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The Canadian Professional Golf Tour is a men's professional golf tour headquartered in Oakville, Ontario. It was formally started in 1970 and was initially known as the Peter Jackson Tour.
In 1970, Imperial Tobacco, under the Peter Jackson brand, signed on as title sponsor and brought the scattered professional events under one umbrella. The Peter Jackson Tour hosted a series of seven or eight tournaments each season with each purse eventually averaging $25,000. The Tour developed predominantly Canadian touring pros but also warmly welcomed players from around the world. Canadian Golf Hall of Fame members Dave Barr and Dan Halldorson – both two-time PGA Tour winners – competed on the circuit in the 1970s and made several appearances once they were established on the big tour. Fellow Canadians and PGA Tour winners Al Balding and George Knudson also returned home several times in their career to play the circuit.
As the 1970s continued, government legislation began restricting the amount of advertising and sponsorship that tobacco companies were allowed to participate in. In 1978 and anticipating future legislation that would ban tobacco advertising and sponsorship in Canada, Imperial Tobacco withdrew its title sponsorship of the circuit. Several tournaments disappeared and although a few carried on, there was no longer any cohesion to the circuit. However, in 1982, Canadian touring pros formed the Tournament Players Division (TPD) within the Canadian Professional Golfers Association (CPGA) and proposed a reorganized circuit.
In 1985, TPD members selected touring pro Bob Beauchemin as president with the mandate to "build, promote and conduct tournaments of the Canadian Tour to develop Canadian professional golfers to a world-class level." The re-born circuit began play in 1985 and had six events. Nevertheless, the Tour was still linked with the CPGA. In January 1986, Beauchemin convinced the CPGA’s Board of Directors to grant the TPD status within the CPGA and to be responsible for its own funding.
The next step involved organizing tournaments in such as way as to maximize the benefit for the players. At the time, most tournaments were 36 or 54-hole events and several were pro-am formats. To prepare players for the PGA Tour, they set a goal for all tournaments to be 72 holes with no pro-ams during the actual competition. Prize money, exemptions and draws would need to mimic the format used on the PGA Tour and PGA European Tour. Although it took until 1989 for all tournaments to play 72 holes, the Canadian Tour began attracting players from not only the United States, but from around the world in the mid-1980s.
The Canadian Tour has sent many players on to PGA Tour success. Canadian Mike Weir, the winner of eight TOUR titles - including the 2003 the Masters - earned Rookie of the Year honors on the Canadian Tour in 1993. In 1997, Weir captured the 1997 Canadian Masters and BC Tel Pacific Open as well as the Order of Merit. He qualified for the PGA Tour in 1998 and has been there ever since. Other PGA Tour winners who played the Canadian Tour include 2005 United States Open winner Michael Campbell, 2004 British Open winner Todd Hamilton, Steve Stricker, Australian Stuart Appleby, Peter Lonard, Scott McCarron, Tim Herron, Chris DiMarco, Nick Watney, Stephen Ames, Paul Casey, Arron Oberholser, D. A. Points, and 2008 RBC Canadian Open winner Chez Reavie.
Canadian Tour graduates who have won on the Nationwide Tour and played the PGA Tour include Ken Duke, Scott Dunlap, Jon Mills, Omar Uresti, and Jeff Quinney.
Players from all over the globe continue to apprentice on the Canadian Tour. As of April 2009, more than half of its membership is American, with another 11 per cent coming from Australia and New Zealand.
A growing number of Europeans are using the Canadian Tour as their North American springboard. Several players from the British Isles attended 2009 Winter Qualifying Schools, with the winner in Florida - Ryan Thomas - coming from Wales.
Yet, much of the flavour is still Canadian. Approximately 25 per cent of the membership is home grown talent and several – including Dustin Risdon, Brad Fritsch and Brennan Webb – have recently graduated to the Nationwide Tour.
The Canadian Tour became an associate member of what was at the time the trade body of the world's main men's tours, the International Federation of PGA Tours, in 2000. In 2009, it became a full member when the Federation expanded to include all of the main women's tours. It is one of the 10 tours at which Official World Golf Rankings points are available.
The Canadian Open, which is the richest golf event in Canada, is a PGA Tour event. The Canadian Professional Golf Tour receives some exemptions for the event, but the prize money does not count towards the Canadian Tour money list. The tour also receives exemptions for a few Challenge Tour events and for the Nationwide Tour's Ford Wayne Gretzky Classic. As of early 2009, the top ten on the previous season's Order of Merit receive exemptions into U.S. Open sectional qualifying. The top two on the Order of Merit at the end of each season are exempted into second stage of PGA Tour Q-School each fall.
The Canadian Tour head office is at Golf House in Oakville, Ontario on the grounds of the Glen Abbey Golf Course. The Jack Nicklaus-designed course has hosted more than 20 Canadian Opens since 1977.
In 2011, the Canadian Tour made history when Isabelle Beisiegel became the first woman to earn a Tour card on a men's professional golf tour.
Below is the schedule for the 2011 season. It starts with several events in Central and South America and returns to Canada in June.
| Start date |
Tournament | Location | Winner | OWGR Points |
Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mar 20 | Barranquilla Colombia Challenge | Colombia | Cody Slover | 6 | Co-sanctioned with the Tour de las Américas |
| Mar 27 | Pacific Colombia Tour Championship | Colombia | Adam Hadwin | 6 | |
| May 8 | Mexican PGA Championship | Mexico | José de Jesus Rodríguez | 6 | |
| Jun 5 | Times Colonist Island Savings Open | British Columbia | José de Jesus Rodríguez | 6 | |
| Jun 12 | The Western Championship | British Columbia | Roger Sloan | 6 | |
| Jun 26 | Syncrude Boreal Open | Alberta | Danny Sahl | 6 | |
| Jul 3 | ATB Financial Classic | Alberta | Hugo Leon | 6 | |
| Jul 10 | Dakota Dunes Casino Open | Saskatchewan | Joe Panzeri | 6 | |
| Jul 17 | Canadian Tour Players Cup | Manitoba | Tom Hoge | 6 | |
| Aug 21 | Seaforth Country Classic | Ontario | Brian Unk | 6 | |
| Aug 28 | Canadian Tour Championship | Ontario | Stuart Anderson | 6 | |
| Nov 6 | Desert Dunes Classic | California, USA | Byron Smith | 6 |
This list is incomplete.
| Year | Winner | Country | Earnings (C$) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | José de Jesus Rodríguez | Mexico | 80,228 |
| 2010 | Aaron Goldberg | United States | 156,119 |
| 2009 | Graham DeLaet | Canada | 94,579 |
| 2008 | John Ellis | United States | 113,315 |
| 2007 | Byron Smith | United States | 91,202 |
| 2006 | Stephen Gangluff | United States | 67,336 |
| 2005 | Michael Harris | United States | 95,622 |
| 2004 | Erik Compton | United States | 85,876 |
| 2003 | Jon Mills | Canada | 55,321 |
| 2002 | Hank Kuehne | United States | 105,959 |
| 2001 | Aaron Barber | United States | 75,337 |
| 2000 | Steven Alker | New Zealand | 93,617 |
| 1999 | Ken Duke | United States | 122,188 |
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