A couple of Canadians are near the top of the Leaderboard with one round to go today. Jon Mills sits alone in third spot down in Knoxville and has been playing well. Freelance writer Craig Loughry penned a story on Jon’s progress this year for the Early Summer issue of Fairways which will be out next week. Jon essentially had no status on any Tour at the beginning of the season. He failed to keep his card on the PGA Tour last year and didn’t get past the second stage of Q-school in the Fall so didn’t have exempt status on the Nationwide Tour either. As a past champion he was assured of getting into some events and has made the most of it. It would be neat to “stop the presses” as they used to say and add a footnote to Craig’s story if Jon wins today.

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A.J. Eathorne is also near the top of the Leaderboard (T4) at the Wegmans LPGA event in Pittsford, NY. AJ has had a very strange year. In quite a number of cases she has fashioned one real good round, then blown up. Something like 68-81. This week she has been very consistent with rounds of 72-71-69. It’s been a while since A.J. has contended so here’s hoping she can find the nerves that made her such a dominant force in her junior and amateur days.

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The best Canadian player on the LPGA Tour this year has been Alena Sharp. She’s made more cuts and more money than the rest of the Canadian women and has steadily improved since she got status on the Tour last year. As an amateur and then playing as a pro on the West Coast Tour, Alena had a lot of victories so she knows how to win and has done it at every level except the current one. I think it’s just a matter of time.

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The competition on these pro tours is vicious. Yesterday Vancouver’s Bryn Parry started the day tied for 4th and shot 74, 2-over. That dropped him to a tie for 40th spot. A similar thing happened to Alena Sharp. She also started the day in 4th, shot 77 and fell all the way to 36th. One mediocre round and there are a lot of good players passing you going in the other direction. Because the payouts drop so dramatically once you’re out of the top 5, it’s tough to move up the money list without a win or several top 5 finishes. A lot of Canadians find themselves needing some good finishes during the balance of this season.

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I spent a few hours watching the final round of the Copa de las Americas tournament at Beacon Hall yesterday. (USA won, Team Canada finished 3rd). The course was in spectacular condition and playing without the 25 MPH wind from Friday’s third round. Our women’s team finished runner-up to the US squad. Laura Matthews has been a dominant amateur for the past few years with a couple of National titles to her credit. She shot 2-under yesterday to cap off a so-so week. However it was Stephanie Sherlock who pushed the two US girls all week and played some of her best golf. She started the day in second spot in the individual race and her 79 dropped her into a 3rd place tie. After a year of college golf, Stephanie has matured into a strong player.

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Too bad the GAO and the RCGA couldn’t schedule things better this week. The Ontario Women’s Amateur was played at Rocky Crest (congratulations to 15-year old Rebecca Lee-Bentham for winning) while the Copa tournament was on at Beacon Hall. I suppose it’s just 2 girls in question but 2 of the top ranked amateurs in the province had to skip the Amateur while representing their country.

Same thing happened on the men’s side with the Canadian Club Champions event in Gibson’s, BC and the Ontario Mid Am at Dalewood. Rob Cowan of Westmount and Mark Brewer of Whitevale went west (Brewer lost in a play-off, Cowan tied for 9th) while Dave Bunker won the Mid Am. Both Brewer and Cowan are top ranked amateurs and should have been available for the Mid Am.