British Columbia Golf Executive Director Remembers Competitors
More than a dozen of the players competing at the 2016 Pacific Links Bear Mountain Championship were once members of the PGA TOUR Canada.
And while it may have been more than 20 years since British Columbia Golf executive director Kris Jonasson was a rules official on the then named Canadian Tour, he can still remember those who he expected to make it to the PGA TOUR.
"Scott McCarron was a wonderful player, Scott Dunlap won an event at Cordova Bay. Michael Bradley was a great player and he made it the PGA TOUR as well," recalled Jonasson.
"There were quite a few people who came out, made it and moved on. But I always believed that if you started on the Canadian Tour and had not made it to the next level within three years, you probably did not have much of a future and all of those players did."
Is it different today?
"Yes, it has finally changed. Now you can go out there (the PGA TOUR Canada) and you can play for a few years and eventually move up. Golf is a late maturing sport. You still see it in amateur golfers. You look at many of the career paths, we are a late maturing sport so there are a lot of people who continue to get better."
One who would be the (mature) poster child for this would be Ken Duke who will ply his trade on the PGA TOUR Champions three years from now.
Duke played the Canadian Tour on and off for seven years until his early 30s before eventually making it to the then Nationwide and subsequently The PGA TOUR.
"You look at a Ken Duke. He was always at the top of The Canadian Tour whenever he played it. He was then able to get to the next level."
There are a few Canadian players who Jonasson felt would go farther than they eventually may have.
"Stuart Hendley, who Monday qualified for this tournament... I always though he would do better than he did." (ed. note While originally from the U.S., Hendley married and lived in Lacombe, Alberta for a period).
"Jim Rutledge as well... Everybody always said he had an unbelievable swing. They all could not believe that he had not already made it to the PGA TOUR...".
Kris made a lot of rulings during his time with the Canadian Tour (1991-95) and can remember many but one stands out for him with Jim.
"Well, I made several rulings for Jim", recalled Kris with a wry smile.
"I remember making a ruling for Jim at the BC Open. I was called over and Jim said 'I have a golf ball here that has my marking and it's the number golf ball I was playing and over here is another golf ball with exactly the same marking and exactly the same number'.
It turned out that the previous day in the practice round he had hit his shot to the same spot and never found it. And I asked him jokingly, 'Well after yesterday hadn't you figured it out not to hit it over here? 'In any case eventually we were able to determine which was his and he was ok. If we hadn't then, because he would not be able to determine which was his, then it would have been a lost ball."