22 Canadians in field of 156 vying for top prize of $31,500

Here are a few key notes to know about the Bayview Place Cardtronics Open presented by Times Colonist, which begins today at Uplands Golf Club:

• This is the 35th playing of the event on what is now the Mackenzie Tour-PGA Tour Canada — the longest serving tournament on the circuit, which is a developmental tour for the Web.com and PGA Tours.

• Adam Cornelson, of Langley, is the defending champion and looking to become the first back-to-back winner of this event, which carries a total purse of $175,000 and a $31,500 top prize.

• There are 22 Canadians in the field of 156 players, which will be cut down to the top 60 and ties after two rounds. A dozen of them are British Columbians including locals Riley Wheeldon, Cory Renfrew, Ben Griffin, Isaac Weintraub, Steven Lecuyer and junior amateurs Nolan Thoroughgood and Keaton Gudz.

• Making his professional debut this week, along with Canadian Jared du Toit, is Max McGreevy who helped the University of Oklahoma to the NCAA Championship last week. He earned his exempt status for eight events by finishing fifth at Qualifying school in Courtenay last month.

• Sluggett, Griffin, Weintraub, Gudz, Thoroughgood, du Toit, Lecuyer and Jamie Sadlowski all have sponsors’ exemptions to play here. Weintraub, Gudz and Thoroughgood will play together, teeing off today at 9:20 a.m. on hole No. 1.

• Sadlowski, of St. Paul, Alta., is well known as a two-time world long drive champion and will be making his 2017 Mackenzie Tour debut this week. The 28-year-old earned conditional status this year at a Qualifying school south of the border and has previously played in two events on this tour — finishing tied for 68th at the 2013 Syncrude Boreal Open presented by AECON.

• Wheeldon won that event in 2013 with Renfrew, finishing third. Renfrew won the very same tournament the year previous, but is now working as an assistant pro at Cordova Bay and says he is only playing this Victoria stop and next week in Kelowna.