PGA Tour Canada event hands out exemptions
It’s great that some of the world’s best up-and-coming golfers will be in Ottawa Aug. 15 to 21 at Hylands Golf Club for the National Capital Open to Support Our Troops.
Equally as important is what the tournament is doing for others in need. Proceeds, which organizers hope will exceed $100,000, will go to help mitigate veterans’ homelessness.
A couple of sponsor exemptions were announced at a news conference on Thursday. Nick Valiquette, winner of an Under-19 tournament in Cornwall, thorough the Play Junior Golf Tour, will get a chance to see how he stacks up alongside the best players competing on the Mackenzie Tour-PGA Tour Canada circuit. Also invited: Maj. Cameron Lowden, current Canadian Armed Forces national champion. The PGA of Canada Club Professionals will compete for an exemption at an event Aug. 15.
The Mackenzie Tour-PGA Tour Canada is about two things, according to media official Brian Decker: charity and advancing player opportunities in their careers and seeing them get to the PGA Tour. If the Web.com Tour season ended today, four players who played in the National Capital Open a year ago would earn their PGA Tour cards.
It’s expected that Dan McCarthy, Adam Cornelson, Taylor Moore, Corey Conners and Ben Taylor — who are all competing in the RBC Canadian Open at Glen Abbey, in Oakville this week — and Aaron Wise, who won the NCAA Championship this year — will be among those teeing it up at Hylands next month. There will be 156 players in the field, representing more than 20 countries.