Some mid-summer thoughts as we head into August:

It seems the RBC Canadian Open won’t be heading west in the foreseeable future, but British Columbia golf fans will be getting a return visit from the LPGA Tour next summer.

Golf Canada has just made it official. Shaughnessy Golf & Country Club in Vancouver will play host to next summer’s CP Women’s Open. 

Canadian star Brooke Henderson will be joined by the best players in women’s golf next August at Shaughnessy. It will be the third visit the LPGA Tour has made to Metro Vancouver in the last eight years. 

Vancouver Golf Club in Coquitlam -- renamed Ko-quitlam after Lydia Ko won both events -- played host to the tournament in 2012 and 2015.

Shaughnessy’s last big events were the 2005 and 2011 Canadian Opens. The private club still wants another Canadian Open, but may have to wait a while as Golf Canada and tournament sponsor RBC seem content on keeping the event in the Metro Toronto area.
This is not to suggest the CP Women’s Open should be viewed as some sort of consolation prize for Shaughnessy.   It is a great event and always attracts a stellar field. I am of the opinion that we average golfers can better relate to the top women players. Today’s long bombers on the PGA Tour, quite frankly, play a game with which I am not familiar. I don’t think I am alone.

Shaughnessy drew rave reviews from players during the 2011 Canadian Open. I expect no less next summer from the women.

STARTING YOUNG: This year’s CP Women’s Open goes Aug. 22-25 at Magna Golf Club in Aurora, Ont., and will feature a 12-year-old British Columbian.
Michelle Liu of Vancouver earned an exemption into the event by finishing as the low Canadian (tied for 12th) at the recent Canadian Women’s Amateur Championship in Red Deer, Alta. Liu, it should be noted, is a junior member at Shaughnessy. Perhaps she will be back next summer as a 13-year-old to play the event at her home course.

LEGEND CONTINUES: The remarkable Doug Roxburgh won his first provincial golf titles back in 1969 -- you know, that summer when Neil Armstrong took the first steps on the moon. Fifty years later, Roxburgh is still winning. At age 67, Roxburgh won his third straight -- and fifth overall -- B.C. Senior Men’s title at Vernon Golf Club.

The highlights of Roxburgh’s resume now read something like this: 13 B.C. Amateur Championships, four Canadian Amateur titles, five B.C. Senior championships and a Canadian Senior title. He is also a past B.C. Junior and Canadian Junior champion.
Roxburgh hopes he isn’t done winning.

“I am not sure how many more years I am going to keep going at it, but hopefully I have got a few more years left in me,” he told me after his win in Vernon.

The word legend gets tossed around too much these days, but it’s an apt description of Roxburgh and his  accomplishments over the past half-century.

YOUNG GUNS: Not sure I would want to be a journeyman on the PGA Tour trying to hang onto his card right about now. In case you haven’t noticed, some talented youngsters have made some very big first impressions this summer.
Collin Morikawa, a recent Cal Berkeley grad, has a win and a second-place finish in six events on the PGA Tour. Former Oklahoma State University star Matthew Wolff won the 3M Open last month in just his fourth PGA Tour start as a pro. His former OSU teammate Viktor Hovland of Norway has been impressive in his first few starts and 2017 U.S. Amateur champion Doc Redman recently finished second at the Rocket Mortgage Classic in Detroit. It is probably just a coincidence, but that finish came just two weeks after Redman played in the pro-am with yours truly at the GolfBC Championship at Gallagher’s Canyon Golf & Country Club in Kelowna. . .

PLAYOFF TIME: The PGA Tour’s playoffs start soon and three British Columbians -- Adam Hadwin and Nick Taylor, both of Abbotsford, and Merritt’s Roger Sloan -- have qualified for the post-season. Hadwin clinched his spot in the playoffs some time ago, thanks to strong play earlier in the year. Sloan and Taylor had to work a little harder. Taylor recently played seven straight weeks and made every cut as he secured his spot inside the top 125 on the FedEx Cup points list. And Sloan has played some great golf this summer. He tied for seventh at the recent Barracuda Championship in Reno, Nev., and has finished no worse than tied for 21st in his last four starts.

“Maybe that Canadian hockey player in me will kind of get going in the playoffs and really do some damage,” Sloan told me recently.

Brad Ziemer covered the B.C. golf scene for the Vancouver Sun for nearly 25 years. He is a past recipient of Golf Canada’s Distinguished Service Award and the PGA of British Columbia’s Patron of the Year award.