Christina Foster of Vaughan, Ontario, is among the Canadians taking advantage of a revamped developmental tour based in Florida.
The East Coast Women’s Pro Golf Tour, or ECWPGT, begins its inaugural season next week, giving players like Foster a place to hone their games and earn some money to put toward their journeys to higher levels of competition.
Golf industry veteran Mark Berman bought the former National Women’s Golf Association circuit in January and remade it into the ECWPGT. To keep travel costs down for players, the tour schedules clusters or “pods” of consecutive tournaments in one area before moving on to the next.
The ECWPGT held a handful of winter-series events, but next week’s tournament in Wesley Chapel, Florida, marks the tour’s official launch. Georgia and the Carolinas are among the other eastern U.S. areas where the tour will have events this summer.
“It’s hard enough to make it to the next level just skillswise, but financially I think a lot of girls do have trouble with that. Having a tour like this helps, for sure.”
Christina Foster
For Foster, who made her pro debut as a 19-year-old at the 2015 U.S. Women’s Open, the tour is a rare opportunity in a pro golf landscape where emerging and even established female players find far fewer competitive options than do men.
“Unless you’re on the LPGA Tour and doing well on the LPGA Tour, when you’re competing and traveling, it’s very expensive,” she said. “It’s hard enough to make it to the next level just skillswise, but financially I think a lot of girls do have trouble with that. Having a tour like this helps, for sure.”
The left-hander also has competed on the higher-level Epson Tour since 2016 and uses the ECWPGT to fill in gaps in her schedule, particularly when the Epson is in its off-season or has down weeks.
“If that tour wasn’t there, we wouldn’t really have anywhere to compete,” said Foster, who is based in Kissimmee, Florida, near Orlando. “It’s important to keep sharp, playing in competitions. It’s a great tour to keep your skills sharp. But it’s also really competitive. There are a lot of really good players.”
Foster has been Canada’s top performer on the circuit and its predecessor in recent years. Josée Doyon, Kate Johnston and Noémie Paré are among other Canadians to make starts, while the U.S. and international contingent includes notables such as American Bobbi Stricker, daughter of Steve Stricker, and rising Australian Gabriela Ruffels.
Tournaments are 54 holes with a 36-hole cut, to mimic the Epson Tour, and players now enjoy larger prize pools and perks such as lunches and other nutrition, not insignificant for young pros on a budget. “It was a nice tour before ... but the new owner has raised it up to a level to where it has more of an Epson Tour feel,” Foster said.
For Berman, the tour is as much personal as a business. The head of MediaShare Consulting Group Inc. fully realized the shortage of playing opportunities for women after his daughter, Hannah, turned pro in 2020, and even existing events seemed to be under-resourced.
“I guess I couldn’t sit on the sidelines anymore since it was now going to be her career,” he said.
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La Tempête expands: A Quebec City-area golf club with ambitions to hold the RBC Canadian Open is on track to fully open its second course for play in 2023, the Golf Course Architecture journal reports.
La Tempête was founded in 2003 and its North course has staged such international events as the 2009 World Skins Game and the PGA Tour Champions’ Quebec Championship in 2014. Its membership has been full since 2009, prompting the club to add another 18 holes.
The first nine of the new project, to be called the South course, has been open since last summer, and the balance of the 7,300-yard layout is set to be ready next year, architect Warren Huxham told Golf Course Architecture.
“The club felt that they needed to expand to 36 holes to meet the growing demand,” said Huxham, who designed the original and new courses with his brother, Darrell. “They acquired neighboring land, and in 2019 when many courses were struggling to stay afloat, we began construction of the South course with one eye on potentially hosting the Canadian Open in future.”
On its website, La Tempête says it is spending $10 million on the new course and infrastructure upgrades, after investing $15 million since the club’s launch.
Nesbitt qualifies for PGA Tour start: Drew Nesbitt made his fifth career PGA Tour start last week at the Wells Fargo Championship after earning a spot in the field by winning its Monday qualifier. His 64 tied a course record at Cattail Creek Country Club in Maryland.
The 27-year-old from Toronto survived just one cut in his four other appearances, though he made a memorable mark at the 2019 Honda Classic when he peeled off his shirt and rolled up his pants to play a shot from the water of a penalty area. He has competed mostly on the PGA Tour Latinoamérica, where he has one victory and shot the developmental circuit’s first 59.
Davis to play CP Women’s Open: Anna Davis, the recent Augusta National Women’s Amateur champion, will play in the CP Women’s Open this summer, the national championship announced last week. The bucket hat-wearing teenager from California made her LPGA Tour debut at the Palos Verdes Championship in late April, making the cut, and is also expected to compete in the U.S. Women’s Open, AIG Women’s Open and Amundi Evian Championship, among other LPGA events.
The CP Women’s Open is scheduled for Ottawa Hunt and Golf Club in Canada’s capital, beginning Aug. 25.
Canadian combo: Golf Québec and the PGA of Canada are combining their marquee tournaments for women this year. The women’s division of Golf Québec’s 4-year-old Bromont Invitational will be folded into the national organization’s PGA Women’s Championship of Canada. The tournament for touring professionals, club pros and amateurs is to be played in late June at Golf Château-Bromont, east of Montreal.
The PGA Women’s Championship of Canada dates to 1987, and its past champions include Brooke Henderson, Alena Sharp and five-time winner Lorie Kane, after whom the trophy is now named.
This year, the tournament also has a new title sponsor, heated-apparel maker Ororo, and a larger purse of $100,000. The winner will also earn an exemption into the LPGA Tour’s CP Women’s Open.
Leblanc signs clothing deal: Maude-Aimée Leblanc’s strong LPGA Tour season has caught the attention of the corporate world. The Quebecker, whose apparel and gear has long been largely devoid of sponsor logos, has signed with upstart Lohla Sports to wear outfits from its Streets of Los Angeles collection, Flagstick.com reports.
LPGA Tour legend Annika Sorenstam also wears the brand.
Flagstick said Leblanc met Lohla founder Lisa O’Hurley through mutual friend Peter Jacobsen, the broadcaster and seven-time PGA Tour winner.
Leblanc has two top-10 finishes on the LPGA Tour this year, a resurgence after temporarily retiring from the game a couple of years ago. The lanky 33-year-old said she likes Lohla for its fabrics and style, and also because “even as a woman over 6 feet tall, it fits me very well.”
Canadian Open adds fourth regional qualifier: There will be four regional qualifiers this year for the RBC Canadian Open, up from three in past years. Quebec’s qualifier is scheduled for May 9, followed by one in British Columbia on May 17, and another in Ontario a day later. For the first time, Alberta will hold a regional qualifier, May 30 at the new Mickelson National Golf Club in Calgary.
The winner of each (if the field has 100 or more players) earns a direct entry into the RBC Canadian Open at St. George’s Golf and Country Club in Toronto on June 9-12. The other 10 percent of finishers at each regional get spots in the final qualifier, to be held June 6.