Angus Glen Golf Club
Angus Glen Golf Club has been selected as the host course for the first-ever Pan Am Games golf tournament in 2015.
The four-day Pan Am Pro-Am competition is tentatively scheduled for July 16-19, 2015 on the South Course, which played host to the 2002 Canadian Men's Open Championship. The course is currently undergoing a redesign which is expected to be completed next year.
The 2015 Pan Am golf tournament, which will include both men's and women's events, will feature professional and amateur players competing in a 72-hole stroke play competition.
"I've proudly represented Canada for several years during my time on Team Canada and now on the LPGA Tour and it's exciting to see golf's first ever inclusion in the Pan Am Games when they come to Toronto in 2015," said former Team Canada national squad member Rebecca Lee-Bentham of Toronto, who's in her second year on the LPGA Tour and has her eye on a spot on Canada's team for the 2016 Olympics. The 21-year-old said the Pan Am Games would be the ideal preparation.
"It's really exciting because (competing in a multi-sport Games) is something so new and something golfers don't really get to be a part of," said Lee-Bentham, whose best finish this year was 18th at the Australian Open. "Just being around other athletes in that kind of setting is exciting. Plus, it's on home soil in front of friends and family."
The Pan Am golf event comes one year ahead of golf's formal return to the Olympic Games in 2016 in Brazil, where Canada is the defending gold medalist. Canadian golfer George Lyon from Richmond, Ontario, won the last trophy awarded in the sport at the 1904 Olympic Games.
"You're going to get some of the world's best amateur golfers in the world playing here, and you're also going to get some of the best professional golfers in the world playing here, so you certainly want a golf course that is a great competitive test," said Golf Canada CEO Scott Simmons. "(Angus Glen) has certainly held its own with the world's best players, so having that on their resume was a huge feather in their cap."
Simmons predicts the 64 golfers who are expected to compete will be a mix "of the nations' elite amateurs or their young professionals."
He lists 15-year-old Brooke Henderson of Smiths Falls, Ont. among the Canadians to possibly watch for in 2015. Henderson won the Canadian women's amateur championship in July, and is the 10th ranked amateur in the world.
"Unless she turns professional in the next two years, she could be the No. 1 amateur in the world by that time," he said.
Simmons said the national organization received some "very, very strong applications," and that Angus Glen's strengths were its proximity to downtown Toronto — with its accessibility by public transit — and its proven ability to host big events.
"And the golf course itself needs to be a very competitive test for some of the world's best golfers," Simmons said. "They scored high on all of the criteria."
In addition to golf, Markham, Ontario will also play host to water polo, badminton and table tennis during the Pan Am Games as well as table tennis competitions during the Parapan Am Games in August 2015.
Files from The Canadian Press were used in this report