CPGA TOUR 1978 – 1985
CPGA assumes operation of the Tour
The success of the Peter Jackson Tour on Canadian golf can be best illustrated by the success Dave Barr, Dick Zokol, Dan Halldorson, and Jim Nelford experienced.
In 1977 the Peter Jackson Tour distributed $130,000 to aspiring young professionals from various countries. They came to Canada to train for the summer before proceeding to the Fall PGA qualifying school. At the close of the season Imperial Tobacco Company decided to concentrate their future sponsorship dollars on three events: the Canadian Open, the LPGA DuMaurier Classic and in 1981 the PGA Seniors Tour events. In 1978 the prize money for the individual Canadian Tour events dropped from $25,000 to $10,000 – $15,000 events. Because of the severe drop in purse money the foreign contingent moved to other world tours. Canadian professionals found the cost to travel the country to high. The skill level for the fields declined. Naturally long time events like the Ontario Open ceased after 1980. The Alberta and Saskatchewan Opens were held sporadically with only local professionals and amateurs participating. Only the opens in British Columbia, Manitoba and Quebec remained in tact.
In 1981 it appeared the Tour would be revived to its former status when IMG under Mark McCormick showed interest. Unfortunately their support never materialized.
In 1984 the picture brightened for the better. Ken Tarling and Bob Beauchemin took the necessary steps to create a Tournament Players Division inside the CPGA. The TPD operated the Canadian Tour following the US satellite tour model. Utilizing Bob’s experiences on the PGA Tour he immediately established a mobile field office, a field work force to oversee registration, to set course pin placements and to administer the golf rules. Local committees handled the parking, the crowd control, and the concessions. In 1984 the total purse reached $100,000. The following year sponsors contributed half a million dollars to the Canadian Tour events. Beauchemin outlined his vision for the tour as follows, “The T.P.D. is proud to contribute to golf’s growth, and its integrity. Our goal is for the tour to be comprised of 15 professional events from coast to coast, with the prize money at each event in the six figure bracket.”
In 1986 Score Golf became involved in the tour by publishing annually the TPD Media Guide. This outstanding publication offered biographies on the players, the results for the previous year and the Tour schedule.
Like its predecessor the Canadian Professional Golf Tour acted as training ground for young Canadian and international golf professionals to hone their skills to prepare them for the big tour – the PGA.
After the first decade Tour Commissioner Dick Grimm summarized the tours success as follows:
Steve Stricker, Guy Boros, Mike Heinen, Mike Springer, Grant Waite, Mike Weir are only a small sampling of the stars that played on the Canadian Tour. The list of graduates playing around the world now contains close to 70 names.
A great deal of praise must go to tournament sponsors, organizers, and fundraisers. Because of their tireless efforts, these up and coming stars have a place to hone their skills before they go on to compete against the worlds best. More importantly, it gives our young Canadian players an opportunity to compete against top international competition – which has always been an objective of the Canadian Tour.”
As the Canadian Tour celebrates its 30th anniversary Dick Grimm’s words are true today. Just look at the success of David Ahern, Adam Hadwin, Nick Taylor, and Roger Sloan.
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