THE CANADIAN PRESS
TORONTO — The CN Canadian Women’s Open is on the move again.
Winnipeg’s St. Charles Country Club will host the 2010 LPGA Tour event, the Royal Canadian Golf Association announced Wednesday. Winnipeg becomes the fifth city in as many years to host the event since CN took over as sponsor.
St. Charles Country Club is no stranger to high-level golf, having hosted the 1952 Canadian Open, the 1992 du Maurier Classic and 2000 AT&T Canadian Senior Open. Nine of the course’s 27 holes were designed by Alister McKenzie, who co-designed Augusta National — site of the Masters.
"St. Charles is an absolutely wonderful venue that has challenged many of the game’s greatest players before," said Scott Simmons, executive director of the RCGA. "It’s an ideal venue to challenge the stars of the LPGA."
The CN Canadian Women’s Open has developed into one of the top events on the LPGA Tour in recent years and regularly draws a strong field. For that reason, Simmons said the competition to host the tournament has become increasingly competitive.
"Within a few short years, this event has become, in our event, the best ladies’ golf event in the world," said Simmons. "The demand to host the event has grown significantly.
"We obviously want to move this event across the country, and can only choose one host province, city and club per year. We basically have to look at the priorities of all organizations at the time, and find the most suitable host club."
Golfers will play the McKenzie course for the front nine, while the Donald Ross-designed course will serve as the back nine. Organizers don’t anticipate having to alter the course in time for 2010.
"At this point, we don’t think any changes need to be done to the golf course," said tournament director Sean Van Kesteren. "It’s perfect the way it is.
"We’ve spoken with the LPGA Tour, and they still need to make the trip up there. But they trust our judgment. We’re going to play it as is."
This year’s tournament will be held in Calgary at Priddis Greens Golf and Country Club.
.The 2010 event marks the end of CN’s five-year sponsorship agreement with the RCGA.
"We are now in the process of sitting down with the RCGA and looking at what the future may bring," said Stan Jablonski, CN’s senior vice-president of sales. "But I think you can appreciate that these are difficult times, and certainly we will be evaluating what we do going forward.
"We have a lot of decisions to make."