The 23-year-old Oakville resident accomplished a long-time goal last weekend, qualifying for the upcoming CN Canadian Women's Open with a fifth-place finish at the latest CN Canadian Women's Tour stop in Ottawa.

Making the feat even more special for Shepley is the fact the Canadian Women's Open will be contested at the London Hunt & Country Club, where she first took up the sport as a nine-year-old.

"I took my first golf lesson there, I saw the du Maurier Classic (the former name of the CN Canadian Women's Open) there... that was where I was introduced to the game," Shepley said. "I have a lot of friends and family within two hours (of London)... it's going to be a big deal. This is definitely something I've been looking forward to and hoping for and working towards."

Exemptions to the Canadian Women's Open were awarded to the winners of each of the first three events on the Canadian Women's Tour, along with the top four competitors, not otherwise exempt, in the tour's Order of Merit point standings prior to the Open. Shepley went into the final round of last weekend's tournament in Ottawa knowing she needed only a top-seven finish to earn her exemption.

She started her second round slowly, three-putting the first hole and then hitting her tee shots behind trees on the second and third holes. However, Shepley convinced herself to become more aggressive and she went on to card her second straight score of 71, finishing the two-day tournament at two-under-par.

"I was glad I was able to turn it around during my round and not wait until afterwards to figure it out," she said. "I didn't get too rattled and I think that's just from playing so much. There's 18 holes for a reason and you have to play all 18 of them."

The University of Tennessee grad, who is also competing on the Futures Tour this year, will now take a bit of time off from competitive play. She plans to return to Oakville next week and fine-tune her game with coach and local native Sandra Post, paying extra attention to her short game.

"I think I'm going to have to work on my putting. The greens will be a lot faster than I'm used to playing on," Shepley said of preparing for the Open, which will take place August 7-13. "I think I have a lot of work to do... but if I keep working on the things I've been working on, I totally feel I can play on the weekend."

-- Jon Kuiperij can be reached at sports@oakvillebeaver.com.