Top ranked amateur Lydia Ko accepts tournament exemption
to compete in Canada's National Women's Open Championship
World's top professional, top amateur to play Coquitlam, B.C.'s The Vancouver Golf Club in August
1,300+ volunteer positions filled
June 14, 2012 - Coquitlam, B.C. (Golf Canada) - Golf Canada and CN confirmed today that Rolex Rankings World No. 1 Yani Tseng of Taiwan as well as Women's World Amateur Golf Ranking No. 1 and teenage sensation Lydia Ko of New Zealand will compete this August 20-26 at the 2012 CN Canadian Women's Open at The Vancouver Golf Club in Coquitlam, B.C.
Tseng, 23, a 15-time LPGA Tour event winner, five-time major champion and two-time LPGA Tour Player of the Year, returns to the site of her first professional victory, having captured a CN Canadian Women's Tour event win at The Vancouver Golf Club in 2007. The victory earned Tseng a berth in Canada's National Women's Open Championship later that summer where she posted a T6 finish at Royal Mayfair Golf Club in Edmonton. Tseng's top finish in five appearances at the CN Canadian Women's Open came in 2008, when she placed third at Ottawa Hunt & Golf Club as a rookie on the LPGA Tour.
In 2011, Tseng won her first four international starts, recording seven LPGA event victories. She became the youngest player to win consecutive Rolex Player of the Year awards and topped the LPGA Official Money List with $2,921,713 in earnings for the season. Tseng also became the youngest player ever, male or female, to win 5 majors after claiming the RICOH Women's British Open title at 22 years, 4 months, 18 days. She also finished T29 at the 2011 CN Canadian Women's Open at Hillsdale Golf & Country Club in Mirabel, Que.
To date in 2012, Tseng has posted wins at the Honda LPGA Thailand, the RR Donnelley LPGA Founders Cup and the KIA Classic.
Ko, 15 (born April 24, 1997), is the second youngest person ever to win a professional golf tour event, with her victory at the 2012 Bing Lee/Samsung Women's New South Wales Open - an Australian Ladies Professional Golf Tour event - earlier this year (14 years, 9 months, and 5 days), besting the mark set by Japan's Ryo Ishikawa who accomplished the feat at 15 years, 8 months.
Ko's record as the youngest person known to win a professional golf tour event was topped earlier this week when 14-year old Canadian amateur Brooke Henderson of Smith Falls, Ont. (born September 10, 1997) won the CN Canadian Women's Tour event at Club de golf Beloeil in Beloeil, Que. (14 years, 9 months, and 3 days). With the victory, Henderson - who is a member of the Team Canada Development Squad - also earned an exemption into the 2012 CN Canadian Women's Open.
In 2011, Ko won the Australian Women's Amateur Stroke Play Championship, the New Zealand Women's Amateur Stroke Play Championship and the New Zealand Women's Amateur Match Play Championship while also earning co-medalist honors at the U.S. Women's Amateur Championship.
Ko became the first recipient of the Mark H. McCormack Medal for 2011, awarded to the top-ranked golfer in the Women's World Amateur Golf Ranking, thereby earning exemptions into both the 2012 U.S. Women's Open and the 2012 U.S. Women's Amateur Championship.
In 2012, Ko has won the Australian Women's Amateur Golf Championship and the Muriwai Open, while also finishing T19 at the LPGA's ISPS Handa Women's Australian Open and 17th at the Ladies' European Tour's (LET) ISPS Handa New Zealand Women's Open.
"Together with CN, we are pleased to welcome Yani Tseng and Lydia Ko - the top-ranked professional and top-ranked amateur in the world, respectively - to compete in Canada's National Women's Open Championship," said Sean Van Kesteren, Tournament Director for the CN Canadian Women's Open. "Yani continues to astound and entertain golf fans with her incredible shot-making ability and consistency, and Lydia is one of the most exciting and accomplished up and coming amateurs in the world."
A field of 156 competitors will vie for the $2 million CN Canadian Women's Open. The deadline for players to confirm their intention to compete at the 2012 CN Canadian Women's Open in Coquitlam, B.C. is Tuesday, August 14th.
VOLUNTEER POSITIONS FULL
CN and Golf Canada are also pleased to announce that more than 1,300 volunteer positions on various committees for the 2012 CN Canadian Women's Open have been filled.
"We're more than two months out from the event and thrilled to have all of our volunteer positions filled," said Van Kesteren. "The dedicated efforts of our volunteers are a driving force behind this championship and to fill every committee this far out is a testament to how passionate the golf community is about the return of the LPGA Tour to British Columbia."
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