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TSN Senior Reporter

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How can you not like Shane Lowry? Not only does he look more like a guy from your Tuesday night darts league than a professional golfer, but he says stuff that you just know every golfer is thinking but won't admit.

For instance, any golfer who has ever held the lead of a tournament after 54 holes has, at some point, let the thought of winning creep into their mind before they play the first shot on their 55th hole.

But none seem to want to own up to that. They'll tell you they were thinking just about process and the next shot, blah, blah, blah.

Not Lowry.

"All morning, like it's a long day before a 2:00 tee time," he stated after hoisting the trophy. "All morning, you kind of -- like I drove to Starbucks for a coffee, you kind of let yourself go off into the -- you know, and just think about lifting that trophy on the 18th green. Then when I'm in a good frame of mind, I let myself do it, and I give myself a little slap in the face and say, right, you need to get back to work, back to doing what you do best."

Lowry made his win at the WGC-Bridgestone his first in North America and did it in stunning fashion with a crazy par on 14 and an all-world birdie on the 18th hole.


Sharp Shooters

They certainly can go low on the Champions Tour. This week's stop was the Shaw Charity Classic in Calgary, played at Canyon Meadows. Of the 33 rounds played by the top 11 golfers, only four of them were not in the 60s.

Winner Jeff Maggert fired a 64 in the final round to capture the only Canadian stop for the 50-and-over circuit by four strokes.

Stephen Ames, who now resides in Vancouver, returned to his former home city to record his fourth top-10 finish in 11 starts this season. The Canadian has earned $366,000 so far this season.

Rod Spittle came in T12, his sixth top-20 posting in 2014.


Day at the Beach

Players in this week's PGA Championship have been forewarned that all those sandy areas at Whistling Straits – by one count, 967 of them – are going to be deemed bunkers and played as such.

Here's what a note to the players stated:

"This will mean that many bunkers positioned outside of the ropes, as well as some areas of bunkers inside the ropes, close to the rope line, will likely include numerous footprints, heel prints, trash and tire tracks during the play of the Championship. Such irregularities of surface are a part of the game and no free relief will be available from these conditions."

Of course in 2010, Dustin Johnson famously grounded his club in a sandy area he didn't know was a bunker and was penalized, missing a spot in a playoff eventually won by Martin Kaymer.


Plenty of Competition

The Canadian Amateur gets underway Monday for the 111th time at two excellent Toronto golf courses – Weston G&CC (where I am a member) and Lambton G&CC. Golf Canada officials stated that the field is easily the deepest the event has seen in some time, as the importance of the tournament, not to mention the quality of courses, continues to grow.

One other reason for the spurt has been a change of dates, allowing players to compete in the Canadian championship and then next week's U.S. Amateur. International players are doubling up and will get a full dose of Willie Park Jr. design. Park was behind Weston, where the final two rounds will be played this week (play winds up Thursday), and Olympia Fields, outside Chicago, the site of next week's U.S. Amateur.

The winner of this week's Canadian event gets a spot in the American shootout.

Golf Canada's national team members Austin Connelly and Blair Hamilton, along with reigning Canadian Mid-Amateur champ and NHL referee Garrett Rank are expected to contend.

Two-time Canadian Amateur champion and Weston member Warren Sye – one of his national titles came in 1990, the last time Weston hosted -- is also in the field along with players from eight different countries.