Reed On The Greens, by Jeffrey Reed
December 12, 2014
Christmas came early for Londoners this year, when on December 4 Golf Canada and PGA Tour Canada announced that the season-ending Tour Championship of Canada, presented by Freedom 55 Financial, had committed to staying in this city through 2017.
If you think Santa’s early Christmas present was only meant for local golf fans, you’re dead wrong. Hosting this professional golf tournament, launched at Sunningdale Golf and Country Club in 2013, is an important part of putting London on the map. It may not bring the numbers nor the prestige of a Memorial Cup or World Figure Skating Championship. But that doesn’t lessen its importance to the community.
Following a fortnight’s worth of horrible September weather in 2013 and ’14, and facing a real threat of leaving London, the Tour Championship of Canada now moves across town to Highland Country Club in 2015. Golf Canada tournament director Bill Paul said he’s hoping for a September 14-20 tourney. But Paul said with PGA Tour Canada courting a new P.E.I. tourney that week, it may need to move to September 21-27.
Paul said terminating the partnership with Sunningdale before the optional year of a three-year contract was mutually agreed upon by all involved parties. But he said moving the tourney to the cozier confines of Highland should give the event a well-needed shot in the arm.
Biting The Bullet
“We looked at other options,” said Paul, “but some of the other courses couldn’t do it because of previous commitments. Some didn’t want to make a commitment for more than one year. I said, let’s bite the bullet and move on. And how do we make it better inside the ropes, and outside the ropes?”
In fact, before Golf Canada approached Highland, Paul and I discussed the option of moving the Tour Championship of Canada to local clubs including Highland, FireRock Golf Club, St. Thomas Golf and Country Club, Redtail Golf Course and The Oaks Golf and Country Club.
“When I met with Highland, there was great enthusiasm from the board,” said Paul. “We went back a second time, started talking about how to make this tournament better … (and) they wanted a three-year commitment,” added Paul. “I just think the whole package has some great appeal, and I am glad we’re staying in London.”
Part of the appeal Paul spoke of includes a more central location, an enthusiastic club membership and a shorter (6,600-yard) course within tighter confines which he believes will make for a more intimate, more community-embraced week-long event.
The Stanley Thompson-designed Highland (est. 1922) has hosted the 2000 Ontario Women’s Amateur championship, and the 1997 National Club Professional Championship which head golf professional Mike Silver said produced a three-round winning score of -8 playing at par-71. Silver said next year’s event should play at par-70, with the usual par-5, 460-yard No. 14 playing as a tough par-4 during the tournament.
“There’s a lot more to a golf course than just yardage,” said Silver, a PGA of Canada member since 1971. “The size of our greens, potential green speed – just the little idiosyncrasies will make this course tough. There aren’t a lot of big numbers out there, but there are a lot of bogeys.
“Even as good as (PGA Tour Canada) golfers are, Highland will take driver out of their hands on some tough holes. It’s a course where they’ll be forced to think – a golf course where these guys will have to pay attention,” said Silver.
Burning Our Brains
According to Silver, Highland is chomping at the bit to stage this event. “The club will embrace it and do it up right. It’s good for us, good for the community and we’re going to be able to show people that Highland really isn’t a short golf course. We have volunteer committees, and ideas burning in our brains that will hit paper soon.”
Now it’s up to Golf Canada, PGA Tour Canada and partners to forge stronger ties with local businesses and groups, something Paul admitted has been a tough go during the past two years. Paul said he still hopes to form some sort of win-win the London Knights.
In the meantime, Paul is assembling a local golf committee (including your humble scribe) to help make the Tour Championship of Canada reach its full potential.
It’s not going to be easy, but it says here Highland is the right place for this event. Just like Wrigley Field, Fenway Park and the 16th hole at the PGA Tour’s Phoenix Open, Highland Country Club can create a unique golf experience for the community.
Back to what this golf tournament means to London. Through the tourney’s 2014 community legacy campaign, 18 schools within the London area received the Golf in Schools program in honour of the season-ending event of the PGA Tour Canada season.
With a renewed commitment to the city of London, expect much more from this event over the next few years. And who knows? If this tournament becomes a staple of the annual golf calendar, the sky is the limit.
After two years of poor weather, let’s just hope the skies don’t open up in 2015. Surely, third time’s a charm.
–30–
