Date: August 20, 2008
Author:

To Canada with love

As surveys go, Australia and Canada usually rank as two of the most liveable countries in the world and Canada has proven a very welcome hunting ground for Australian golfers in the last month. Not only is Victorian Stacey Keating the 2008 Canadian Amateur champion but Monday morning s (AEST) victory for Katherine Hull in the CN Canadian Women’s Open was another example of the success Australian women have seen on Canadian courses this year. Keating shot a 3-under par 285 at Elmhurst Golf and Country Club in Winnipeg to beat defending champion and Ontario resident Stephanie Sherlock by three strokes. The win made Keating just the 24th international competitor to win the championship and the first Australian since Jane Lock triumphed in 1981. It was also Keating s maiden championship win on the international circuit. For Hull it was her first win in five years on the USLPGA Tour and puts her in a select group of just eight other Aussie women to win on the tour including Karrie Webb, Jane Crafter and Rachel Hetherington. She is the first Australian to win the event since Webb won in 1999 when it was still classified as a major on the LPGA Tour (later replaced by the Women’s British Open). By sheer coincidence, Webb and Hull both shot 11-under par (277) to win their individual titles. Hull also shot a second round course record-equalling 65 en route to victory. One Amateur champion. One Open champion. Two outstanding victories. Canadian Amateur champion: Stacey Keating (VIC) 73-69-73-70 (285) (-3) CN Canadian Open champion: Katherine Hull (QLD) 71-65-72-69 (277) (-11)