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| Canadian Professional Golf Tour |
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Description
In February 2005, Richard A. Janes was named the fifth Commissioner of the Canadian Tour’s Tournament Players Association with Dan Halldorson, a two-time PGA Tour and World Cup champion, appointed as Deputy Director.
The Tournament Players Association is the governing body for the Canadian Tour with operations in Canada, the United States and Mexico. The Association represents more than 200 members from around the globe and, as an associate member of the International Federation of PGA Tours, official World Golf Ranking points are awarded to the top three finishers at each Tour event. At the end of each Canadian Tour season, the Order of Merit champion and runner-up are exempted into the second stage of PGA Tour Qualifying School. Top players also receive exemptions into the Bell Canadian Open as well as a pair of Nationwide Tour events in Canada.
Some of the most recognized names in professional golf have competed on the Canadian Tour, including 2003 Masters champion Mike Weir, a seven-time PGA Tour champion who has won more money on the circuit than any other Canadian in history. Weir, a native of Bright’s Grove, Ont., won Canadian Rookie of the Year honours in 1993 before winning the Canadian Tour money crown four years later thanks to victories at the Canadian Masters and BC Tel Pacific Open.
But Weir is certainly not the only former Canadian Tour member that has moved on to a brilliant career on the PGA Tour. Chris DiMarco, Stuart Appleby, Steve Stricker, Notah Begay, Kirk Triplett, Tim Herron, Dave Barr, Ian Leggatt and Halldorson are just a few of the PGA Tour champions that have been Canadian Tour members over the years.
In fact, through January of 2005, the top 25 Canadian Tour graduates have amassed more than $150 million US in PGA Tour winnings.
Tour alumni have also won championships on Tours around the globe. Mark Johnson joined the Canadian Tour circuit in 1999 and had a pair of runner-up showings in 2003. In March of 2005, Johnson would win his first Champions Tour title in his rookie season at the Toshiba Senior Classic, two years after fellow Canadian Tour graduate Barr captured the Royal Caribbean Golf Classic. Tour graduates have also won on the European, South African and Asian Tours, while former member Paul Casey helped lead England to the World Golf Championships World Cup this past November.
Last season, four of the top seven money leaders on the Nationwide Tour—the premier feeder circuit for the PGA Tour—were recent players on the Canadian Tour, including earnings leader Jimmy Walker, who won a Canadian Tour event in Arizona during his 2002 rookie season. David Hearn of Brantford, Ont. used a Canadian Tour sponsor’s exemption to win the Nationwide Tour’s 2004 Alberta Classic before earning PGA Tour playing privileges later in the year.
While the Tour has been in operation for more than 35 years, it was formally started in 1970 when Imperial Tobacco began sponsorship of a coast-to-coast Tour known as the Peter Jackson Tour. In its early years, the Tour helped in the development of many future Canadian Hall of Fame members and PGA Tour regulars including Halldorson and Dave Barr. Canadian greats George Knudson and Al Balding were regulars on the Tour throughout the 1970’s and the legendary Moe Norman played most of his professional career on the cross-country circuit.
In 1986, thanks to the endless efforts of players such as Halldorson, Barr, Bob Beauchemin, Rick Gibson and Jim Rutledge, the Canadian Tour broke away from the Canadian Professional Golfers’ Association to become a not-for-profit entity that to this day remains solely owned by its members.
(Added: 2005-07-30 08:07:54-Last updated: 0000-00-00 00:00:00)
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