The new PGA Tour season kicked off earlier this month with a strong showing for Canadians Graham Delaet and Nick Taylor, who both both finished in the Top 10 at the Safeway Open. And as the LPGA Tour goes into the final stretch of the season, Golf Town Athlete Brooke Henderson has been on top of her game, with a win and top-10 finish in her last two starts.
With six Canadians now on the PGA Tour, and Anne-Catherine Tanguay joining Golf Town Athlete Brooke Henderson and Alena Sharp on the LPGA Tour, it is clear professional golf in Canada golf is on the upswing.
New to the PGA Tour this year are Ben Silverman and Corey Conners, both graduates of the Web.com Tour. Silverman, a winner on the Web.com Tour, had a breakout year after bouncing around golf’s mini-tours, while Conners, a product of Kent State who played on Canada’s national amateur team, has long been regarded as one of the country’s top prospects. Both Conners and Silverman made the cut in their first starts as PGA Tour rookies.
https://twitter.com/Benw_Silverman/status/915034896023908352
It's official.
@TheGolfCanada, @KentStGolf and #MackenzieTour alum @coreconn is headed to the @PGATOUR in 2017-18! pic.twitter.com/oZkYODKPAq
— PGA TOUR Americas (@PGATOURAmericas) October 2, 2017
The two rookies join veteran Graham DeLaet on the PGA Tour, along with Adam Hadwin and Mackenzie Hughes, both winners last season, and Abbotsford’s Nick Taylor. David Hearn, who failed to keep full status on the tour, is expected to garner upwards of 15 starts this year.
Tanguay locked up her card for the 2018 with five top 10 finishes and one victory on the Symetra Tour. She’s now the third Canadian on Tour, joining Brooke Henderson and Alena Sharp. It is quite possible Tanguay could be joined by others, including big-hitting Maude-Aimee Leblanc, who has seen limited success in her return to the LPGA, and Brampton, Ont.’s Brittany Marchand, who won on the Symetra Tour and will attempt to gain her status on the LPGA Tour through qualifying school.
https://twitter.com/ACTanguay/status/917925587066458113
Player Profiles
Ben Silverman, 29 (Thornhill, Ont.)—Silverman has never been one of Canada’s most hotly-tipped young golfers, but has made steady progress at every level. After playing on the Mackenzie Tour in 2014 and 2015, he moved to the Web.com Tour and had a solid, if unspectacular year. That changed this season when Silverman won the Web.com’s Price Cutter Charity Championship in Springfield, Mo., finishing 10th on the year-end money list (the Top 25 move to the PGA Tour).
Corey Conners, 25 (Listowel, Ont.)—A former member of the Canadian national amateur team, and standout at Kent State where he studied actuarial mathematics, Conners has been regarded as one of the country’s top young standouts for some time. Conners played on the Web.com Tour in 2017, and qualified for the U.S. Open in June. The young golfer managed to gain PGA Tour status through a strong performance at the Web.com Tour playoffs.
Anne-Catherine Tanguay, 26, (Quebec City, Que.)—Another former Canadian national amateur team player, and a standout at the University of Oklahoma, Tanguay had six Top 10 finishes on the Symetra Tour this year, including a win. In winning $76,663, Tanguay finished eighth on the Symetra Tour money list, with the Top 10 gaining access to the LPGA Tour in 2018.