Hall of Fame golfers help open Canadian Women's Senior Championship in Georgetown

The Canadian Women's Senior Championship is underway at the Club at North Halton in Georgetown.

The tournament officially kicked off Monday night with the opening ceremonies. The participants were piped in and the provincial teams were introduced by tournament co-chair Gloria Sinclair. 

There will be 118 golfers vying for the national title, including 16 from the United States and one each from Australia and Hong Kong. The field includes every champion since 2008 and six of the last seven U.S. senior champions.

There are three featured groups playing today (Tuesday). Teeing off at 8:10 a.m. from the first hole were Lara Tennant, who is looking to complete the triple crown of Canadian, American and British senior championships, two-time Canadian champion Sue Wooster from Australia and Terrill Samuel, a two-time Canadian champion. 

At 9:02 a.m., teeing off from the 10th hole was Mary-Ann Hayward, the defending champion and four-time winner of the event. Hayward, a member of the Canadian Golf Hall of Fame, was a member at North Halton for 17 years and was awarded an honourary lifetime membership by The Club at North Halton. She is playing with two-time Canadian senior champion Jackie Little and 2014 champ Helene Chartrand of Quebec.

Teeing off at 9:12 a.m. from the 10th hole were Judith Kyrinis and Shelly Stouffer, who each had two Canadian and one U.S. senior title to their credit. With them is Quebec's Marie-Thérèse Torti, who has eight top-10 finishes in the Canadian senior championship.

Admission is free for all three rounds, Tuesday to Thursday. Spectators are welcome to follow groups around the course or watch from the clubhouse.

The opening ceremonies included Canadian Golf Hall of Famers Marlene Streit, Sandra Post and Cathy Sherk.

Streit is the first Canadian elected to the World Golf Hall of Fame and was twice named the Canadian athlete of the year. Streit won 11 Canadian amateur championships as well as capturing the British, U.S. and Australian amateur titles. She won four Canadian senior women's championships and three in the U.S. She was elected to the Canadian Sports Hall of Fame in 1962.

Post was the first Canadian golfer to win a major championship, winning the 1968 LPGA championship in a playoff. At just 20 years old, Post was the youngest winner of a major championship, a record that stood for 47 years. She was named the 1968 LPGA rookie of the year and went on to win eight LPGA tournaments as well as 20 runner-up finishes. She was named Canada's athlete of the year in 1969 and earned a spot in the Canadian Sports Hall of Fame in 1988.

Sherk won the Canadian amateur championship twice and added a U.S. Amateur title as well. She was the world's No. 1 ranked amateur golfer in 1978. Sherk played five years on the LPGA Tour, finishing runner-up at the American/Defender WRAL Classic. She won three Canadian professional women's championships and was named to the Canadian Golf Hall of Fame in 1995.