Canadian Tour Announces Award Winners

Mexico’s Jose de Jesus Rodriguez has been named player of the year on the Canadian Tour.

Rodriguez won the Mexican PGA Championship and followed that up with a victory at the Times Colonist Island Savings Victoria Open.

The 30-year-old Mexican won just over $80,000 in 10 events, which was just over $13,000 more than Chile’s Hugo Leon who finished second on the Order of Merit.

Claiming Canadian Rookie of the Year honours was Thornhill, Ont., native Matt Hoffman.

International Rookie of the Year went to Meridian, ID native Joe Panzeri of Meridian, Id.

Panzeri won the Dakota Dunes Casino Open in his sixth start on the Canadian Tour.

He went on to finish 10th on the Canadian Tour Order of Merit and made his PGA Tour debut at the RBC Canadian Open through an exemption granted to the top five Order of Merit leaders.

The Gordon Brydson Most Improved Player of the Year Award went to Danny Sahl of Sherwood Park, Alta.

The 32-year-old moved up 22 positions on the 2011 Order of Merit and improved his stroke average by .73 strokes. Sahl took his first Canadian Tour win at the Syncrude Boreal Open and had a solo third at Dakota Dunes.

The Srixon Stroke Average Award for lowest scoring average went to Calgary’s Dustin Risdon, who posted four top 10s and finished sixth on the Order of Merit.

Sneak Peek At 2012 Tour Schedule

A preliminary schedule released by the Canadian Tour will include the Times Colonist Open, celebrating its 28th year as a tour event, the new Great Waterway Classic in Eastern Ontario and the Canadian Tour Championship being played at Scarboro Golf and Country, which is celebrating its centennial in 2012.

“As the only Canadian course designed by the renowned designer A.W. Tillinghast, Scarboro is a special place and more than worthy of its accolades,” said Canadian Tour commissioner Rick Janes.

The Canadian Tour is also working with the PGA Tour to revamp its qualifying school format, which is likely to reduce the number of schools to one and provide more cards for fledgling Canadian Tour members.

Details of the new qualifying system and qualifying school dates have not been finalized, but it’s likely the new Q-school held in April or early May, closer to the start of the Canadian season.

Below is the preliminary 2012 Canadian Tour schedule, with other events to be confirmed later:

Times Colonist Island Savings Open, Uplands Golf Club, Victoria – June 7-10

ATB Financial Classic, Windermere Golf & Country Club, Edmonton, June 21-24

Syncrude Boreal Open, Fort McMurray Golf Club, Fort McMurray, June 28 – July 1

Dakota Dunes Casino Open, Dakato Dunes Golf Links, Saskatoon, July 5-8

The Players Cup, Pine Ridge Golf Club, Winnipeg, July 12-15

Canadian Tour Championship, Scarboro Golf & Country Club, Toronto, August 23-26
The Great Waterway Classic, Smuggler’s Glen Golf Course, Gananoque, Ont., September 6-9

Desert Dunes Classic, Desert Dunes Golf Club, Palm Springs, Calif., November 1-4

Canadian Tour To The Windy City?

The Canadian Tour has yet to confirm it, but reports out of Chicago are saying that a tour event will be played in that area in 2012.

For more on that story, click here.

Canadian Tour Unveils Great Waterway Classic

The Canadian Tour has unveiled its new Eastern Ontario event, which will debut this September.

The Great Waterway Classic is a four-year initiative that will include a rotation of four Eastern Ontario courses hosting the event, beginning Sept. 3-9 at Smuggler’s Glen in Gananoque.

Upper Canada Golf Club in Morrisburg will host the 2013 event, with the tournament moving to Loyalist Country Club in 2014 and Black Bear Ridge in 2015.

“This is an exciting opportunity for The Great Waterway,” said Richard Johnston, chair of the Board for the Regional Tourism Organization 9 (otherwise known as the Great Waterway Region and Evolution Golf and Events Management Inc.).

“Highlighting the golf assets we have in the region over the next four years will help local businesses grow and attract new visitors to The Great Waterway,” he added.

The Great Waterway Classic will feature a 156-player field competing for a $150,000 purse. The tournament will conclude the domestic Canadian Tour portion of the schedule.

“The Great Waterway Classic will provide significant national and international exposure for the Great Waterway and Eastern Ontario communities on the whole,” said Canadian Tour commissioner Rick Janes.

The principal charity for the tournament will be the University Hospitals Kingston Foundation.

The full 2012 Canadian Tour schedule is expected to be released later this month.

Eastern Ontario Event To Be Announced Thursday

A new Canadian Tour event for Gananoque in Eastern Ontario is expected to be announced next Thursday at a press conference in Lansdowne, Ont., where commissioner Rick Janes, representatives of Evolution Golf and Event Management and the title sponsor will be on hand.

Also on hand will be representatives from the University Hospitals Foundation in Kingston, Ont., as well as municipal, provincial and federal government officials.

An announcement on the host course and title sponsor for the four-year series of events will be made and several tournament events, including an opportunity for local golfers to qualify for the event, will also be revealed.

Will The Canadian Tour Become A Good PGA Tour Investment?

The PGA Tour will provide the Canadian Tour with an operating loan and lend assistance in tournament development and sponsorship in 2012.

Whether the tour will continue that assistance beyond this year is anybody’s guess and the situation will be evaluated over the 2012 season. Read more

PGA Tour Means Business With Canadian Tour Deal

The mere mention of the PGA Tour tends to trigger fluttering hearts and swooning, but any talk of it taking over the Canadian Tour or setting it up as a feeder system for the Nationwide Tour is premature to say the least and really not worth discussing right now.

As you can see in this News Now story, the PGA Tour has agreed to float the Canadian Tour a loan to deal with a financial crunch that, according to the scuttlebutt, has the tour in debt anywhere from half a million to $750,000.

As usual, nobody will admit how much the tour is in debt, nor how much the PGA Tour is sending its way, but you can bet it isn’t coming into this deal with any decision made beyond next year.

Part of this deal is that the PGA Tour gets involved with tournament development and sponsorship and while the party line is that Canadian Tour will benefit from working with such a well-recognized brand in golf, this is a fact-finding mission for the PGA Tour. Read more

Deal With PGA Tour Might Just Be A Short-Term Reprieve

The PGA Tour will provide the Canadian Tour with an operating loan and will lend assistance in the areas of tournament development and sponsorship in 2012, but any involvement beyond next year will depend on an evaluation between both groups over the course of next season.

“Our goal is to help lend stability to the Canadian Tour, which we believe plays an important role in professional golf and has proven to be a valuable system for developing players over the years,” stated Ed Moorhouse, co-chief operating officer of the PGA Tour.

Although no financial details were disclosed, it’s no secret that the Canadian Tour was struggling financially, with some speculating that it may not make it to the 2012 season without financial help. Whether this will be anything more than a short-term reprieve remains to be seen.

Commissioner Rick Janes admitted the onus was on the Canadian Tour to make the new agreement more than a short term deal.

“Whether this leads to more direct involvement by the PGA Tour beyond 2012 will depend on a number of factors, including our ability to strengthen and grow the Canadian Tour across Canada from coast to coast,” said Janes.

“In the meantime, it is a great opportunity to work with the preeminent brand in golf and we can only benefit from that experience,” he added.

Hometown Boy Makes Good

Byron Smith came into the Desert Dunes Classic in Palm Springs, Calif., feeling disappointed after not advancing through the first stage of PGA Tour Q-School.

Smith finished the week with his fourth Canadian Tour victory after winning the 2011 Desert Dunes Classic in his hometown.

He rode a hot putter and solid ball-striking, posting his best round of the week at six-under-par 66 in Sunday’s final round.

Early in the day, however it looked as if Regina’s Kent Eger was going to derail Smith as Eger made a hole-in-one on the par three fifth hole to tie Smith for the lead.

“Before we teed off I told (Eger) lets give them a show today and boy, he did that with his hole-in-one and two chip ins,” said Smith, who took home $24,000 U.S. for his efforts.

“The crowd got a show and I’m elated that I was able to win, especially against a field this strong,” added Smith, who moved to 11th on the final Canadian Tour Order of Merit.

Smith also gave the hometown crowd a show of his own, making a clutch chip-in to save par on the second hole and keep the momentum going from his opening birdie.

He added three straight birdies on holes 9,10 and 11.

“That chip-in was huge for my round,” admitted Smith who made at the turn at two-under-par on for his round.

“The birdies on 9,10 and 11 really got me going and I knew I had to stay aggressive with the way Kent was playing,” added Smith, who lives 15 minutes from Desert Dunes Golf Club.

For final scores from the Desert Dunes Classic, click here.

Eastern Ontario Prepares For Canadian Tour

Scott MacLeod of Flagstick Magazine outlines how preparations and the search for a title sponsor is on in the hopes of bringing a Canadian Tour event to Eastern Ontario.

To read Scott’s story, click here.

Canadian Tour Reportedly In Discussions With PGA Tour

Not that financial challenges are anything new at the Canadian Tour, but things may be more daunting than ever as the tour winds down its season this weekend, according to a recent blog from Robert Thompson.

That blog consists of questions as much as answers and is definitely speculative, especially the part about the Canadian Tour potentially partnering with the PGA Tour, but such discussions are traditionally shrouded in secrecy.

Decide for yourself. You can read Thompson’s blog here.

Tour Headed To Gananoque?

Mike Koreen of the Kingston Whig-Standard reports that the Canadian Tour may be headed to Gananoque, Ont., in 2012.

For Mike’s report, click here.

Hadwin Jumps To Final Stage

A standout season for Adam Hadwin will be rewarded.

The 23-year-old from Abbotsford, B.C., drew national attention in July with his charge at the top of the leaderboard at the RBC Canadian Open at Shaughnessy Golf and Country Club, where he eventually tied for fourth.

He also qualified for and made the cut at the U.S. Open, where he tied for 39th.

Those two finishes not only made Hadwin the pleasant surprise of the 2011 tour season for Canadians, but also had him in the race for the top 125 on the tour money list who earn playing privileges next year.

A tie for seventh at the Frys.com Open earlier this month, where he earned $130,312.50, drew him even closer, but he eventually finished outside the top 125.

Hadwin’s $440,753 in earnings from five events was enough, however, to place him 145th if he was a tour member, so his agent, George Sourlis of Landmark Sport Group, successfully lobbied on his behalf for an exemption into the final stage of Q-school.

Hadwin had expected to take part in the second stage next month, where he would have needed to qualify for the final stage. The direct step to final stage Nov. 30 to Dec, 5 in La Quinta, Calif., takes a big grind out of the process of earning his tour card.

The top 25 from the final stage will earn full-time status on the PGA Tour, but failing that, Hadwin will at least end up on the Nationwide Tour next season after spending most of this season on the Canadian Tour.

New Latin Circuit May Benefit Canadian Tour Players

There is no concern on the part of the Canadian Tour about the new PGA Tour Latinoamerica, which will see 11 events played in seven countries across Latin America, beginning next fall.

Commissioner Rick Janes says he’s seen it coming for 10 years through discussions with Henrique Lavie, his counterpart with the Tour de Las Americas.

The Canadian Tour is involved with events in March and April in Colombia and Mexico, but Janes points out that the new set-up could have considerable upside for players who toil here during the summer.

“We’ll be lobbying for exemptions for our top players into this circuit,” said Janes. “It probably creates a better opportunity for our players.”

There is one concern, however.

“The suggested timing for the qualifying school is, perhaps, July or August when we’re still in full swing. That’s something that needs to be addressed,” he said.

That aside, it’s conceivable that a promising, developing player from any country will be able to move directly from the Canadian Tour to the new loop to extend the season.

“The idea of this is to spur on the development of golf in Latin America and one of the ways to do that, of course, is to give these young, developing players an opportunity to play at a higher level,” he said.

“I would like to see our top players get a bye into these events. That’s something to shoot for and that’s what we’re going to be lobbying for,” said Janes

The Apprenticeship Of Adam Hadwin

It’s a moving target, but Adam Hadwin will need to make about $250,000 over the next couple of weeks to earn his PGA Tour card through the money list and, as it stand right now, he is only assured of teeing it up in this week’s McGladrey Classic.

The 23-year-old from Abbotsford, B.C., who captured this nation’s attention with a tie for fourth at the RBC Canadian Open in July, accepts that the wild ride his career has taken this season may not necessarily conclude with the ultimate graduation to the tour.

He’s nicely balancing the expectations and dreams of a young man with the reality that his outstanding part-time results, including a tie for seventh at last week’s Frys.com Open, may only be about experience and confidence as he prepares for Q-school. Read more

A Win For The Home Side

Michael Gligic of Bulington, Ont. earned medalist honours at Canadian Tour Qualifying School after posting five-under 66 to finish 15 under par for the tournament.

Gligic finished ahead of Thomas Hay of Langley, B.C., and Ryan Corbin of Rockwood, Ont., who both finished 12-under-par at Hidden Lake Golf Club in Burlington.

Gligic, who calls Hidden Lake home, posted four birdies, one bogey and an eagle on the final hole of the day, where he drained a 60-footer.
“It was pretty special to end the day in style like that in front of the fans,” admitted Gligic, a past club champion at Hidden Lake.

“I’m looking forward to getting back out on the Canadian Tour, I feel like I’m better prepared to play well,” admitted Gligic who made only three cuts in 15 events through 2009-2010 as a member of the tour.

Hay, who led or had a share of the lead for most of the week, was pleased with his finish despite not winning.

“My main goal coming into the week was to get my card, so I’m pretty excited I was able to do that,” said Hay, who along with David Byrne of Essex, Ont., were the only players to post four rounds in the 60s.

“Michael played extremely well today and he deserved the win. Hopefully we’ll have some more battles like that on tour next season,” added Hay, 21.

Canadian Tour members Brad Revell (Exempt), Nathan Leonhardt (Exempt), Robert McRae (Non-Exempt) and Calvin Kupeyan (Non-Exempt) all retained their playing privileges for 2012.
A total of 15 players earned status on the 2012 Canadian Tour. Eight Canadian’s will have playing privileges next year as well, as eight Americans. For a final leaderboard, click here.

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