Graham DeLaet Blog - Canadian Tour Championship

Hello,

Last week I played in what I hope to be my last Canadian Tour event of my life.

The Canadian Tour Championship was played at St. Catherines Golf and Country Club in St. Catherines, ON. It is a nice old Stanley Thompson layout. I began the tournament with rounds of 65, 66 (-9) and headed into the weekend with a share of the lead. However, I was not able to get anything going on the weekend and shot 70, 71 to finish at -8 for the tournament and in a tie for 8th. I just wasn't hitting enough good golf shots to score well. I was missing more fairways than I normally do, and because of that was not able to get many approach shots close to the hole. When I did hit good shots I wasn't able to convert on the greens. It was a respectable finish, but not what I was playing for going into the tournament.

My good friend and travel partner, James Love won the golf tournament. It was awesome to see him get his first win. He had been having a difficult year, and this will raise his confidence going into Q School.

The official Canadian Tour Order of Merit will not be finalized until after the events in Mexico. However, the exemptions into 2nd stage of PGA Tour Qualifying School were given out after the Tour Championship. Byron Smith and myself were awarded the exemptions for finishing top 2 on the Money list.

I currently have about a $20,000 lead on the money list. If I don't get passed by anyone in the 2 events in Mexico I will also be named the Rolex Canadian Tour Player of the Year. I would be very proud of this achievement, as this was one of my goals beginning the year. I will also be awarded a Rolex watch, which is pretty cool. Obviously this is not official until after Mexico, but there is nothing more I can do as I will not be playing any more events.

The Canadian Tour also has a Bursary which is given out as a bonus to players at the end of the Canadian Swing for good play. Points are given to players for top 10 finishes in Canadian events only. I won the Bursary as well, and will receive a nice cheque that will pay for the majority of Q school.

I am now back in Boise. However, I don't have much down time as I have the Boise Open monday qualifier coming up next week. After that, I will be heading to Estonia with fellow Canadian Tour player Stuart Anderson for the World Cup qualifier. You may remember that last year Wes Heffernan and I went to Poland for the same qualifier. I fully expect that Stuart and I will qualify for the World Cup this year as well.

I received some great news last week. I was given a sponsor's exemption into the European Tour's Alfred Dunhill Links Championship in Scotland. The tournament is played over quite arguably 3 of the most prestigious links courses in the world (St. Andrews, Carnoustie, and Kingsbarns). I am very excited for this tournament, and the opportunity to play against some of the world's best players.

Go Broncos!
Graham

Interested in reading more about Graham DeLaet? Click here to view his 2009 blog