Canadian Open Continues Searching For Title Sponsorship

Canadian Open's Title Sponsor Woes Could Cost Tournament $2.5M This Year

This weekend’s PGA Tour Canadian Open at Angus Glen Golf Club “could lose $2.5[M]," as the tournament will be played without a title sponsor for the second consecutive year, according to Garry McKay of the HAMILTON SPECTATOR. The event "made a little money last year when it was played at the Hamilton Golf and Country Club.” But this year, the Royal Canadian Golf Association (RCGA) is “saddled with an additional expense of approximately $2[M] that they have to pay CBS as part of their new deal with the PGA Tour that comes with switching to a midsummer date.” The RCGA made a presentation to about a dozen potential sponsors, including RIM co-CEO Jim Balsillie and Tim Hortons co-Founder Ron Joyce.  RCGA COO Rick Desrochers indicated that the organization is not searching “solely for a title sponsor" for $5-7M annually, and he “likes what they do at the British Open where they have five presenting sponsors.”   Pengrowth Management President & CEO Jim Kinnear, who helped organize yesterday's meeting, said, “Our concept is rather than have one single sponsor have a syndicate of corporations in Canada who are interested in golf and the future of the game in this country.” He added that “ideally they’d like to get seven companies on board.”  Pengrowth and Bell Canada are current sponsors of the tournament (HAMILTON SPECTATOR, 7/26). RCGA Exec Dir Scott Simmons said, “Obviously, a title sponsor would have to have interest in the U.S. market, where network television is, and be North American in scope, or even global, and the number of Canadian companies that fit that profile is not large” (VANCOUVER SUN, 7/26).