Mackenzie Tour officials and players expressed their sorrow for the cancellation of the Fort McMurray stop on PGA Tour sa国际传媒, but more so for the people of the community who were forced out of their homes by the recent wildfires that ravaged the northeastern Alberta city.
In particular, the cancellation of the 2016 Syncrude Boreal Open presented by AECON, hit real close to home for Vancouver Island pros Cory Renfrew of Victoria and Comox鈥檚 Riley Wheeldon.
Renfrew won the 2012 tournament in a playoff at the Fort McMurray Golf Club, which was destroyed by the fire, and Wheeldon followed it up with the championship victory there in 2013.
鈥淥ur hearts go out to the people of Fort McMurray. I couldn鈥檛 imagine that happening to me or anyone I know,鈥� Renfrew said of the massive evacuation. 鈥淚 feel for everyone living there. Hopefully they can rebuild the course and it sounds like they鈥檙e going to, but it will take some time.鈥�
The clubhouse and all structures were destroyed from the fires that tore through the heavily tree-lined course.
鈥淚t鈥檚 unfortunate to lose an event to something like that at a place that I have good memories from, but I think they have other priorities up there right now, more important things than having the event this year,鈥� added Wheeldon.
The announcement, which was expected, came Tuesday from the tour which is now in Victoria for the Bayview Place Island Savings Open presented by the sa国际传媒.
鈥淗aving consulted with community leaders and sponsors, we felt it would be inappropriate to play the event this year as the Fort McMurray community embarks on recovering from this spring鈥檚 wildfires,鈥� said Mackenzie Tour president Jeff Monday. 鈥淲e wish the very best to everyone in Fort McMurray as the community makes its recovery.鈥�
鈥淭hough we were hopeful for the possibility of conducting the event in Fort McMurray, we did not feel it would be the right thing to do to hold the golf tournament while the city is focusing on recovery efforts,鈥� said Tim Garbutt, executive director of the Fort McMurray event and the ATB Financial Classic.
The latter tournament, slated for Calgary鈥檚 Country Hills Golf Club, will move up a week on the schedule to Aug. 1-7, following the inaugural Oil Country Championship on July 25-31 at Glendale Golf and Country Club in Edmonton.
Last month, the Mackenzie Tour and Web.com Tour also announced a joint donation of $20,000 toward Fort McMurray wildfire relief, along with per-birdie pledges from tour players that fans can match at the PGA Tour鈥檚 charity website, Together, Anything鈥檚 Possible.
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