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It's common for Rick Janes to slice himself a big, fat piece of humble pie and chow down on it while discussing the Canadian Tour, an organization in which he serves as commissioner.
"All things being equal, we're still continually producing players that are going on to the Nationwide (Tour), but just as importantly, on to the PGA Tour," he said. "Obviously, we don't take any credit for it. We attract good players, we have a good schedule and so, we can probably take a little bit of pride in that.
"It's very gratifying to see this tour developing players like that. There's no bravado in that statement," added Janes, who should be more inclined to beat his chest, as should the entire tour and those who went before him, such as former commissioners Bob Beauchemin and Dick Grimm.
What Janes should be saying is that the Canadian Tour can't take all the credit for players who move on to the big show. Obviously, the players themselves deserve credit and so do other development grounds that have made it possible for them to hone their skills.
Ask players such as Mike Weir, Steve Stricker and Chris DiMarco about their soft spots for the Canadian Tour and their responses are much stronger than Janes lets on.
"Those were some of the best times in my professional career," said Stricker, who won the 1990 Victoria Open, the 1993 Canadian PGA Championship and the 2007 Presidents Cup at Royal Montreal.
The Canadian Tour continues its contributions to the PGA Tour with more recent graduates such as John Mallinger, Troy Kelly, Spencer Levin and Jeff Quinney.
Developing Canadian Graham DeLaet of Weyburn, Sask., who had a couple of top 15s in South Africa recently, is also a tour graduate.
"He has had a pretty nice go of it since August," said Janes of DeLaet. "He had a great run in August on our tour, winning in Montreal and challenging every week for the balance of our season. Then he and Wes (Heffernan) made a nice showing at the World Cup.
"We encourage those players to go and play elsewhere," he said. "We want Graham to go and play in South Africa -- the same with Wes Heffernan. It's in the best interests of our tour and our members to create opportunities for them to get exposed to play at that level."
The humble nature of Janes and the entire tour stems from a history of limited resources which, if you think about it, makes its development of PGA Tour players that much more impressive.
In 2005, the tour had just four Canadian events, but will open this season with at least 10 full-field events in this country, more in Mexico and a swing through Latin America that ended last month.
Although a final draft of the schedule hasn't been released, there also is hope for another Canadian event in British Columbia's Okanagan Valley.
Purses also are rising modestly. The Times Colonist Open in Victoria, for example, jumped from $150,000 to $200,000, while the Greater Vancouver Charity Classic has gone up from $100,000 to $150,000 this year, so the tour, as is its tradition, is staying afloat despite the tough economy.
"I wouldn't want to create a picture that doesn't have potential cracks," said a cautious Janes. "It's moving in the right direction."
In other words, anything can happen in difficult times and the tour has seen enough rough patches, even when times were better, to know never to take anything for granted, yet it always managed to survive.
CAUTIOUS
"First of all, we have a zero risk policy. We're very cautious about the way we have developed our business. We've been developing it for sustainability. We're seeing the fruits of that right now.
"We have a pretty good business model, but I'm not in denial, nor should anybody be in denial about the economy, so we're being cautious right now and will be for the foreseeable future," said Janes, adding that the tour is all about engaging sponsors, volunteers and fans in local markets.