Janes Is “Hip” To 2010 Canadian Tour Season

Somebody should really tip off the United States Golf Association/Royal Canadian Golf Association about the technology that Rick Janes is planning to use in competition this year.

The Canadian Tour commissioner was feeling good last week, almost a month after hip replacement surgery in early December. He was working from home, but Janes planned to be in for three meetings this week before starting back full-time next week.

“I walked out of the hospital and I walked up the stairs at our house the day I got home, obviously with some difficulty,” recalled Janes. “It’s pretty amazing how quickly this stuff goes. Now, it’s just getting proper balance back and strength.

“I had (the hip) spring-loaded because I’m looking for an extra couple of yards on the golf course this summer,” he added. “My goal is to finish well in our club championship, so it’s all part of a grand plan.”

The bionic commissioner is also hip to a positive 2010 tour season for the tour, which he says is feeling the positive effects of a Canadian such as Graham DeLaet of Weyburn, Sask., enjoying a banner season with two wins and a first-place finish on the money list before getting his PGA Tour card through Q-School.

“There’s no doubt that Graham DeLaet was great for us. It’s the first time in my memory that we’ve have a player perform at that level and so consistently. He really was a great champion for us,” said Janes.

“Of course, to go on to the PGA Tour, which doesn’t happen very often, absolutely Graham DeLaet did a lot of good for the Canadian Tour. Increasing the profile and credibility – credibility in this case that it helped launch the career of a Canadian – is always good,” said Janes.

Those effects go beyond the golf course. Not only does DeLaet’s progress shine a positive light on the Canadian Tour with golf fans who have been craving another countryman on the PGA Tour, it also shows well to potential sponsors.

“I’m really looking forward to this year for all kinds of reasons, mainly the commercial side of our business is just getting so much interest. It’s been very gratifying. I’m really looking forward to getting out there and selling the tour,” said Janes.

“The success of Graham DeLaet on our tour certainly makes it really easy for us to open doors.”

Of course, most of the interest from potential sponsors won’t bear fruit until 2011, but this year’s schedule sees significant purse increases at events in Victoria, Saskatoon, Winnipeg – home to the Players Cup – and the Canadian Tour Championship, which will be played for $325,000.

“We’ve been quietly building what would appear to be a series of major tournaments across the country, most notably Victoria, the Players Cup, the Tour Championship. Those events are moving up and so are Alberta and Saskatchewan,” said Janes.

“We’ve got a good stable of important events across Canada and we just need to fill in the blanks,” he said. “We’re not quite finished yet. We don’t have all of our events confirmed. We’ve still got some gaps in Western Canada to be concluded. We’ve got a gap in Eastern Canada to be concluded.”

However, TBAs on a schedule are nothing new on a development circuit. “I don’t get bent out of shape when things aren’t falling into place in as timely way as I’d like,” said Janes, who expects to have the complete schedule ready in about a month.

One event that has been confirmed is a tri-sanctioned event with the European Challenge Tour and Tour de las Americas that will kick off the Canadian Tour season in Colombia next month. That event will have a $220,000 U.S. overall purse.

“The Canadian Tour is very proud of our relationship with Tour de las Americas and those TLA players who have come to play the Canadian Tour,” said Janes.

“The opportunity to meet the European Challenge Tour in competition is something that we have looked forward to for some time. This is the start of a relationship that will grow and create opportunities for years to come,” he added.

The idea of such an event is to not only lure international players to the tour, but also provide the opportunity for Canadian Tour players to face international competition in the name of development, which is also the key of a proposal to support Canadian players in the early years of their professional careers.

One method that is reportedly being considered is for the tour to join forces with the RCGA on its Canadian bursary, which offers financial aids to professionals who are high finishers through a points system used throughout the year.

“The Canadian Tour is in the process of developing a white paper on the support that these young people need in the early stages of their professional careers,” said Janes. “Scott (RCGA executive director Simmons) and I talk a lot. We talk more and more all the time.”

If the end result is developing Canadian talent such as DeLaet, you can bet that many Canadians, like Janes, will be hip to the idea.

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