Road to PGA TOUR starts at Point Grey
Posted on 1st May, 2014
/ Source: Brad Ziemer, Guest Contributor

The road to the PGA TOUR has become a much more circuitous journey than it once was. There are no longer any shortcuts. Gone are the days when a player could catch lightning in a bottle at Qualifying School and earn a ticket straight to golf’s promised land.

PGA TOUR Canada is succeeding where its struggling predecessor - the former Canadian Tour - could not, largely because of one significant carrot it offers players. Actually, five of them. The top five players on the PGA TOUR Canada money list at season’s end earn a promotion to the Web.com TOUR and a chance to then play their way onto the PGA TOUR. In the inaugural PGA TOUR Canada season last year, two of those five spots went to Canadians: MacKenzie Hughes of Dundas, Ont., won the Order of Merit, while former B.C. Junior champion Riley Wheeldon of Comox finished second.
That chance to earn one of those five promotions has created huge interest in PGA TOUR Canada among young professionals. PGA TOUR Canada filled three Q schools this spring - one in California, another in Florida and a third at Crown Isle in Courtenay - and had long waiting lists at each site.
Canada has become the place where young pros come to chase their dreams.
Canada has become the place where young pros come to chase their dreams.
Vancouver is part of an expanded second season for PGA TOUR Canada, which has 12 events on its coast-to-coast schedule this year. That is up from nine events in 2013. The Canadian Tour last played in the Metro Vancouver area in 2009 when the City of Surrey Invitational was held at Hazelmere Golf Club.
The cachet of the PGA TOUR brand helped bring about a Vancouver event. PC Financial, already the presenting sponsor of two PGA TOUR Canada events in Eastern Canada, stepped up this year as title sponsor of the Vancouver tourney and Point Grey offered to host the event. GolfBC has also jumped aboard as a sponsor of the tournament, something that turned out to be great news for Kevin Maxwell.

Maxwell is just one good story heading into what should be a terrific event. There figures to be about 150 others when for one week Point Grey is turned into a field of dreams.