Huron Expositor, 2007-05-30, Page 12Page 12 May 30, 2007 ' • The Huron Expositor
News
Doig and Agar confident the Canadian Tour
can become an annual festival for Seaforth
From Page 1
adding that if 150 companies give
$1,000 each or 75 companies give
$2,000 each, the prize money will be
raised.
"If we can't get the big corporate
sponsors, we're hoping everyone will
chip in what they can," says Doig.
"The Canadian Tour is committed to
us. The only hurdle is the purse."
Along with Coca-Cola, sponsors
committed so far include Barmy
Tech in Walton, which has agreed to
provide the bags for the gift pack-
ages, Corks and Caps in Seaforth,
which has agreed to provide private
label wine bottles for the event and
Rob's Gym, of Seaforth, which will
provide a free week's membership to
the professional golfers competing.
Agar says she'll be spending the
summer calling each of the 400 com-
panies who received packages
proposing six different ways for
companies to promote themselves
while supporting the tour.
"We've called 30 companies each
so far. We're not even a quarter of
the way through yet. It's a long,
slow process," she says.
"For some
businesses it's
not a match but
some are think-
ing about it still,"
says Doig.
The Canadian
tour would bring
144 professional
golfers from a
dozen different
countries around
the world to
Seaforth for the
third week of
August.
Doig says the
Canadian tour is
the "third tier" of
professional golf
below the PGA
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(Professional
Golf Association)
Tour and the
Nationwide Tour
so many of the
golfers could be
golfing the PGA in five years.
"This is a great way to watch the
kids who are at the launching point
of their careers. You never know
where they are going to end up," she
says.
"If you billet or marshal for some-
one who's a no -name, in five years
you could be watching them on TV
every weekend," she says.
Doig says that when the
Canadian tour is held in large
urban centres, the competition for
spectators is fierce between golf and
other major league professional
sports or cultural events.
"They're lucky if there are 500
fans there when the tour is in
Toronto or Vancouver. We think that
because there are a lot of people in
the area who love golf, we could get
100,000 fans here and that's what
the players want - they play better
in front of people," she says.
With proceeds from the $10 spec-
tators' tickets going towards the
hospital foundations throughout
Huron and Perth Counties, Agar
points out that if 100,000 spectators
do show up, each foundation could
end up with $15,000 to $20,000
each.
Doig says that local businesses
should regard supporting the tour
as an advertising expense rather
than a donation since sponsors will
get coverage in magazines, the Golf
News and the Golf Channel, which
will be showing segments from the
Canadian Tour to 75 million viewers
worldwide for six months after the
tour.
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Since the
Seaforth Golf
Club needs to
alter its course
for the Canadian
Tour - adding a
couple of
bunkers and tees
to make the
holes longer, let-
ting the grass grow longer in the
rough and narrowing the fairways -
Seaforth members will be able to
compare their skills with the pros
during the last few weeks before the
tour.
"The golf will get harder and
harder but it will allow the mem-
bers to experience a course set up
for pros. A lot of members are excit-
ed about it," says Doig.
Because they've been looking for a
festival for Seaforth that would be
an annual event to draw tourists,
Agar and Doig think the Canadian
tour could become that festival.
"This is something unique that
could draw people to Seaforth every
year to spend their money," says
Doig.
Agar says that since the Walton
motocross TransCan and the
Seaforth hockey school occur the
same weekend, the tour could
become a sports week for Seaforth.
"We want the whole town to be
involved. This is the time to make a
big event for the community," says
Agar.
"If it's successful, we could do it
indefinitely," adds Doig.
Starting in June, the golf club will
be displaying a large bulletin board
where anyone who's interested can
sign up to billet a professional golfer
or to volunteer in various capacities
for the tour.
"Even if you're not a golf fan, it's a
way to support the hospital and cre-
ate a party for your town," says
Doig.
Events such as a Country and
Western Hoe-down are being
planned for the whole community
the Friday of the tour. And, tickets
for spectators go on sale next
spring.
"Book the third week of August
next year and invite your friends for
a barbecue. Make it a homecoming
with golf in the middle of it," says
Doig.
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