The Royal Canadian Golf Association and Canadian National Railway orchestrated what sounded like a wingding of an affair yesterday in Montreal, based on the background noise around the teleconference and the number of people there. The purpose was to announce that a new sponsor had been found for an LPGA Tour event in Canada starting next year.
CN, the sponsor, has taken up the event for three years with a two-year option to renew. This is a significant development. The LPGA, while based in Daytona Beach, Fla., is an international tour that plays all over the world.
It should be in Canada, and has been since 1973.
Canadian Golf Hall of Famer Jocelyn Bourassa won that tournament, called La Canadienne at the time. Bourassa attended yesterday's event. So did golfers Lorie Kane, Marie-Josee Rouleau, Michelle Estill, RCGA officials, CN representatives and LPGA folks. Carolyn Bivens, the LPGA's new commissioner, had a prior commitment but sent her good wishes.
Her good wishes will be needed if the new tournament, called the CN Canadian Women's Open, is to become all it should be. The LPGA stop in Canada was a major from 1979 to 2000, but then lost that status. Bank of Montreal sponsored the tournament from 2001 to 2005 but bowed out because it wasn't getting the benefits it anticipated.
Those benefits presumably included well-attended events. That sometimes didn't happen. The 2004 event in Niagara Falls, Ont., was all but devoid of spectators.
This year, in Halifax, it was all but devoid of players from the top 30 on the LPGA's money list. Only Kane in that group played, and the PEI native would be in the tournament no matter her position.
Kane was hustled up by private plane from Orlando, an hour or so by car from where she lives, to attend yesterday's announcement. She was in a whirlwind, but had time to speak just before she boarded her plane to return.
"This was the only way I could come up," Kane said. "I'm going to Hawaii [today]for an outing and then to [South]Korea on Sunday. I wanted to be here. It's pretty exciting. It would have been embarrassing not to have a tournament in Canada."
Kane was impressed by the conversations she had with Hunter Harrison, CN's president and chief executive officer, and Jim Foote, CN's executive vice-president of sales and marketing. It should be noted that David McLean, CN's chairman, is an avid golfer and a member at Shaughnessy in Vancouver, where discussions with the RCGA first occurred during September's Bell Canadian Open. McLean didn't attend yesterday's event.
"I don't think they'll hold back," Kane said with respect to the anticipated purse for the tournament, to be held Aug. 10 to 13 at the London Hunt and Country Club in London, Ont. A member who requested anonymity said the club expects to make around $300,000.
Bivens said recently that she wants LPGA purses to increase substantially, so the winning player would hope to make even more than the club, at least down the road. It's doubtful that next year's winner will get $300,000. This year's winner Meena Lee got $195,000 (U.S.) from the $1.3-million purse.
London's a hot golf town, so attendance should be strong. Everybody's hoping that some of the popular young stars show up, including Paula Creamer, Natalie Gulbis, and dare one hope, Michelle Wie. She can expect a sponsor's invitation, the only way she can play because she's not an LPGA member.
Harrison himself said CN's commitment will be more than was Bank of Montreal's, and that the company will "progressively" increase the purse in coming years. Kane added, "Players will come if the purses go up."
But Kane said that next year's date is far from ideal. It falls the week after the Women's British Open but the same week as the Scandinavian TPC Hosted by Annika (Sorenstam), at her home club near Stockholm. International Management Group, which represents Kane, conducts Sorenstam's tournament and issues invitations to LPGA players.
"I would get out of that date [for the CN tournament]" Kane said. "I'd like to see us find a date later in the season when things settle down. They had to take the date next year."
The only other date available was in June, opposite the men's U.S. Open. CN wisely declined that date and will along with the RCGA seek better dates for future tournaments. The plan is to continue to move the tournament across Canada. Kane and CN officials said they plan to make it a memorable event wherever it is.
"I experienced the Bell Canadian Open for the first time this year," Kane said. "There's no reason our Canadian Open can't have the same stature."
It has a long way to go, but the right start has been made.
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