Maddie Szeryk, of Canada, watches her drive on the 2nd hole during the third round action at the CP Women’s Open, Saturday, August 27, 2022 in Ottawa. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld
An all-time high of 57 athletes were named to Golf Canada’s teams on Wednesday along with eight coaches.
Golf Canada’s 2023 national team system now features three program tiers: amateurs and professionals are on Team Canada, NextGen is for under-21 amateurs, and the third group is a talent identification system aimed at growing the pool of prospects.
The updated program tiers are designed to help Golf Canada’s high-performance program increase the number of Canadians on the LPGA and PGA Tours to 30 by 2032.
Thirty-five of the players were named to the senior Team Canada, while 22 were named to the NextGen group.
The Team Canada tier now includes both professionals and amateurs with training focused on helping players reach the major tours.
This year’s team includes Maddie Szeryk of London, Ont., who qualified for the LPGA Tour on Dec. 11, and 2019 Pan American Games bronze medallist Brigitte Thibault of Rosemere, Que.
Feeding into Team Canada is a new tier called Team Canada ““ NextGen (formerly the Junior Squad) which is focused on supporting top juniors and bridging the gap for players transitioning into amateur golf and the U.S. college system.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 21, 2022.
