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The 鈥淩io Ready鈥� banners along Bear Mountain Parkway have finally given way to those promoting the 2017 Pacific Links Championship. The countdown to the Sept. 11-17 PGA Tour Champions tournament, featuring the 50-year-old and over PGA stars of yesteryear, officially began Thursday with a series of events highlighted by an appearance by golfer Stephen Ames.
鈥淭hey did a wonderful job here last year in a short space of time and everybody learned a lot from that,鈥� Ames said.
The 2016 Pacific Links tournament was originally scheduled for Tianjin, China, before explosions in 2015 rocked that port city. The event was moved to Bear Mountain and proved a success despite the short notice.
Now with a full year to prepare, organizers are expecting to exceed last year鈥檚 tournament. The reverberations from 2016 tournament, however, spilled over into Thursday鈥檚 festivities with the announcement that defending champion Colin Montgomerie of Scotland, runner-up Scott McCarron, Charles Schwab Cup season points leader Bernhard Langer of Germany and Ames have committed to the 2017 Pacific Links on Bear Mountain.
More commitments will be confirmed over the summer with fans surely to be looking out for names such as Fred Couples, John Daly, Vijay Singh, David Toms, Steve Stricker, Larry Mize and Bob Tway.
If you don鈥檛 think these guys can still play, guess again.
鈥淭he quality of golf among these players is still strong,鈥� said Ames, who has won a tournament this year, and sits seventh on the Charles Schwab season leaders list with $488,372 US in winnings after eight tournaments so far in 2017.
鈥淪ome of these guys have big egos and want to keep playing.鈥�
Many of these senior players take good care of themselves.
鈥淔ifty-year-olds don鈥檛 look 50,鈥� said Ames, a 53-year-old native of Trinidad and Tobago, who moved to Calgary during his career, and is now in the Canadian Golf Hall of Fame.
鈥淏ernhard [Langer] works out five days a week. He doesn鈥檛 stop. The quality of life is different and that translates into the quality of golf. Vijay [Singh] still hits it long and [Langer] is a technician.鈥�
It will be a tired and jet-lagged group that hits Bear Mountain for the 2017 Pacific Links, featuring $2.5 million US in prize money. It is preceded the week before by the $2.5-million Japan Airlines Championship in Narita, Japan, and is part of a six-tournaments-in-six-weeks stretch in which the tour goes from Endicott, New York, to Snoqualmie, Washington, to Calgary to Japan to Bear Mountain to Pebble Beach.
But they get to play golf for a living, so Ames does not expect the average Joe to feel too sorry for touring pros, even old ones.
鈥淚 am absolutely loving this [PGA TOUR champions],鈥� said Ames, whose biggest PGA Tour win was The Players Championship in 2006.
鈥淧eople retire to play golf. I get to play it for the rest of my life.鈥�
And get paid well for it.
鈥淚t would be foolish to say Japan will have no effect [on the golfers heading immediately trans-Pacific to Bear Mountain],鈥� said Rudy Anderson, president of Pacific Links.
鈥淏ut we are thrilled to see more of a movement for the tour into Asia. There is a charter flight into Vancouver for the players [immediately following the Japan tournament] as they are trying to make this as seamless as possible for the players.鈥�
The players will then make their way to the Island from the Vancouver airport.
鈥淚t鈥檚 nice to see different cultures,鈥� said Ames, who said he is looking forward to playing in Japan.
Ames made nearly $20 million in career earnings on the PGA Tour. He has placed in the top-11, plus ties, on every major and lists the British Open as his favourite: 鈥淭hat is what golf is all about.鈥�
Mountain courses, such as Bear Mountain, provide a different sort of challenge from the British links.
鈥淓ach course has its unique attributes 鈥� at Bear Mountain, you have to keep the ball in play,鈥� said Ames.
He recalled also playing Uplands and Gorge Vale when he was making his way up in the game: 鈥淭hat was 26 years ago and brings back a flood of memories.鈥�
But now is a different phase of his life: 鈥淪oon I will be an empty-nester.鈥�
That goes with being on the PGA TOUR Champions.
Meanwhile, volunteer recruitment is going well, Bear Mountain organizers said. There were 600 volunteers on shorter notice last year.
Seven hundred are needed this year, with more than 500 already recruited.
This is the fifth of six-year deal between Pacific Links International and the PGA TOUR Champions. The 2015 event was cancelled due to the explosions in Tianjin, and previous tournaments were in Hawaii.
鈥淥ur intent is to be at Bear Mountain [again next year],鈥� said Anderson, who said he was impressed by how the Island sporting community rallied to put on the 2016 tournament despite 鈥渞ushed鈥� circumstances.
鈥淭here is a tremendous volunteer corps here and we want to build on last year鈥檚 success,鈥� Anderson said.
鈥淭here was great support and we want to build on that base and get the word out. These players are so accessible. That鈥檚 what makes this tour stand out.鈥�
