Magna Golf Club to host 2013 PGA Championship of Canada

Magna Golf Club to host 2013 PGA Championship of Canada

The PGA Championship of Canada sponsored by Mr. Lube and presented by TaylorMade-adidas Golf is heading to Ontario in 2013 and the host venue is one of the most exclusive golf clubs in the entire country. 

Sixty-four of the best PGA of Canada playing professionals will come together at the Magna Golf Club in Aurora, Ont., next June and battle for the historic P.D. Ross trophy.

“After having the PGA Championship of Canada sponsored by Mr. Lube and presented by TaylorMade-adidas Golf in Calgary for the past two years, we’re extremely excited about moving it east to the Greater Toronto Area,” says PGA of Canada President, Gregg Schubert. “It says a lot about the success and prestige of this championship when a venue as impressive as Magna Golf Club is willing to open its gates and host.”

As has been the case since the championship was re-launched in 2010, this year’s championship will be contested as a match play event with players from the four brackets—Stan Leonard, George Knudson, Al Balding and Moe Norman—looking to advance through the five rounds to the final championship match.

“We’re thrilled to have the opportunity to host the prestigious PGA Championship of Canada in 2013 at Magna Golf Club,” says PGA Executive Professional, Rob Roxborough. “Our championship golf course is perfectly suited for match play with a great mixture of long and short holes, strategic bunkering and greens that will make players second guess his or her line.”

Designed by famed Canadian golf course architect Doug Carrick, the club was awarded the Best New Golf Course award by SCOREGolf magazine in its first year of operation in 2001. In the 11 years since, SCOREGolf perennially ranks the 7,300-yard Magna inside the top 100 golf courses in Canada.

Magna is also known for its other impressive onsite amenities, including a striking clubhouse with an atmosphere and service that accentuates the positives.

“Once players step through our front gates they’ll immediately feel like they’ve arrived at a golf club that is unlike any other in Canada,” Roxborough says, adding, “everyone who works at Magna prides him or herself on providing the best possible service to both members and guests and PGA Championship of Canada week won’t be any different.”

Eric Laporte of Montcalm Club de Golf in Montreal will not only look to become the first back-to-back winner of the championship since Knudson won in 1976 and 1977, but will also have an opportunity take over the No. 1 spot atop the PGA of Canada Player Rankings presented by RBC. He currently sits in the ninth with 139 points, but with 60 points awarded to the winner of next June’s championship, he has an opportunity to jump to the top of the rankings pile.

Currently, Brian McCann (The Academy at BraeBen) is No. 1 at 189 points, with Danny King (The Performance Academy at Magna) in second at 183 points and last month’s PGA Assistants’ Championship winner Mike Belbin ranked third with 181 points. Dave Levesque (La Prairie Club de Golf), Bryn Parry (Seymour Creek Golf Centre), Brett Burgeson (Country Hills Golf Club), Bill Walsh (Fairtree Golf Centre), Lindsay Bernakevitch (Shaughnessy Golf & Country Club) and Reg Millage (The Clublink Academy at Glen Abbey) round out the top 10.

The player who sits atop the PGA of Canada Player Rankings presented by RBC at the conclusion of the PGA Championship of Canada earns an exemption into the next year’s RBC Canadian Open at Glen Abbey Golf Club in Oakville, Ont.

Past champions of the PGA Championship of Canada include Moe Norman, George Knudson, Al Balding, Bob Panasik, Wilf Homenuik, Stan Leonard, Lee Trevino and Arnold Palmer.

The 2013 PGA Championship of Canada sponsored by Mr. Lube and presented by TaylorMade-adidas Golf takes place June 24-28 with the Mr. Lube Tournament for Life Pro-Am kicking things off on Monday, June 24th.

The first PGA Championship of Canada was contested in 1912 at Mississaugua Golf & Country Club.