In the latest issue of Pro Shop magazine, columnist Garry Mckay wrote about the start of the Canadian Tour 40 years ago. (Click here to read the story). Pro Shop magazine received a response from Barry McWha who was the President of the CPGA (now PGA Canada) at the time and he shared his thoughts and provided another historical look at the start of the Canadian Tour.
Hello Randy
I just read the latest edition from cover to cover. Excellent as always!
I would like to add some context to the article about the ‘Canadian tour’ …….. I succeeded Gary Maue in 1983 as President of the CPGA (at the time). The TPD was a hot topic at the time and both Ken Tarling and Bob Beauchemin deserve every accolade they received. Their passion and belief in the TPD is what drove them both.
What was missing was that in ’83 with the end of the PJ Tour and the end of the Labatt sponsorship of the CPGA Championship, there was a void looming in professional competition in Canada.
The Board at the time decided to self-administer the CPGA Championship and hired Ted Maude who recruited Pat Morris, the CEO of Timex, as the title sponsor. Ted was the driving force behind turning that event into a success. Pat’s involvement was critical in that he stated Timex would sponsor the event if it was open to Canadian PGA members ONLY. The board committed to fund the startup purse and at that time, the CPGA was anything but flush with money. Ted sold hole sponsorships, pro-am sponsorship etc and with the help of Leon Decaire, head professional at Spring lakes and the support of Mac Frost, the owner of Spring Lakes we had a tournament in 1984. Spring Lakes was a great venue and the Pro Am was a ‘Canadian golf love in’…… everyone in the room (Panny, Moe, Jim Rutledge, Dave Barr, Ken Tarling, Bob Beauchemin, Ray Stewart and all the other players were so excited because the Canadian PGA Championship was being contested by Canadian PGA members. No disrespect to Labatt’s but the fact that name PGA Tour players were being paid appearance money to raise the profile of the event really rankled Canadians who were trying to make it without financial resources being available.
I remember sharing a cab with Dave Barr one time earlier and we discussed the fact that no Canadians were getting any help to offset expenses, but the PGA Tour players invited to play (and often win) were being paid appearance money. That was the beginning of a return to Canadian PGA members only.
Following that Championship which every participant was excited to be a part of, I believe we all began to realize that that the CPGA TPD was important and needed our support. I will always remember being able to present the PD Ross Trophy to Jim Rutledge in 1983.
After that experience I went home and convinced the Manitoba Golf Association to allow Southwood G&CC to host the 1985 Manitoba Open. I used the same model that Ted used and we took that tournament over a six-year run at Southwood from a $12,000 purse and 54 holes in 1984 (at Niakwa G&CC) to a $25,000 purse in ’85, $75,000 and 72 holes in ’86 and $100,000 in ’88 with live tv. We worked with Bob Beauchemin who was chairing the TPD to establish a contract that would recognize that the TPD was providing the players and governance, that the Club was providing the facilities and the volunteers, and the TPD would be paid a fee for their services and the Club would receive revenues from ticket sales/F&B etc. That was the birth of Manitoba Open Inc and the partners were the CPGA TPD, Southwood G&CC and the Manitoba Golf Association.
My little trip down memory lane……. All the best
Barrie McWha, PGA
General Manager
Morningstar Golf Club
Editors Note: In addition to the comments from Barrie, we would like to add that two additional people and their companies were also involved to help the start of the Canadian Tour: Frank DeVries from Perrier Canada and John Cyopek from Canpar.
