After a three-year delay, Shaughnessy is finally hosting the CPKC Womens Open | LPGA | Association of Women’s Golf Professionals

The wait is finally over for Shaughnessy Golf and Country Club.

It has been three years since the club was scheduled to host the CPKC Women’s Open, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic that opportunity has been postponed until 2023.

Founded in 1911 just outside downtown Vancouver in British Columbia, Canada, Shaughnessy has a long, rich history in the game, home to players such as Bobby Jones, Sam Snead, Ben Hogan and Babe Zaharias, all of whom played for the club before. moved to its current location. On Thursday, the venue will write a new chapter in its century-long history as it hosts the CPKC Women’s Open and becomes the first course in 20 years to host Canadian men’s and women’s professional golf championships.

For two years the CPKC Women’s Open was canceled due to the pandemic and only returned to the schedule last season at the Ottawa Hunt and Golf Club outside Ontario, where Paula Reto earned her first career win in 157 starts on the LPGA Tour.

Reto headlines this year’s field, which includes newly released Rolex Women’s World Golf Ranking No. 1 Lilia Vu, a two-time major champion this season with wins at the Chevron Championship and the AIG Women’s Open and current front-runner for the Rolex Player of the Year award with three 2023 LPGA Tour titles.

Joining Vu in Canada are the other three 2023 majors – Ruoning Yin, winner of the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship, Allisen Corpuz, who won a Rolex for the first time at the US Women’s Open, and Celine Boutier, the first French winner of The Amundi Evian Championship. They make for a strong field that also features Nelly Korda, Minjee Lee and Atthaya Thitikul.

Former world No. 1 Jin Young Ko, who won in Canada in 2019, and three-time CPKC Women’s Open winner Lydia Ko are also set to feature.

But perhaps the biggest star of the week, at least in the eyes of Canadian fans who seem to love their golf as much as their hockey, will undoubtedly be Brooke Henderson.

The two-time major champion and 13-time LPGA Tour winner is the greatest golfer in Canadian history, female or male. In 2018, Henderson made headlines with her win at the CPKC Women’s Open, becoming the first to win her national championship since Jocelyn Bourassa in 1973. In June, Nick Taylor ended a winless drought on the men’s side , when he became the first Canadian to win the RBC Canadian Open in 69 years.

Henderson leads a group of 10 Canadian pros ready to compete this week out of Vancouver. Four Canadian amateurs were also extended special exemptions in the field, which will be finalized on Monday following the conclusion of a qualifier at Point Gray Golf and Country Club that will determine the final four spots in the field. All 156 players will compete over 72 holes for a $2.5 million purse.

The CPKC Women’s Open is the ninth of 10 back-to-back events on this summer’s schedule and marks not only the end of the busiest part of the 2023 season, but also marks the end of Solheim Cup qualifying.

The European Solheim Cup team is complete after last week’s game in Northern Ireland, and the USA team will be finalized after this week’s event in Canada. The top seven players in the Solheim Cup Point standings will automatically earn a spot, with Vu, Korda, Corpuz and Megan Khang already securing their spot on the team. The top two players in the Rolex rankings, who have not already qualified through the points, will also earn a spot in the squad with three picks from United States Cup captain Stacey Lewis completing the 12-man squad.

It’s been a long two years for the Americans to claim a spot on their Solheim Cup team, but the wait is almost over. Just like Shaughnessy, which after a three-year delay, will finally host the CPKC Women’s Open next Thursday.