On a lilting and near-perfect spring Monday afternoon at Uplands Golf Club, the horizon looked clear in the distance. Keith Dagg hopes it stays that way, both literally and figuratively.
The director of the 26th annual ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½ Open, the first stop in ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½ on the Canadian Professional Golf Tour, held a wide-ranging media conference yesterday addressing several issues regarding the 2009 event scheduled for June 4-7 at Uplands.
The board is trying to overcome the death of hard-working tournament manager Denis Racine in January.
On the positive news side, it was announced over the winter the prize purse was boosted by $50,000 to $200,000 and that Jim Rutledge of Victoria, currently 98th on the Nationwide Tour money rankings, has guaranteed he will play in his hometown pro event.
The Canadian Tour is mainly for young pro golfers looking to work their way up. The likes of Steve Stricker, Craig Parry, Mike Weir, D.A. Points, Stuart Appleby, Kirk Triplett, Chris DiMarco, Scott Dunlap and Scott McCarron have done just that as Canadian Tour alumni have won 95 PGA Tour titles and more than $360 million.
But those payoffs are years off for these rising young golfers. Having veteran Rutledge on hand is a sure-fire way to attract large galleries.
"It's wonderful that Jim is coming back," said Dagg.
"He is bypassing a $600,000 Nationwide event that week to play the Victoria tournament."
Dagg said the boost in purse has greatly enhanced the Victoria event, which will join the Players Cup in Winnipeg and the Desjardins Montreal Open as specially-tagged 'major' Canadian Tour stops with purses of $200,000 or more. Only the flagship Canadian Tour Championship offers more on the Tour at $250,000.
"The $200,000 purse puts us in a different league," said Dagg.
The extra $50,000 came from the Canadian Tour.
"We couldn't afford to add the extra, but that the Tour did, shows what the Tour thinks of the Victoria tournament and how much it values the event," said Dagg.
The rest of the $150,000 purse comes from local sponsorships and fundraising by the tournament committee. And that's always been difficult to come by, especially so in today's economy.
"We continue to find ways to make the money but it's never easy" said Dagg.
He said the committee has so far raised $310,000 toward the $350,000 budget of staging this year's event. There is a $65,000 reserve fund socked away from past years that can be delved into.
"We do it because when you look back at the players who have come through here, you realize it would be horrible to lose this event on the local sporting calendar" said Dagg.
"I think of Steve Stricker and Craig Parry winning at Gorge Vale and all the other guys who have played this tournament on their way up. The 2009 Canadian Tour has started in Mexico and the winner over the weekend was 16-under-par. These are the class of golfers that are coming to Victoria."
In other announcements, Dagg said the Victoria
Hospital Foundation is this year's charity of choice for the ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½ Open.
There will be a special qualifying tournament June 1 at Uplands for the first 120 entrants ($75 fee). The winner gets a spot in the sold-out Pro-Am scheduled for the next day. Info: tcopen.ca.
The Thrifty Foods Youth Clinic will be held in conjunction with the ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½ Open from May 31 to June 1. Info: bcchf.net/timescolonistopen
Monday qualifying for the 2009 ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½ Open is June 1 with the tournament running June 4-7. A highlights show of the 2009 ÎÚÑ»´«Ã½ Open will be broadcast the following week on The Golf Channel, and repeated during the summer, giving the city and tournament tremendous exposure.
