ANCASTER, ONT. - The Hamilton Golf and Country Club is interested in staging the Canadian Open again in 2019, a century after holding the national championship for the first time and welcoming amateur legend Bobby Jones to its fairways.
Hamilton chief operating officer George Pinches said the club has an "option" on playing host to the tournament for the sixth time in its history in 2019.
The private club first held the tournament in 1919, five years after relocating to its current site in the Hamilton suburb of Ancaster. It returned as host in 1930, then again in 2003 and 2006. The fifth playing at Hamilton occurs in July.
Tournament director Bill Paul said "2019 is a long way away. It is the 100th anniversary since the first Open at Hamilton … but nothing is confirmed."
The 2013 edition is scheduled for a return to Glen Abbey in Oakville, Ont., which has played host to the tournament 25 times since it's opening in 1977, and the 2014 Open is expected to go to Royal Montreal in Île Bizard, Que., although neither have been officially confirmed.
Paul said he is working on venue choices for 2015 and beyond and may have some announcements over the next couple of weeks.
Any final decision to hold another Canadian Open at Hamilton in 2019 would have to pass a members' vote first. The title sponsor might have some say, too.
But a 2019 playing at the classic course would make sense for historical reasons. Hamilton could celebrate the 100th anniversary of its involvement with the Canadian Open.
In 1919 , J. Douglas Edgar of England won the first of his two consecutive Canadian Open titles. Jones, whose career included winning his era's version of the Grand Slam and co-founding Augusta National Golf Club, tied for second place as a 17-year-old amateur.
"We have an option on the 2019 event because of the 1919 event, Bobby Jones and all that stuff," Pinches said. "That would be 100 years since we had it on this site and we've let that be known that we will likely do that date ."
He said Hamilton takes great pride in holding the Open and, as a founding member of the Royal Canadian Golf Association, which organizes the tournament, feels an obligation to open its gates.
"If you have a club that's capable of hosting it, there's almost an acceptance of a responsibility to do that periodically for the greater good of golf in Canada," Pinches said in an interview inside the clubhouse, as work continued outside in preparation for this year's edition of the championship, which begins July 26.
Pinches said it would be ideal if perhaps six to eight courses across Canada would agree to take turns serving as host.
The RCGA, rebranded recently as Golf Canada, has discussed this idea of a rotation and an unofficial one seems to be taking shape, with Hamilton, Royal Montreal, Shaughnessy in Vancouver, Glen Abbey and perhaps St. George's in Toronto at the core.