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Mike Weir returned to Canada for the first time in two years last week, looking to end a drought on home soil that goes back more than 20 years.
Weir, now 51, was in the field at the Shaw Charity Classic, a PGA Tour Champions event in Calgary in which the senior-circuit rookie was making his debut. The tournament itself was returning after a one-year hiatus because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Even though it’s not close to my hometown, it feels great being back up here,” the native of Sarnia, Ontario, said ahead of the first round.
Canada’s West has been good to him through the years. He last visited Calgary to be inducted into the nation’s Sports Hall of Fame in 2017 and he broke through with his first PGA Tour victory (and most recent win at home) at the 1999 Air Canada Championship in Vancouver.
Weir was in the mix early at Canyon Meadows Golf and Country Club after an opening round of seven-under-par 63, but he stalled on the weekend and settled for a tie for ninth place, continuing the drought at home. Still he got a chance to reconnect with long-time friend and college buddy Jeff Kraemer, who caddied for him because his regular man Tom Lamb had trouble getting across the Canada-U.S. border.
“He won the Canadian Amateur back (in 1991), which he still reminds me of to this day because he beat me by a couple of shots,” Weir said.
As Weir waited for Kraemer to join him last week, he scouted out Canyon Meadows by himself, toting his clubs in a pull cart.
Weir and Lamb will reunite this week at the PGA Tour Champions stop near Seattle.
Weir will have a family reunion in two weeks, too, at or after the Ally Championship in Michigan, not far from his hometown. With restrictions at the border easing, he’s hoping to see a lot of familiar faces.
“No matter what, I will get to see my family after the tournament,” Weir said. “I'm going to go home. I haven't seen them in two years, so really looking forward to that.”
Former Calgary resident Stephen Ames, having a homecoming of his own at the Shaw, entered the final round Sunday just a shot off the lead. But like Weir, he couldn’t seize the moment, retreating to a share of sixth place as American Doug Barron surged to victory.
Roger Sloan narrowly missed out on winning his first PGA Tour title on Sunday. The 34-year-old from Merritt, British Columbia, was one of five casualties in a six-man playoff at the Wyndham Championship in North Carolina. American Kevin Kisner won by making a birdie on the second playoff hole.
But Sloan at least achieved his principal objective at the final event of the PGA Tour’s regular season – he earned a spot in the FedEx Cup playoffs for the second time in his career and locked up his full-time playing card for next season.
Sloan got into the gang playoff Sunday at Sedgefield Country Club by making birdie on two of his final three holes, a run that gave even the seasoned veteran chills. “I kept saying this afternoon coming down the last few holes and even on the playoff, I was just remembering Russell Crowe and Gladiator: ‘Are you not entertained?’ It’s so cool to be a part of this,” he said.
Sloan was No. 131 in the FedEx Cup standings entering the tournament, needing a finish of 19th place or better to scrape into the top 125 and qualify for this week’s Northern Trust, the first of three playoff events. His runner-up finish Sunday, his second top-10 result in as many weeks, vaulted him to a projected No. 92.
“I was in a good place this week,” he said. “I was okay no matter where the chips fell and I think that gave me a lot of power on the golf course.”
Fellow British Columbians Nick Taylor and Adam Hadwin were among those sharing 10th place Sunday. Hadwin stayed within the Fed Ex Cup’s top 125 but Taylor didn’t move up enough to reach the playoffs.
A new national championship will put amateur golfers with disabilities on par with everyone else.
The inaugural Canadian All Abilities Championship is scheduled to begin Sept. 23 at Humber Valley Golf Course, a municipal in Toronto. Up to 84 players from across Canada with neurological, intellectual, sensory or physical impairments will take part in the 36-hole tournament.
The event was supposed to launch in 2020 but the COVID-19 pandemic delayed its debut for a year. Organizers at Golf Canada say they are hoping it sends a signal that golf is inclusive and that all players deserve a crack at a national title.
The championship coincides with the 100th anniversary of Humber Valley, which has undergone improvements to accessibility and course conditions recently.
Tributes flooded in for Jocelyne Bourassa after the Canadian golf legend passed away Aug. 3. She was 74.
The Quebecker won the Canadian Women’s Amateur Championship twice before entering the pro game with a bang. The LPGA Tour named her rookie of the year in 1972 and she won the inaugural La Canadienne tournament in her home province the following year.
The tournament was a precursor to the CP Women’s Open. A Canadian didn’t win the national championship again until Brooke Henderson captured the title 45 years later.
Henderson said Bourassa contacted her after her 2018 victory and they stayed in touch, although they met just once. Henderson has a photo of that meeting on her iPad. “She’s been a legend for Canadian golf and somebody that I’ve looked up to,” Henderson said.
After Bourassa’s playing days ended because of injuries, she jumped into administration among other golf-related activities, taking on the executive director role for the national championship in the late 1970s when it was known as the du Maurier Classic. She also created the du Maurier Series, a Canadian development program for amateur and professional female golfers.
Bourassa’s honours included induction into the Canadian Golf Hall of Fame and being admitted to the Order of Canada. “The Grande Dame du golf has left us, but she will never be forgotten,” Golf Québec said in a tribute.
“She’s an icon and a legend in Canadian women’s golf so she’s going to be missed by a lot of us,” Canadian LPGA Tour veteran Alena Sharp added. “I hope her legend lives on with the younger generations.”
One of Canada’s most exclusive golf clubs has been sold, ending an ownership drama that has stretched on for years, Rick Young of ScoreGolf magazine reported last week.
Ryan Finch purchased Redtail Golf Club in Port Stanley, Ontario, from co-founders Chris Goodwin and John Drake, who have been fighting in court for control after having a fallout. Finch of nearby London is a club member and businessman with automotive holdings.
Redtail, designed by Donald Steel and opened in 1992 as an early example of what’s now called minimalist architecture, has long had a mystique for its ultra-exclusivity and A-list guests, including Sean Connery, Wayne Gretzky and Bill Murray. Queen Elizabeth II once stayed on the secluded property in a guest cabin.
It’s also a good golf course, routinely placing among the 100 best in Canada in various rankings.
Two of Canada’s biggest sports passions come together today for the second annual Face-off, a charity golf event featuring hockey players and broadcasters.
TSN personalities James Duthie and Shawn McKenzie will take on NHL stars Tyler Seguin and Mark Scheifele in an 18-hole match that features best-ball, alternate shot and scramble formats. Proceeds of $50,000 go to charity.
The event will be held at TPC Toronto at Osprey Valley, which later in the week is playing host to the Osprey Valley Open, a stop on the Mackenzie Tour-PGA Tour Canada. Trash-talking began in earnest last week. “I don’t think these guys stand a chance against actual athletes like Mark and myself,” said Seguin, an 11-year NHL veteran who plays for the Dallas Stars.
Last year, Toronto Maple Leafs general manager Kyle Dubas and comedian Gerry Dee won the event.
The golf boom during the COVID-19 pandemic last year shows no signs of slowing this year, at least according to one metric.
Golf Canada, the game’s governing body, said last week that Canadian golfers posted a record 1,712,737 scores to its handicap index database in July. That’s a 5 percent increase compared to July 2020 and the most for any July in history.
The battle for supremacy among Canada’s public golf courses came down to a modern East Coast resort and a pair of Western classics.
Cabot Cliffs in Inverness, Nova Scotia, has been named the 2021 best public course in Canada by influential ScoreGolf magazine. It’s the third consecutive time the six-year-old course has held the top spot in the publication’s biennial ranking of the 59 best public layouts.
Its sister course at the Cabot Cape Breton resort, Cabot Links, rated as No. 3, flanked by No. 2 Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge and No. 4 Fairmont Banff Springs. Jasper and Banff are both in Alberta, set among the Rocky Mountains and designed by Canadian architect icon Stanley Thompson in the 1920s.
Cape Breton Highlands Links, another Thompson classic, but this one in Nova Scotia, rounded out the top five.
ScoreGolf also released its list of courses with the best value, giving Falcon Lake in Manitoba top honours. The price of peak green fees – in Falcon Lake’s case, $56 – is factored into courses’ ratings to come up with their value.
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