Greater Vancouver Open

Greater Vancouver Open
Tournament information
Location Surrey, British Columbia, Canada
Established 1996
Course(s) Northview Golf & Country Club, Ridge Course
Par 71
Length 7,072 yards (6,467 m)[1]
Tour(s) PGA Tour
Format Stroke play
Prize fund $3.5 million
Month played August / September
Final year 2002
Final champion
United States Gene Sauers
Surrey
Location in Canada
Surrey
Location in British Columbia

The Greater Vancouver Open was a professional golf tournament in Canada on the PGA Tour, held in southwestern British Columbia from 1996 to 2002. It was played after the majors in late summer, at the Northview Golf & Country Club in Surrey, a suburb southeast of Vancouver.

For its first three years, it was an alternate event in late August, concurrent with the NEC World Series of Golf at Firestone in Akron, Ohio. In 1999, the new Reno-Tahoe Open became the alternate event for the WGC-NEC Invitational at Firestone. The Vancouver tournament was promoted to a regular tour event and scheduled a week later, as the Greater Milwaukee Open moved up to July. Renamed the "Air Canada Championship," sponsored by the country's leading airline, it was coupled with the Canadian Open for consecutive tournaments north of the U.S. border in early September.

Mike Weir won that year for the first of his eight tour wins; he became the first Canadian to win a PGA Tour event on home soil in 45 years.[2][3] Three weeks earlier, he co-led the PGA Championship after three rounds,[4] but finished in a tie for tenth. Weir later won a major at the Masters in 2003.

The purses grew substantially during the run of the event, from $1 million to $3.5 million in six years. It was replaced on the schedule in 2003 by the Deutsche Bank Championship in Massachusetts, near Boston.

This was not the first time the PGA Tour included a stop in British Columbia on their schedule. Dow Finsterwald won the unofficial 1955 British Columbia Open Invitational, and Jim Ferree was victorious at the 1958 Vancouver Open Invitational.[5]

Winners

YearWinnerCountryScoreTo parMargin
of victory		Runner(s)-upPurse
(US$)		Winner's
share		Notes
Air Canada Championship
2002Gene Sauers United States269−151 strokeUnited States Steve Lowery3,500,000630,000[1]
2001Joel Edwards United States265−197 strokesUnited States Steve Lowery3,400,000612,000[6]
2000Rory Sabbatini South Africa268−161 strokeNew Zealand Grant Waite3,000,000540,000[7][8]
1999Mike Weir Canada266−182 strokesUnited States Fred Funk2,500,000450,000[2][3]
Greater Vancouver Open
1998Brandel Chamblee United States265−193 strokesUnited States Payne Stewart2,000,000360,000[9]
1997Mark Calcavecchia United States265−191 strokeUnited States Andrew Magee1,500,000270,000[10]
1996Guy Boros United States272−121 strokeUnited States Emlyn Aubrey
United States Lee Janzen
United States Taylor Smith		1,000,000180,000[11]

References

  1. 1 2 "Golf: PGA Tour at Surrey, British Columbia". Eugene Register-Guard. (Oregon). September 2, 2002. p. 6E.
  2. 1 2 "Oh Canada! Weir wins". Spokesman-Review. (Spokane, Washington). wire services. September 6, 1999. p. C2.
  3. 1 2 "Eagle lifts Weir to Air Canada title". Toledo Blade. (Ohio). wire services. September 6, 1999. p. 32.
  4. ↑ "Woods, Weir an odd couple in final round". Sunday Star-News. (Wilmington, North Carolina). Associated Press. August 15, 1999. p. 1C.
  5. ↑ "Air Canada Championships 2001-Event Preview".
  6. ↑ "Golf: PGA Tour". Eugene Register-Guard. (Oregon). September 3, 2001. p. 4E.
  7. ↑ "PGA". Spokesman-Review. (Spokane, Washington). Associated Press. September 4, 2000. p. C2.
  8. ↑ "Air Canada Championship". Spokesman-Review. (Spokane, Washington). Associated Press. September 4, 2000. p. C7.
  9. ↑ "Greater Vancouver Open". Spokesman-Review. (Spokane, Washington). Associated Press. August 31, 1998. p. C7.
  10. ↑ "Golf: Greater Vancouver Open". Wilmington Morning Star. (North Carolina). August 25, 1997. p. 8B.
  11. ↑ "Golf: Greater Vancouver Open". Eugene Register-Guard. (Oregon). August 26, 1996. p. 6B.

Coordinates: 49°07′30″N 122°45′54″W / 49.125°N 122.765°W / 49.125; -122.765


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