In the sprint to tell you who told you first, the media will continue to spit out names of potential RBC Canadian Open sites when a wall has been erected at the finish line to stop the speculators in their tracks, at least for now.
Here’s what we know about the next few years in our Open’s long history and future venues.
After next year’s Open is played at Vancouver’s Shaughnessy Golf and Country Club, it returns to Ontario in 2012 — at Hamilton Golf and Country Club, which gives just everyone a warm fuzzy after the reviews it got from PGA Tour players following previous Opens there.
The media in that centre of the universe labelled Southern Ontario has mentioned other locations beyond 2012 in their neighbourhood, including Eagle’s Nest near Richmond Hill, Coppinwood in Uxbridge and Devil’s Pulpit near Caledon.
Also, the dust has to settle on the 2010 Open which wrapped up last weekend at St. George’s, but the initial report is that membership and management were generally pleased with the way it went and that it would make a fine addition to a regular tournament rotation.
If you assumed that all of the Ontario clubs mentioned in the media were to be named as future Open sites, it would eliminate the need for this type of speculation for years to come. But there is one problem and that is that this tournament isn’t called the Ontario Open.
What this year’s Open at St. George’s did — besides providing a classic venue, despite benign weather conditions and rain that softened it — was prove that logistical challenges previously thought to be insurmountable, indeed, could be overcome.
The 2010 Open overcame the need to close Islington Ave., and move the range to nearby Islington Golf Club. The challenges are different at every site, but the St. George’s experiment opens the door to clubs that might never have had a chance before.
One city that could benefit from this is Calgary, which has never hosted an Open. It is known that there have been discussions with Golf Canada, although the general consensus is that a new facility is the best way to go. Quebec is also due for an Open in the near future.
For now, however, Golf Canada is in a happy place as far as future sites go.
It doesn’t want to go too far beyond the 2012 slot now occupied by Hamilton because that’s when the PGA Tour goes about renegotiating television deals and tinkering with the schedule, which will have a big effect on future sites.
As tourney director Bill Paul said a week ago, the tour could be a whole new world in 2012.
“I’ve got to believe it’s going to be, but I don’t know that for a fact,” he said. “I don’t know what the schedule is going to look like. Will there be changes? Absolutely. I can’t imagine it’s going to stay the same.”
That means speculation on future dates will remain speculation until it’s all sorted out. But there is one other certainty that offers a handy wild card to Golf Canada:
As part of the 1999 deal in which the Royal Canadian Golf Association (now Golf Canada) sold Glen Abbey to ClubLink, it is contractually obliged to play the Open at its longtime home before 2015. Therefore, the Abbey could be slotted into 2013, right after the new schedule is announced, to provide Golf Canada with a soft landing if the Open has new dates.
Beyond that, anything you hear on the matter will likely be mere speculation.
VOLUNTEERS NEEDED
The ClubLink Jane Rogers Championship, a Canadian Tour event that will be played Aug. 12-15 at Greystone Golf Club near Milton, is looking for scorers, caddies and volunteers. For more information, contact Joan Fisher at joantfisher@gmail.com, while caddies should contact Travis Daniels at travisdaniels@cogeco.ca.
hutchgolf@netzero.com
