Time to tweak sponsorship regulations

The muttering has turned to grumbling, and is likely soon to become cursing.

Golf Canada’s financial assistance for provincial golf teams expires after this season and, in fact, is pretty much non-existent this year.

No more team uniforms, no more matching golf bags, no more gratis hotel rooms and paid airfare. No more free meals.

“We used to get $40,000, now it’s $10,000 and next year it’s nothing,” says Alberta Golf executive director

Brent Ellenton. “We still have an athletes assistance program with additional funding from outside sponsorship but, right now, there’s zero for our Willingdon Cup team.”

National funding of the teams has been going on since about the mid-1980s when economic times were booming, when there was a big surplus from the Canadian Open, when the federal government was a little more loose with its grants.

Golfers, very simply, were spoiled because no other provincial teams were being financially assisted by national governing bodies. Still aren’t for that matter.

Now the fountain has run dry and there’s concern in this filthy rich neighbourhood that some players may decline the opportunity to represent Alberta in interprovincial team play at the national championships because of costs.

The idea of possibly not having the best players advance is also a concern of Golf Canada. The extreme view is that it could lead to the death of the Willingdon Cup matches, let alone other inter-provincial team events at the Canadian women’s amateur, Canadian Seniors and Canadian Juniors.

“There’s no evidence just because teams won’t be funded it’s going to kill the Willingdon Cup,” says Brent

McLaughlin, director of competitions and rules for Golf Canada. “Time will tell . . . we could be dead wrong, but we see the Willingdon Cup as an important part of our Canadian Amateur championship.

“It is probably one of the longest running team championships in the world, so we would never want that gone.”

McLaughlin says Golf Canada is exploring not only different methods of future funding, but possibly a different format for the Willingdon Cup.

“We’re trying to deal with the provinces the best we can, how can we do this that makes sense to all of us,” he added.

The funding solution may be as simple as bringing the amateur status rules into the 21st century. Just as curling eventually recognized the need for private sponsorship and allowed its athletes to fundraise and wear sponsors’ crests and such, amateur golf may have to do the same to ensure top players are financially able to participate in national competitions each year.

“The rules of amateur status have changed, so there’s more subsidies out there, but golf is sometimes slow to change these things, especially on the rules side,” admitted McLaughlin. “We don’t want financial burdens standing in the way of players who have world potential.”

So if this is going to be the problem as most locals anticipate, then pull the trigger. Does it really matter if our provincial champion shows up at the Canadian Amateur wearing a crested shirt from an oil company or a bank to help offset the $3,000 ticket?