Course goes all-out for LPGA event
Wascana staff and contractors mobilize to overcome effects of winter ice damage
REGINA The Wascana Country Club faced an unanticipated water hazard earlier this year.
Due to a January rain storm, sheets of ice covered much of the greens and fairways, creating significant damage that had to be addressed once spring arrived.
The situation was especially urgent considering that the 107-yearold golf course is to play host to the LPGA’S Canadian Pacific Women’s Open Aug. 20 to 26.
“You spray the turf for fungicides and various things to try to make the turf survive under snow, but when you get pure ice, it can really do a lot of damage and that is what happened,” Greg Dukart, the Wascana’s chief executive officer, said Wednesday.
“It killed off a very large part of our fairways and a very large part of our greens. It was really devastating in that sense.”
Undaunted, Wascana staffers, including superintendent Chad Fawcett, immersed themselves in bringing the course back up to standard as quickly as possible.
More than 200,000 square feet of sod were brought in to repair the damage to the fairways. Greens were re-sodded as needed.
“In all the buildup we had for this (LPGA) event, that’s kind of the last thing you can imagine we wanted to see,” Dukart said of the ice damage. “We had all kinds of plans to really get into tremendous detail work with our superintendent. Although we’ve got a lot of it there, we may not get it to 100 per cent, which we wanted to do, obviously.”
The determination is such that, even this week, some areas of the golf course are being sodded.
“And at great expense,” Dukart noted, “but it’s something that we felt we had to do to get the golf course back, and to display our course and obviously our city and our province and our country properly to the millions and millions of viewers who are probably going to see this.”
This year’s CP Women’s Open will be the first LPGA event to be held in Saskatchewan.
The field is to include Canadian star Brooke Henderson, Ariya Jutanugarn of Thailand (who leads the LPGA Tour’s official money list) and Lydia Ko of New Zealand (who will pursue an unprecedented fourth CP Women’s Open title).
The tournament is to be televised worldwide on the Golf Channel.
“For visibility, I couldn’t imagine something bigger,” said Dukart, pondering the spectrum of Reginabased sporting events.
Given the magnitude of the event, the process of preparing for the tournament is intensive — even when you subtract the need to address the damage to the course.
“It’s like you’re planning for a family wedding that involves 50,000 people,” Dukart said.
Dukart described the course in its current state as “a small city of contractors building a small city. One of our parking lots is full of scaffolds and HVAC units and site trailers. It’s a big undertaking, but it is controlled and it is organized.”
The organization process involves “a lot of moving parts,” but it is a labour of love for Dukart and associates.
“We wanted to do this for the long-term benefit, specifically of the Wascana Country Club, but also the city and the province,” he said. “We’re very proud to be part of this and to bring this to the city and province.
“Yes, it’s a lot of work and, yes, it’s going to cost some money, but maybe it’s one off the bucket list for Regina people. I like to think not, if we can do a great job.
“The key is if we can get the community to rally around and buy tickets and support it and bring the juniors, then we can show the world that this little place called Regina in Saskatchewan is a pretty special place. That would be really exciting.”
Practice rounds are scheduled for Aug. 20 and 21. Also on Aug. 20, Monday qualifying will be held, along with the Canada Day All- Star Pro-am.
The championship pro-am is Aug. 22, followed by four days of championship rounds.
Rounds are scheduled for Aug. 23 (7 a.m. to 7:30 p.m.), 24 (7 a.m. to 7:30 p.m.), 25 (8 a.m. to 4 p.m.) and 26 (7 a.m. to 5 p.m.). The purse is US$2.25 million.