Barr, Couples added to Shaw Charity Classic lineup
The Shaw Charity Classic continues to land the big names.
The organizers of Calgary’s Champions Tour event, scheduled for Canyon Meadows Golf and Country Club from Aug. 26 to Sept. 1, announced that former world No. 1 and World Golf Hall of Fame member Fred Couples, and Canadian golf icon Dave Barr will tee it up in just over a month’s time. Couples and Barr were added to an already impressive list that includes Steve Elkington, John Cook and the winner of the last two major championships of the senior tour, Kenny Perry.
“I have always enjoyed playing up in Canada, so I’m really looking forward to being part of the inaugural Shaw Charity Classic,” said Couples in a release.
Couples’ career and seemingly effortless swing has been followed and admired by just about anyone associated with golf.
His career accomplishments include winning the Masters in 1992, along with 15 PGA Tour wins. Since joining the Champions Tour in 2010, he has won eight times, two of which were major championships.
Tournament director Sean Van Kesteren has been motivated to give Calgary an event filled with top-notch names, and Canyon Meadows head professional Josh Gardner said adding Couples just adds more star power to the tournament.
“There’s no such thing as a weak field, they’re all champions and they have all earned their spot into these (events),” he said. “But it’s always nice to get the big names out to a new event. So, to get Freddy and Kenny Perry and John Cook and Steve Elkington to come out here and play here is a great opportunity to see these stars walk the grounds of Canyon Meadows, which normally we wouldn’t get.”
The announcements were part of an afternoon-long event at the club that also included the Shootout at the Meadows — a closest-to-the-pin competition between Canadian Olympians and a mixed bag of Calgarians comprised of members of the Calgary police and fire department, the Canadian military, former NHL player Sheldon Kennedy, media members and representatives of the southern Alberta Emergency Relief Fund, Kidsport Calgary and Kids Cancer Care.
The Olympians included hockey players Cassie Campbell-Pascall and Claude Vilgrain, bobsledders Jesse Lumsden, Lyndon Rush and Helen Upperton, ski cross’ Brady Leman and LouisPhillipe Helie, speedskater Jamie Gregg, freestyle aerialist Warren Shouldice, skeleton athlete Mellisa Hollingsworth, gymnast Kyle Shewfelt, luge athlete Sam Edney and alpine ski racer Kerrin Lee-Gartner. Helie ended up as the day’s champion, beating Rush in the final round.
All competitors were given something to shoot for when Barr took the first crack at the 130-yard Par-3 hole and dropped one to 14 feet.
Barr is recognized as one of Canada’s greatest golfers. The 61-year-old Kelowna, B.C., native played on the PGA Tour from 1978 to 2002 — earning two wins — before joining the Champions Tour where he picked up another victory.
Upon hearing about the Shaw Charity Classic, the Canadian Golf Hall of Fame member wrote the organizing committee and expressed interest in playing. They, in turn, offered up one of their five exemptions to Barr.
“I figured being so close to home, to have the opportunity to come and play and maybe do something special,” smiled Barr, who admitted his last competitive round in an event came at the 2010 Championship Tour event at Montreal’s Club de Fontainebleu. “Hopefully the nerves will stand up to the pressure of the game. The ability is still there, it’s just now taking it and running with it and hopefully you can come up with a good showing.”
He now joins Rod Spittle and Jim Rutledge as the only Canadians in the field to date, and added that people don’t realize how impressive it is to have at least three players waving the maple leaf take part.
“There’s so few of us that have that opportunity to play, and are eligible to play, that having at least three of us in the field to give it some Canadian content (is impressive),” Barr said. “And Rod and Jim are still at the top of their games, so it will be a treat,”
Barr, who now lives in Westbank, B.C., is no stranger to golf in Calgary. He captured the Alberta Men’s Open at Willow Park Golf and Country Club in 1977, and hopes some of that magic from that win is still in his golf bag.
“Who knows? There’s been some strange things happen in golf and a win would be really good,” Barr laughed.