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Professional golf is coming back to Saskatchewan.
The Mackenzie Tour-PGA Tour Canada announced an eight-year agreement with Elk Ridge Resort on Tuesday to host The Elk Ridge Open in Waskesiu.
Promoter Hugh Vassos, the president of VMC Sports & Entertainment, can’t wait to show off Elk Ridge to the rest of the world.
“What better way to come out of a pandemic than to host a major professional golf tournament?” Vassos said during the announcement.
This year’s tournament begins the week of Sept. 6.
Honorary chair Graham DeLaet of Weyburn says the course and terrain in northern Saskatchewan will offer players a different perspective than the traditional stereotypes.
“When a lot of people think about Saskatchewan, they think farms, wind and wide-open spaces but it’s so beautiful up at Elk Ridge in Waskesiu and it’s going to show people just a different side to Saskatchewan,” DeLaet said.
The Elk Ridge Open will be played by Canadian-based golfers this year due to any possible COVID-related border restrictions still in place. The remaining seven years will be a larger event featuring international players on the tour.
“We’re delighted to be back in Saskatchewan,” said Scott Pritchard, the executive director of the Mackenzie Tour. “Fans, sponsors and volunteers in Saskatchewan have always been extremely supportive of our tour. We can’t wait to see them back on the course later this summer.”
The tour hasn’t stopped in Saskatchewan since the 2016 Dakota Dunes Open at Dakota Dunes Golf Links just outside of Saskatoon.
The Elk Ridge Open represents the first time Saskatchewan has hosted professional golf since Canadian Brooke Henderson won the 2018 Canadian Women’s Open at the Wascana Country Club in Regina.
“Golf is back in a very big way. Unfortunately it took a pandemic to make that happen, but we’re seeing and living that right now,” said Ryan Danberg, a managing partner at Elk Ridge Resort.
Hosting the tournament also represents a reversal of fortune for Elk Ridge. This time last year, the only activity in the area was hired greenskeepers keeping up the golf course as the vacant resort was up for sale.
In October, Routes2SK, owned by a group of eight born-and-raised Saskatchewan professionals, purchased the resort and now plan on maintaining it as a premier golf destination in the country for years to come.
“We’re really excited to showcase this resort,” Danberg said. “It’s ready to take to a new level and to take an event like this on.”
Premier Scott Moe recently played a round at the course on Father’s Day, but don’t expect him to be qualifying for the tournament.
“I was up there last weekend,” Moe said. “I got a good look at the rough on the edges of the fairway.”
The 2022 Elk Ridge Open will be a full-field Mackenzie Tour event in 2022 played June 20 to 26.