Nationwide Tour Coming To Collingwood, Ontario

This cold I acquired while on my recent mini-vacation is unrelenting. We’re now into day 8 or 9 with no apparent end in sight. I'm told by one of the smartest people I know that anecdotally it seems the common cold has morphed into something more nasty and long-lasting, so I’m hoping that’s all it is, the “common cold.” It shut me down over the weekend and a lot of Monday, but I did manage to breathe enough today to make some good progress.

We had some good news for the local golf scene on Monday. Here’s the text of an article from the Globe and Mail.

Gretzky brings Nationwide Tour back to Canada

Canadian Press

November 19, 2007 at 9:19 PM EST

COLLINGWOOD, Ont. — The Nationwide Tour is returning to Canada with a little help from The Great One.

The Ford Wayne Gretzky Classic will be played next June at two courses near Collingwood, Ont., which is about 150 kilometres north of Toronto.
Gretzky said he was inspired to start the event after attending the Nationwide Tour tournament in Greenville, S.C.

"Each and every year we've gone to the Nationwide event in Greenville it's just been better each and every time," Gretzky said in an interview with the Golf Channel on Monday. "That's where we came up with the concept of 'Wow, this is such a great tournament, we should do one of these in Canada."'

It will feature a field of 160 Nationwide Tour players, each of whom will be paired with a celebrity or amateur player for at least two rounds. The Nationwide pros will be playing for one of the largest purses of the year — US$800,099 — and all four rounds will be televised on The Golf Channel.

The tournament, hosted by Gretzky, will be split between The Georgian Bay Club and the Raven Golf Club at Lora Bay, which was co-designed by Thomas McBroom and PGA Tour player Tom Lehman and opened in 2006.

"What we hope to do by having this event in Canada is raise the awareness that youngsters in Canada can get to the PGA," Gretzky said. "It takes a lot of time and you have to put in a lot of effort but there are stepping stones to getting on the PGA Tour.

"The Nationwide is a nice stepping stone and hopefully my event will give it some exposure in my country."

Gretzky is an avid golfer and played in the pro-am at the CN Canadian Women's Open this summer at Royal Mayfair in Edmonton.

The Nationwide Tour last held events in Canada in 2005, when the CPGA Championship was played in Cambridge, Ont., and the Alberta Classic was held in Calgary.