said. “But you have to focus on this week being the last major here at the Evian Championship.”

Lee, from South Korea, had seven birdies and two bogeys at the picturesque resort above Lake Geneva.

Gerina Piller, Thompson’s U.S. Solheim Cup teammate, was a stroke back along with South Korea’s Eun-Hee Ji and Thailand’s Pornanong Phatlum.

Piller had eight birdies and four bogeys.

“There are just some spots on this course you cannot get in,” Piller said.

Karrie Webb had a 71, and top-ranked Inbee Park opened with a 72.

Webb is attempting to win her sixth different major championship, and Park is trying to join Webb with a record five. Park has two major victories this year – the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship and Ricoh Women’s British Open – and four overall titles. Webb and Park won the event before it became a major, Webb in 2006 and Park in 2012.

Second-ranked Lydia Ko, playing alongside Park and No. 3 Stacy Lewis, had a 69.

The New Zealander was impressed with Thompson’s round.

“I saw her score. I kind of realized it was going pretty low, especially at the start of the round and she was only a couple of groups in front of us,” Ko said. “I was on the par-3 14th or something, and that was only her fifth hole of the day. And I saw her to my left, and it showed her scorecard. I saw some birdies, some eagles, so that’s a pretty consistent scorecard there.”

Lewis shot a 73.

Defending champion South Korea’s Hyo Joo Kim also had a 73. Last year, she opened with a major-record 61 and went on to beat Webb by a stroke.

Michelle Wie shot a 75. Sporting multicolored hair and high-top pink shoes, she’s fighting a slow-healing left ankle injury.

On her 18th birthday, Smiths Falls, Ont., native Brooke Henderson tallied two birdies across the back nine to finish with a share of 17th at 1-under 70. Alena Sharp of Hamilton, Ont., shot a first-round 4-over 75 and sits T80.

PARIS – Serena Williams isn’t the only woman in sight of a Grand Slam this weekend.

Inbee Park can achieve a career Grand Slam in golf by winning the Evian Championship starting on Thursday near the French Alps.

Park won the Evian on the edge of Lake Geneva in 2012, but it came a year before the U.S. LPGA Tour made it the fifth and final major on its calendar.

To mark the occasion, the tour has gone into hyperbole. When Park won the Women’s British Open last month, becoming the seventh woman to win four different majors, the tour called that the “career Grand Slam.” Adding the Evian will give her a “Super Career Grand Slam.”

Regardless of how it’s described, Park says it’s already been a great year.

Such has been her dominant form that she has already wrapped up the Rolex Annika Major Award, which rewards the player with the best record in the five majors. Even if she misses the Evian cut, she has an unassailable lead in the standings and will succeed Michelle Wie, who won the inaugural award last year.

Park has won six of the last 14 majors. She has seven to her name, and two this year. And her appetite for them hasn’t dimmed.

“I’ve got my name on every major championship trophy, but I won Evian before it became a major,” the South Korean said. “So it would be really good to win it again this year.”

The other major winners this year were Brittany Lincicome and In Gee Chun.

Still with a shot at becoming the youngest major winner is 18-year-old Lydia Ko of New Zealand.

The No. 2-ranked Ko, who tied for third at the British Open, had her confidence boosted by victory at the Canadian Pacific Open, where she claimed her third title of the year.

Hyo-Joo Kim of South Korea, who came from a shot back on the last hole to beat Karrie Webb by one shot last year, will be trying to win a second straight Evian, a feat nobody has achieved since it became an official tour event 15 years ago.

The tournament at Evian Resort will also serve as a final outing for the U.S. and European Solheim Cup teams, who will square off at the match-play competition next week in St. Leon-Rot, Germany.

“Certainly, it’s been in the front of everyone’s mind here with a huge major championship, the last one of the year, and then going next week with both teams playing here, it’s certainly something that people are talking about,” said American Morgan Pressel, the youngest major champion in tour history. “At the end of the day, if I can play well this week, that gives me a lot of confidence going into next week.”

PRATTVILLE, Ala. – Kris Tamulis won the Yokohama Tire LPGA Classic on Sunday for her first LPGA Tour title.

Tamulis played 29 holes Sunday in the twice-delayed tournament, the 186th of her LPGA Tour career. She finished a third-round 67 and closed with a 65 to beat Yani Tseng and Austin Ernst by a stroke.

The 34-year-old former Florida State player had a 17-under 271 total on The Senator Course and didn’t show the strain of being in contention with so little margin for error.

“It was amazing,” Tamulis said. “I was definitely not expecting this today.”

Tseng had rounds of 71 and 67, and Ernst shot 68-69 with the weather clearing up after delays totaling nearly 7 hours the previous two days. Both parred the final hole with a chance to force a playoff.

Tamulis birdied four of the first six holes in the final round before finally making her only bogey of the last three rounds. She hadn’t finished better than fourth on the tour.

Tamulis was all smiles at the end. She made a short birdie putt on the 17th hole, cheerfully telling two fans “28 of 29 completed today.” Then, a long birdie putt, hit seemingly perfectly on line, stopped inches shy of the final hole. Still smiling, she told her caddie the ball needed just “a little more oomph,” then chatted with the teenager carrying the score placard.

She had about 45 minutes to sweat it out. Tseng and Ernst both had makeable birdie putts on 18, on opposite sides of the pin. Ernst’s attempt went to the left. Tseng came closer, falling to her knees when her putt lipped out.

“When they both missed I was just shocked,” said Tamulis, who chatted with volunteers and had a snack in air-conditioned comfort instead of watching or practicing for a possible playoff. A friend kept her updated.

Tamulis had been fourth last year in Prattville and earlier this year at the Meijer LPGA Classic. She didn’t make the cut at last week’s Canadian Pacific Women’s Open after posting two 73 rounds. Her rounds steadily improved from 71 to 68 to 67 and finally 65.

It was her first win since Florida State but she had a pair of runners-up finishes in 2004 on the Symetra Tour.

Tamulis said she was trying to ignore the leaderboard, focusing instead on a countdown from 29 holes.

“The last time I actually saw where it was at was by accident on No. 9,” she said. “Then I felt really good and I was just out there trying to have a good time. My goal was to come in here have a decent week, play well and secure my spots in Asia.”

She also wanted to ensure she made the field in her hometown of Naples, Florida, for the season finale, the CME Group Tour Championship. Her expression matched the smiley face magnet affixed to her visor, given to her two years ago by an elderly scorekeeper in Phoenix.

Tseng is a 26-year-old Taiwanese player who ranked No. 1 for 109 weeks early in her career. She came close to snapping an 85-event winless streak dating to the 2012 Kia Classic, making a long birdie putt on No. 16.

This was Tseng’s second runner-up finish of the year.

Ernst was seeking her second tour win. Sydnee Michaels finished with a 67, finishing in a fourth-place tie with 2011 winner Lexi Thompson. Thompson closed with a 69 and was in the 60s all four rounds.

Hamilton, Ont., native Alena Sharp shot her best round of the competition, a 5-under 67, to reach 9-under and 12th place. Fellow Ontarian Brooke Henderson of Smiths Falls tallied four birdies en route to a 3-under 69 and a T13 finish.

PRATTVILLE, Ala. – Austin Ernst took the lead at 10 under Saturday before darkness forced the suspension of third-round play in the weather-delayed Yokohama LPGA Tire Classic.

Ernest was 1 under through four holes after waiting out a five-hour delay for rain and lightning on the links-style Senator Course. She passed second-round leader Yani Tseng, who had a bogey on the fourth hole to drop to 9 under.

Players are expected to stay in the same groups for early morning starts Sunday, trying to complete the 72-hole tournament.

Lexi Thompson, the 2011 winner, was two strokes back along with Sei Young Kim, Tiffany Joh, Sydnee Michaels and Julieta Granada.

A number of players had to complete the second round Saturday after a 90-minute delay a day earlier. None completed more than 14 holes in the third round.

Ernst, a 23-year-old former LSU player, had a birdie on the second hole and is seeking her second LPGA Tour title. She won the Portland Classic last year.

Tseng had hoped to ride momentum from her finish on Friday. She had closed an 8-under 64 with an eagle and a birdie to move to 10 under.

The 26-year-old Taiwanese player, ranked No. 1 for 109 weeks early in her career, is trying to snap an 85-event winless streak dating to the 2012 Kia Classic.

Tseng won seven times in 2011, becoming the youngest player to win consecutive Rolex Player of the Year awards and earning just shy of $3 million. The 15-time tour winner’s only top-10 finish of the year came when she tied for second in March in the LPGA Thailand.

Kim was 3 under through seven and birdied her final two holes.

PRATTVILLE, Ala. – Yani Tseng closed with an eagle and a birdie for an 8-under 64 and a one-stroke lead Friday in the Yokohama Tire LPGA Classic.

Tseng hit a 6-iron to 4 feet to set up the eagle on the par-5 eighth hole just before play was delayed for about 90 minutes because of lightning and rain, then took the outright lead on the par-4 ninth with her sixth birdie of the day.

“I can’t wait to come out tomorrow,” Tseng said. “It will be a brand new day, but we’ll keep the same strategy and make as many birdies as I can.”

Ranked No. 1 in the world for 109 weeks, the 26-year-old Taiwanese player has slipped to 75th and is winless in 85 events since the 2012 Kia Classic. The 15-time tour winner tied for second in March in the LPGA Thailand for her only top-10 finish of the year.

“I’ve been working on my game forever, like every day,” Tseng said. “It’s just exciting. I really want to win a tournament for sure. We only have probably seven, eight tournaments left, but it’s never too late. Just very happy my game’s really coming back. … It doesn’t matter if it’s this week or next week or next year, just try to be patient as much as I can and stay positive.”

Third-ranked Stacy Lewis, the 2012 winner, played alongside Tseng.

“You can see she’s confident,” Lewis said, “She’s firing at pins that are tucked and hidden. She hits it so far and hits the irons so high that they have a lot of spin, so she’s able to kind of attack pins that nobody else is. … It’s fun to see her playing the way she should be.”

Tseng reached 10-under 134 on the links-style Senator Course with her lowest round since a 63 in the 2013 LPGA Thailand.

“It just feels like this course suits my game,” Tseng said. “I feel very comfortable and confident out there. I’m just kind of getting back to enjoy playing golf again and it was so much fun to play with Stacy. She made a bunch of birdies and we kind of kept that momentum keep going. … Stacy’s amazing. I don’t know how to describe the feeling because we are good friends, but at the same time we’re competitors, too.”

Austin Ernst was second after a 65, and playing partner Lexi Thompson, the 2011 winner at age 16, was third at 8 under after a 67.

Sydnee Michaels and Julieta Granada were still on the course at 7 under when play was suspended for the day because of more rain and darkness. Michaels had four holes left, and Granada two.

Lewis topped the group at 6 under after a 68. Second last year in Prattville, the Texan is coming off a playoff loss to Lydia Ko on Sunday in British Columbia in the Canadian Pacific Women’s Open.

“I still haven’t put it all together,” Lewis said. “A bit of a frustrating round. I had a good front nine, had it going, played 10 really good holes and then just kind of stalled the last eight.”

Ernst also eagled the eighth hole and had eight birdies and three bogeys. The 23-year-old former LSU player won the Portland Classic last year for her lone LPGA Tour title.

“I’ve been playing well. It’s really just a matter of getting some putts to fall,” Ernst said. “I hit it really well today. I had a few holes that where I kind of hit some loose shots, but kind of just took my bogey and kind of went on with it. And then I had probably three wedge shots that I hit up within a foot and I just went up and tapped them in. I think I hit two more where I had about 3 feet.”

Canadian teen Brooke Henderson was 3 under after a 70. The 17-year-old Henderson won her first LPGA Tour title two weeks ago in Portland, Oregon.

“I would have liked a little more today, but overall it was a pretty solid round and I gave myself quite a few opportunities,” Henderson said.

Fellow Canadian Alena Sharp of Hamilton, Ont., sits T37 at 1-under.

PRATTVILLE, Ala. – Brittany Lang birdied five of the first seven holes in windy conditions and shot a 7-under 65 on Thursday to take the first-round lead in the Yokohama Tire LPGA Classic.

Added to the U.S. Solheim Cup team Monday as one of Juli Inkster’s two captain’s picks, Lang had a two-stroke lead over Tiffany Joh, Sydnee Michaels and Ryann O’Toole.

“It was just one of those days. It was so enjoyable,” Lang said. “I wasn’t thinking about a whole lot. I was just super committed to seeing my shots. It was so much fun.”

The 30-year-old Texan won the 2012 Manulife Financial LPGA Classic in Canada for her lone LPGA Tour title. She was second this year in the Ontario event and has three other top-10 finishes.

“I’m in a really nice place right now,” Lang said. “I had one of my better years … and the Solheim pick’s over with. I’m just in a really comfortable place, so I just felt really relaxed out there.”

Lang birdied Nos. 1, 3-5 and 7 in her morning round on the Senator Course at the Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail’s Capitol Hill complex. She birdied Nos. 11-12, dropped strokes on Nos. 13-14 and rebounded with birdies on Nos. 16-17.

“The birdies on 16 and 17 were pretty big after the bogeys on 13 and 14,” Lang said. “Not stupid bogeys, small misses, but I stayed aggressive, so I was excited with that. Stayed aggressive and made two bogeys, but it was really good to birdie 16 and 17.”

O’Toole had five birdies in a seven-hole stretch in the middle of her morning round.

“It’s been windy all week, so I was expecting that,” O’Toole said. “What I noticed was the greens were even faster than yesterday or Tuesday. … It took me five holes to get really thinking that if you’re above the hole, you just had to tap it. Breaks were breaking double of what you saw because of the speed change. So, it took me a little bit to get used to that.”

Julieta Granada, Hyo Joo Kim, Ariya Jutanugarn, Therese Koelbaek and Simin Feng were three strokes back at 68.

Stacy Lewis, the 2012 winner, had a 70. Second last year in Prattville, she’s coming off a playoff loss to Lydia Ko last week in the Canadian Pacific Women’s Open.

“The golf course was playing really hard early this morning and I didn’t really get anything going, then couldn’t get any putts to fall there on the back nine, so kind of a frustrating day,” Lewis said.

The third-ranked Lewis bogeyed the par-4 third hole and rallied with birdies on Nos. 8-9 and 11.

“The wind was blowing early this morning,” Lewis said. “I don’t think I ever hit 4-iron into the third hole before, so I was just hitting clubs into holes that I’ve never hit.”

Lexi Thompson, the 2011 winner at age 16, opened with a 69.

Canadian teen Brooke Henderson had a 71. The 17-year-old Henderson won her first LPGA Tour title two weeks ago in Portland, Oregon.

Mi Jung Hur, the winner last year at a tournament-record 21-under 267, shot a 74.

Coquitlam, B.C. (Golf Canada) – Lydia Ko calmly tapped in a two foot par putt on the first playoff hole at The Vancouver Golf Club to defeat Stacy Lewis and take home her third Canadian Pacific Women’s Open title in the last four years.

“It feels amazing,” Ko said. “It’s great to come back to Vancouver and play well in front of such big crowds. I had an amazing week. I didn’t know that in 2012, I might be coming back here in a couple years, and then win here again. So many great memories here and hopefully we’ll be able to come back here.”

The victory is the eighth of Ko’s young career and the three wins in Canada ties her with Meg Mallon and Pat Bradley for the most in tournament history.

“It would have been great if I was coming down the 18th with like a four-shot lead like I did in 2012,” Ko said with a smile. “But it is what it is. Stacy played amazing today; to shoot 67 under those conditions.”

Lewis forced the playoff with a 5-under final round to tie Ko, who shot an even par 72 on Sunday, and send the duo back to the 18th for extra holes.

On the playoff hole, Lewis found trouble off the tee and with her approach and was forced to scramble for a missed par attempt, while Ko calmly hit the fairway and green and then two-putted for her third victory of 2015.

“I said, hey, you’ve just got to concentrate on your game, just one shot a time, and that’s what I tried to do,” Ko explained. “I said, I don’t want to get too aggressive to that pin but maybe it was a little bit too safe and maybe wasn’t the best shot going in. I made a really good first putt on my normal 72nd hole, and made a good putt on the first playoff hole. If the put was any longer for my second one, I would have been really nervous.”

“Well, if you would have told me at the beginning of the day, I was going to be in a playoff, I would have been pretty happy,” Lewis admitted. “Just with the way my game has been over the last month or so, I felt I was close to putting together a good round, and that’s what I did today. Still left a few out there. But would have liked a better lie in the rough in the playoff, but other than that, it was pretty good.”

While Ko has taken home the trophy three times, 2015 will mark the first time that Ko is able to take home a winner’s cheque in Canada as her victories in 2012 and 2013 came when she was still an amateur.

“You know, really the cheque is the last thing I’m thinking about,” Ko said. “It’s great to be back in the winner’s circle, and to play good golf in front of great crowds was really one of the highlights of this week. I kind of feel like somewhat Canadian. But the CP Women’s Open is such a great event, with the top players playing here, so, you know, every year, I have fun.“

Brooke Henderson capped a special homecoming at The Vancouver Golf Club with her best round of the week, a 5-under 67 to finish with a tournament-total 4-under and the Sandra Post Low Canadian Medal. The 17-year-old came into Canada’s National Women’s Open Championship fresh off a victory last week at the LPGA Cambia Classic in Portland, a historic accomplishment that put her centre-stage all week long with fan and media expectations.

“I’ve received quite a bit of attention in my amateur days and then earlier this year playing well. But after a win and coming back to Canada, I have received a lot of attention that made my schedule extremely busy,” said Henderson who finished T23 to add $22,816 to her 2015 earnings. “But it’s a great problem to have, as I’ve been saying to a lot of people. I learned a lot about myself and how I can handle it, and I think it will be good for the next time.”

Rounding out the Canadian trio to make the cut was Alena Sharp of Hamilton, Ont. who carded a final-round 75 to finish T47 and Maude-Aimee Leblanc of Sherbrooke, Que., whose final-round 80 dropped her into a share of 74th position.

COQUITLAM, BC – Lydia Ko beat one of the strongest fields on the LPGA tour this year to win the Canadian Pacific Women’s Open title, but it is British Columbia’s kids that will leave with the biggest prize as CP is donating $1.2 million to BC Children’s Hospital Foundation (BCCHF) in support of pediatric cardiac research.

“We are proud to have brought professional golf to the Lower Mainland and we are even prouder to make one of the largest charitable donations on the LPGA tour to this important cause,” said CP President and Chief Operating Officer Keith Creel. “The leading edge cardiology research being conducted at BC Children’s Hospital has the potential to change and even save the lives of children living in BC, and the newly established CP Healthy Hearts Research Fund will ensure these benefits continue long after the end of our tournament.”

The CP Healthy Hearts Research Fund will expand the abilities of BC Children’s cardiology department, specifically by way of research. PhD trained researchers will be hired to lead new studies related to Heart Rhythm Disorders and Congenital Heart and Vascular Health. A predominant focus of the research will also connect the effects of exercise on those with congenital heart disease.

“Congenital heart disease affects one in every 100 children; it’s among the most common congenital anomalies,” said Dr. Shubhayan Sanatani, head of Cardiology at BC Children’s Hospital. “As the centre for specialized pediatric cardiology care in British Columbia, BC Children’s Hospital treats infants, children and teens with complex heart problems from all over BC, the Yukon and other Western Canadian provinces. This tremendous support from CP will allow us to continue to provide excellent care to this important population. It will also allow us to improve our care by expanding our research efforts to find even better treatments for these children.”

The final donation total was a result of a number of fundraising initiatives leading up to the conclusion of the golf tournament, including BC Children’s Hospital Miracle Weekend, Grind for Kids and online donation matching.

“Through this tournament and its CP Has Heart initiative, Canadian Pacific has engaged the community to support our hospital’s cardiac programs and research,” said Teri Nicholas, President and CEO of BC Children’s Hospital Foundation. “It’s an ideal partnership: CP takes care of the country’s major arteries while our cardiac specialists take care of the smallest. We are extremely grateful to CP, Golf Canada, The Vancouver Golf Club and all who contributed to help BC Children’s achieve its vision to provide the best care possible.”

BC Children’s Hospital serves close to one million children living in BC and the Yukon, with the Heart Centre seeing thousands of patients a year. Patients like 17-year-old Samantha Armstrong, the CP Has Heart ambassador for the 2015 CP Women’s Open. On the day she was born, Armstrong was diagnosed with a rare congenital heart defect. At age nine she had open-heart surgery at BC Children’s Hospital.

“When I was born I had a congenital heart defect called Ebstein’s Anomaly and I’ve been in treatment with BC Children’s Hospital my whole life. The doctors have counselled me to be stronger and work on my cardio, and this has allowed me to live my life as a normal kid, and not have my heart condition hold me back from anything,” said Armstrong. “CP Has Heart is a really great cause that means so much to me, my family and my friends with heart defects. BC Children’s means our lives, to us.”

CP has extended its commitment as the title sponsor of Canada’s National Women’s Open Golf Championship through 2018 and will continue to give back to host communities throughout the lifetime of the sponsorship. The 2016 CP Women’s Open, to be held in Calgary at Priddis Greens Golf and Country Club, will benefit Alberta Children’s Hospital’s pediatric cardiac care and research.

“People continue to rally around the CP Has Heart cause and we are delighted with all the fundraising success CP had through this event,” said Scott Simmons, CEO of Golf Canada. “We look forward to working with CP over the next few years as they continue to leave legacies in the host cities of this world-class event.”