Golf is experiencing an intriguing moment as the Canadian Women’s Open kicks off tomorrow in Edmonton, while the men’s FedEx Cup playoffs are ongoing in St. Louis, and the controversial LIV league might be nearing its end. Here are the key details:
Canadian Women’s Open
Now known as the CPKC Women’s Open, this is the only Canadian event on the LPGA Tour and it returns to Royal Mayfair in Edmonton for the first time since 2013.
With a purse of $2.75 million USD ($412K for the champion), this tournament features six of the top 10 golfers globally, including Nelly Korda, the No. 1 player from the United States, who has claimed two major titles this season. Notable absences include South Korea’s Haeran Ryu, ranked third and who also won two majors, as well as Thailand’s No. 2 Jeeno Thitikul and popular English golfers Lottie Woad and Charley Hull, ranked fifth and sixth, respectively.
Lydia Ko, currently ranked 12th in the world from New Zealand, returns to pursue an unprecedented fourth Canadian Open title. She won at Royal Mayfair in 2013 while defending her championship from the previous year in Vancouver as a 15-year-old amateur. Ko has since secured three major championships and three consecutive Olympic medals, including gold in 2024 in Paris.
As usual, the crowd favorite will be Brooke Henderson from Canada, who captured this event for the second time last year in Mississauga, Ontario. Henderson’s first LPGA Tour win in over two and a half years brought her total to 14 victories—more than any other Canadian man or woman on a major tour, including two major titles.
Canada’s leading golfer is preparing to defend her title at the Canadian Championship this week. Brooke Henderson from Smiths Falls will compete in Edmonton alongside the world’s top talent. Emma Weller has the details.
Currently ranked 11th worldwide, the 28-year-old from Smiths Falls, Ontario, is still on the hunt for her first win of 2026, although she came close at both major tournaments last month. Henderson finished tied for third at the Women’s PGA Championship in Minnesota, just three shots behind Ryu, before losing in a playoff against the Korean at the Evian Championship in France after shooting consecutive rounds of 64 over the weekend.
Among the other 14 Canadians competing this week are three promising teenagers.
Sixteen-year-old amateur Aphrodite Deng made headlines last year in Mississauga by sharing the clubhouse lead after the first round before finishing tied for 20th—the best result by a non-professional since Ko’s consecutive victories. Deng also shone at the U.S. Women’s Open in June, tying for 17th place, and she has committed to join Stanford’s golf team in 2028.
Another 16-year-old amateur, Clairey Lin, won the prestigious U.S. Girls’ Junior Championship last month, following in Deng’s footsteps as the second Canadian ever to achieve this feat.
However, the most thrilling Canadian teenager in Edmonton this week may be Anna Huang. The 17-year-old from Vancouver has been excelling on the Ladies European Tour, recently becoming the youngest player to achieve four career victories, surpassing Ko’s record. Earlier this month at the Euro tour’s London Championship, she triumphed over Charley Hull by two strokes.
Huang tied for 22nd at the Evian Championship last month and is currently ranked 45th in the world, even though she is too young to participate in the LPGA Tour.
Learn more about Huang and check out a preview of the Canadian Women’s Open from the Canadian Press.
FedEx Cup playoffs
As the women’s season continues until November, the PGA Tour is entering its final two weeks.
Following last week’s FedEx Cup playoff opener in Memphis with 70 players, the field has now been narrowed to 50 for the BMW Championship in St. Louis, which starts Thursday. After this event, the top 30 players in the season-long points race will qualify for next week’s Tour Championship in Atlanta, where all scores reset and the winner will take home a cool $10 million from the total $40 million purse.
Want to hear some more astonishing figures? With his impressive eight-shot victory at last week’s St. Jude Championship, world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler secured the top position in the points standings and earned $23 million in bonus money. However, there remains significant cash on the line in St. Louis, as the second-place finisher in the standings will receive $13 million in bonuses, in addition to their tournament winnings. The third-place contender in the Cup standings gets $8 million, fourth place earns $6.5 million, and fifth place collects $5.4 million—almost a million more than any major champion has earned. Even the player finishing in 30th place will receive a check for $460,000.
Regrettably, no Canadians will be claiming any additional bonus money after three of them, Sudarshan Yellamaraju, Corey Conners, and Nick Taylor, were unable to advance beyond the St. Jude Championship. Nonetheless, each of them took home around $180,000 in bonuses.
LIV (and let die?)
The LIV Golf season—and possibly the league itself—may come to an end this weekend. Following the withdrawal of support from the Saudi sovereign wealth fund, the troubled tour has canceled its championship event in Michigan next week and will conclude its season in Indianapolis instead. Jon Rahm has already secured his third consecutive individual title, but the team trophy is still up for grabs.
What the future holds for LIV is uncertain. CEO Scott O’Neil is seeking new investors for a downsized tour after the Saudis reportedly spent around $5 billion on extravagant player contracts and other costs over the past five years in a bid to take over men’s professional golf. However, with high-profile players like Brooks Koepka and Patrick Reed leaving LIV earlier this year, it remains uncertain whether Rahm, Bryson DeChambeau, and the few remaining stars will choose to continue or find a way back to the PGA Tour.