The world’s best women golfers will gather at Hillsdale Golf & Country Club outside Montreal this week for the CN Canadian Women’s Open. Defending champion and Rolex Rankings No. 14 Michelle Wie will highlight the field of 156 players competing for a $2.25 million purse and a $337,500 first-prize check.
Wie captured her second LPGA victory last year at St. Charles Country Club outside Winnipeg, shooting a final-round 70 to take a three-stroke victory over Jiyai Shin, Kristy McPherson and Suzann Pettersen. This season Wie has four top-10 finishes, including a runner-up finish at the Honda LPGA Thailand.
Joining Wie in the field this week are 17 of the Top-20 players in the Rolex Rankings. That includes Pettersen, who jumped up to the No. 2 spot in the rankings after capturing her second LPGA Tour win of the season at last week’s Safeway Classic Presented by Coca-Cola. The 30-year-old Norwegian came from nine shots back in the final round at the Safeway Classic to defeat Rolex Rankings No. 5 Na Yeon Choi in a playoff.
A host of Canadian talent will also be on hand in Montreal, led by veterans Lorie Kane and Alena Sharp. Joining them will be 16 other Canadians, each eager to hoist their country's biggest golf trophy and become the first Canadian to win an LPGA Tour event on home soil since Jocelyne Bourassa did in 1973.
The CN Canadian Women’s Open has featured its share of well-known champions including Wie (2010), Suzann Pettersen (2009), Katherine Hull (2008), Lorena Ochoa (2007), Cristie Kerr (2006), Meena Lee (2005), Meg Mallon (2002, 2004), Beth Daniel (2003) and Annika Sorenstam (2001).
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