Greater Vancouver Open

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.

Greater Vancouver Open
Tournament information
LocationSurrey, British Columbia, Canada
Established1996
Course(s)Northview Golf & Country Club, Ridge Course
Par71
Length7,072 yards (6,467 m)[1]
Tour(s)PGA Tour
FormatStroke play
Prize fund$3.5 million
Month playedAugust / September
Final year2002
Final champion
Gene Sauers
Surrey
Location in Canada
Surrey
Location in British Columbia

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]

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.[4]

Winners
YearWinnerCountryScoreTo parMargin
of victory		Runner(s)-upPurse
(US$)		Winner's
share		Notes
Air Canada Championship
2002Gene Sauers United States269−151 stroke Steve Lowery3,500,000630,000[1]
2001Joel Edwards United States265−197 strokes Steve Lowery3,400,000612,000[5]
2000Rory Sabbatini South Africa268−161 stroke Grant Waite3,000,000540,000[6][7]
1999Mike Weir Canada266−182 strokes Fred Funk2,500,000450,000[2][3]
Greater Vancouver Open
1998Brandel Chamblee United States265−193 strokes Payne Stewart2,000,000360,000[8]
1997Mark Calcavecchia United States265−191 stroke Andrew Magee1,500,000270,000[9]
1996Guy Boros United States272−121 stroke Emlyn Aubrey
Lee Janzen
Taylor Smith		1,000,000180,000[10]

References
  1. "Golf: PGA Tour at Surrey, British Columbia". Eugene Register-Guard. (Oregon). September 2, 2002. p. 6E.
  2. "Oh Canada! Weir wins". Spokesman-Review. (Spokane, Washington). wire services. September 6, 1999. p. C2.
  3. "Eagle lifts Weir to Air Canada title". Toledo Blade. (Ohio). wire services. September 6, 1999. p. 32.
  4. "Air Canada Championships 2001-Event Preview". Archived from the original on 2014-07-19. Retrieved 2009-05-27.
  5. "Golf: PGA Tour". Eugene Register-Guard. (Oregon). September 3, 2001. p. 4E.
  6. "PGA". Spokesman-Review. (Spokane, Washington). Associated Press. September 4, 2000. p. C2.
  7. "Air Canada Championship". Spokesman-Review. (Spokane, Washington). Associated Press. September 4, 2000. p. C7.
  8. "Greater Vancouver Open". Spokesman-Review. (Spokane, Washington). Associated Press. August 31, 1998. p. C7.
  9. "Golf: Greater Vancouver Open". Wilmington Morning Star. (North Carolina). August 25, 1997. p. 8B.
  10. "Golf: Greater Vancouver Open". Eugene Register-Guard. (Oregon). August 26, 1996. p. 6B.


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