Canada’s national championship may not be considered an official major, but it has all the trappings of one of the biggest events of the year.
Thursday, the CP Women’s Open makes a much-anticipated return to the LPGA Tour’s schedule for the first time since 2019 after being canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic. Storylines abound at the historic event, whose origins date back to 1973 when it was then known as the du Maurier Classic and considered a major championship.
In 2001, the event evolved into its current form as the LPGA Tour’s annual stop in Canada. And CP, one of the world’s largest railroads and one of Canada’s most rugged and iconic brands, has taken the event to new heights.
It’s hard to believe it’s been three years since Jin Young Ko held off defending champion and Canada’s own Brooke Henderson for a five-stroke victory at Magna Golf Club. Ko’s return as defending champion as the current Rolex Rankings No.1 is enough to make headlines. But Henderson’s homecoming as a recently crowned, two-time major champion led to a waitlist for volunteers and created hospitality sell-outs throughout Ottawa Hunt and Golf Club, the site of this year’s championship.
“I'm super excited. It's really close to home this year so there will be lots of people, hopefully,” said Henderson, who grew up less than an hour drive from the Club in nearby Smiths Falls. “It's so much fun to have that much support and love from Canadian fans and to be able to play in front of them on home soil and just have the whole tour come and show them how we play every single week is pretty cool. I love the week, and I'm just really excited for it.”
The celebrated comeback of the CP Women’s Open features one of the strongest fields of the season with nine of the top 10 in the Race to the CME Globe Point Standings poised to compete. Nelly Korda is among the group and arrives in Canada as the most recent winner. She picked up her 11th career victory and second on the Ladies European Tour at the Aramco Team Series – Sotogrande, her first worldwide win of the year.
“I’m super excited to win,” said Korda, who came from seven strokes back on the final day to overtake her sister, Jessica. “I haven’t won this year, so it feels nice to get a win under my belt. I’m also very sad as it wasn’t the day Jess was expecting. I guess we were hoping for a bit more of a battle going down the stretch. But it’s golf and that sometimes happens.”
Nelly will join her sister in Canada for the CP Women’s Open, which will also see the return of Danielle Kang, who is making her first start since the U.S. Women’s Open presented by ProMedica. In June, Kang stepped away from the Tour following the major championship to address a tumor she said was diagnosed on her spine.
And, the Championship will bid a fond farewell to Lorie Kane, who will play her 30th and final CP Women’s Open beginning Thursday. Kane was a four-time winner on the LPGA Tour but spent her career chasing that elusive CP Women’s Open title, which has only been won by two Canadians - Henderson in 2018 and Jocelyn Bourassa in 1973.
The Tour’s trip to North America is the first of an eight-week run of events which signals the final stretch of the 2022 season.
From Canada, the Tour heads to Ohio for back-to-back weeks beginning with the Dana Open presented by Marathon just outside Toledo followed by the Kroger Queen City Championship presented by P&G in Cincinnati.
Next, the Tour travels to Portland for one of the longest-running events on the schedule - the AmazingCre Portland Classic at Columbia Edgewater Country Club, followed by a trip back east to the Walmart NW Arkansas Championship presented by P&G.
Then, it’s on to Texas for the Ascendant LPGA benefiting Volunteers of America followed by the LPGA MEDIHEAL Championship outside Los Angeles.
Finally, the Tour wraps up its season with the annual trip to Asia for the BMW Ladies Championship in Korea and TOTO Japan Classic before swinging back to Florida for the final two events of the year - the Pelican Women’s Championship and CME Group Tour Championship.
The season’s final stretch begins Thursday with the return of the CP Women’s Open. And while it may no longer be considered a major championship, with the world No.1 returning as defending champion, Canadian’s shining superstar arriving on-form as a multiple winner this season, and the top-ranked American as the most recent winner in the game, the CP Women’s Open is shaping up to be one of the biggest events of the year.
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