Alena Sharp is taking a break from the LPGA Tour to address her mental-health challenges and sort out her putting yips. Her return date is unclear.
“I don’t plan on touching a club for a while and want to find happiness within me,†the 40-year-old veteran from Hamilton, Ontario, said this month in a candid and moving post on Instagram, joining a chorus of high-profile athletes to speak out this year on depression and other mental-health issues.
George Sourlis, her agent at Higher Ground Sports Management, said Sharp expects to return to action in mid-September, beginning at the Cambia Portland Classic and continuing through the following three tournaments.
Sharp said she left the Olympics this month feeling “like a failure†– as one of Canada’s two representatives in the women’s golf competition, she placed 49th place – and she skipped the AIG Women’s Open in Scotland to return to her home in Arizona to decompress.
She acknowledged she is battling the yips, a recurring problem since 2010, and compared her plight to what U.S. gymnast Simone Biles experienced at the Tokyo Games – an unsettling combination of mental strain and physical hesitations.
But she said her larger struggles are with her depression and low self-esteem.
“My self-talk has been awful and I know I haven’t been the nicest person to be around,†she said in the post. “Most days it’s hard to look at myself in the mirror. I don’t see little gains or the positive things in my life. I have been on the LPGA Tour for 16 years and have been working on my self-esteem but I still identify as only a golfer.â€
Sharp has been a steady enough performer on the tour to keep her card year after year, quiet in her demeanour and profile. But lately she has become more outspoken about mental health and LGBTQ issues.
She has credited partner and caddie Sarah Bowman, and their recent marriage, with boosting her confidence and giving her new perspectives inside and outside the ropes. But work remains. Sharp said she hesitated before making her heartfelt post but hopes it can inspire others.
“All athletes should put just as much importance on their mental health as they do on their physical health and skills,†she said. “It feels great to get this off my chest but I hope that this post can be helpful to others who are struggling. Let your voice be heard.â€
The cream eventually rose to the top, with Charles Fitzsimmons rallying to win the Canadian Mid-Amateur Championship last Friday in Fort McMurray, Alberta.
Fitzsimmons, the highest-ranked player in the field, shot a tournament low of 5-under-par 67 in the final round at Fort McMurray Golf Club to grab the title by four shots ahead of third-round leader Neil Thomas of Edmonton. Fitzsimmons’ four-round total of 1-under 287 was the only one in the red.
“This has definitely been a long-term goal of mine and definitely a dream, so it just feels unreal,†said the resident of London, Ontario, who has come close in the past three Mid-Ams, including a third-place finish in 2019.
Fitzsimmons, now a mental coach, is a long-time fixture in amateur golf, best-known for this streak of playing on the varsity team at the University of Western Ontario in London for 12 years.
While his world No. 1,247 ranking made him the top-rated player in the tournament for amateurs 25 and older, he wasn’t the most famous. The entrants included two former National Hockey League players as well – 17-year veteran Michael Cammalleri, who missed the cut, and Max Reinhart, who withdrew.
The counterpart Canadian Women’s Mid-Amateur is scheduled to begin Tuesday at Domaine Château-Bromont Club de Golf in suburban Montreal.
The World Junior Girls Golf Championship has been canceled for the second year in a row because of the COVID-19 pandemic and its related travel disruptions.
The global event, held in Canada, was scheduled to be played in late September and early October at Angus Glen Golf Club in Markham, Ontario.
But “facing the ongoing public health concerns as well as uncertainty around the rising global impact of the pandemic, cancelation was the only responsible course of action,†organizers at Golf Canada said in a statement last week.
They noted that many of the athletes, coaches and delegates scheduled to participate were facing increased restrictions and protocols in their travel to and from the championship. The event began in 2014. The most recent winner was Thailand’s Atthaya Thitikul, now an emerging star in the pro game.
Noah Steele is expected to remain an amateur through 2021 even though he’s already proven he can compete – and win – at the professional level.
The 23-year-old from Kingston, Ontario, blew away the field at the recent Osprey Valley Open, an event on the Mackenzie Tour-PGA Tour Canada. With his score of 23-under 261 he finished six shots clear of Étienne Papineau, also an amateur. (With amateurs unable to collect prize money, third-place Jesse Smith got the first-place cheque.)
Steele is believed to be the first amateur to win on the third-tier developmental circuit since 2003, when British Columbian James Lepp won as a college student.
“To win a professional event in the way that I did, and the things that I proved to myself this week, and just believing in my ability, was huge,†Steele told the tour’s website.
Steele, a graduate of Sam Houston State University in Texas, is a member of Canada’s national team and the country’s fourth highest-ranked male amateur.
According to the Toronto Star, he’ll likely keep his amateur status this year, add a couple more Mackenzie Tour events to his playing schedule this fall and try to qualify for the Mackenzie Tour and PGA Tour Latinoamérica next spring.
A handful of players with experience on the LPGA and Symetra tours will be vying for the title at this week’s DCM PGA Women’s Championship, the PGA of Canada’s top event for women.
Canadians Jennifer Ha, Naomi Ko, Emma de Groot, Christine Wong, Grace St-Germain and Caroline Ciot headline the field of at least 35 applicants, which the PGA of Canada says is the most since the event began in 1987.
The winner gets $10,000, the same as the first-place finisher of the PGA of Canada’s marquee event for men. Past winners include Sharp, Brooke Henderson and Lorie Kane.
Play begins Monday at Oshawa Golf and Country Club, east of Toronto, a venue that staged the same championship in 2006.
Corey Conners will be Canada’s lone entrant this week in the Tour Championship, the grand finale of the PGA Tour season and its playoffs, at which tens of millions of dollars in bonus money is up for grabs.
This will be the second career trip to the Tour Championship, held at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta, for the 29-year-old from Listowel, Ontario. He finished the 2019 Tour Championship in 26th place.
Conners has reached the season summit thanks to eight top-10 finishes on the 2020-21 PGA Tour. He entered last week’s BMW Championship, the second playoff event, in 20th place in the season standings.
The winner at East Lake receives $15 million (U.S.) of bonus money but even the 30th-place finisher collects $395,000, based on PGA Tour calculations.
British Columbia pro Naomi Ko and Quebec amateur Brigitte Thibault have advanced from the first stage of the LPGA Tour’s qualifying tournament, keeping alive their quest to reach the top circuit in women’s golf.
Ko and Thibault were the only two Canadians, among 20, who finished high enough in the first-stage tournament this month in California to qualify for the second stage in Florida in late October.
In Florida, they’ll join fellow Canadians such as Rebecca Lee-Bentham and Brittany Marchand, looking to get back to the LPGA Tour after their current stretch on the second-tier Symetra Tour.
Second-stage survivors advance to the third and final stage, now called the Q-Series. It is two tournaments at which approximately the top 45 finishers, cumulatively, earn LPGA membership for next season.
Ko, who made her professional debut at the 2019 U.S. Women’s Open, has Symetra Tour status but her starts have been limited because of travel restrictions related to the COVID-19 pandemic. Thibault is Canada’s top-rated female amateur. The LPGA Tour allows amateurs to enter the qualifying stages and decide later if they want to turn pro.
Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge has created a new craft beer that’s available at its golf course’s 19th hole, adding to an experience that already includes 18 holes of spectacular golf.
The mountain resort in Jasper, Alberta, created the lager with two Alberta brewers using barley farmed in the province. The beer is sold at the course, which ranks as Canada’s No. 3 on influential ScoreGolf’s top-100 list, as well as in the lodge itself and local retailers.
“This craft beer is the perfect way to pay homage to the iconic 700-acre property while drinking in the Rocky Mountains fireside, or taking it to go,†the lodge says.
In another example of the gambling industry deepening its ties to professional golf, Score Media and Gaming Inc. has become the official gambling partner of Golf Canada.
Score Media, based in Toronto, operates theScore Bet app that facilitates wagers on sports, currently in a handful of U.S. states. Last week, Canada legalized sports betting on single events.
The multiyear deal with Golf Canada includes theScore Bet setting up displays at the RBC Canadian Open and CP Women’s Open beginning in 2022. Both events are organized by Golf Canada, the game’s governing body in the country.
Top: Alena Sharp at the KPMG Women's PGA Championship
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