Tee 2 Green with Barry Sharpe - December 31, 2011

Jean Chretien may never qualify as a professional golfer but the former Canadian prime minister picked up $200,000 recently for his 2008 legal victory when the Federal Court ruled that the 2005 inquiry on the sponsorship scandal, conducted by Judge John Gomery, showed a "reasonable apprehension of bias" toward the former prime minister.

You may recall Gomery made comments to the media about the inquiry, calling it a "spectacle," predicting there would be "juicy" evidence to come and commented that signature-embossed golf balls which Chrétien had apparently given out in his hometown and displayed publicly at the inquiry, were "small-town cheap." Of course, jocular Jean didn't pay for the balls he gave away. You and I did. We'll also be picking up that $200,000 tab for his legal fees.

The rest of the story.

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One of the oldest golf courses in California's Coachella Valley, the once-popular
Palm Desert Country Club, is about to reopen on January 1, thanks to a group of Canadian investors called PD Golf Operations who acquired the property in September and have since made a $10 million investment in upgrades to the two courses and 13,000-square-foot clubhouse.

Opened in 1962, the Palm Desert underwent upheaval in 2009 when owners filed for bankruptcy. Although the greens were kept alive, many area residents, particularly the 1,000-plus Palm Desert Country Club Association homeowners, worried the facility would be permanently closed and could only watch helplessly while property values plummeted as their primary recreational amenity sat fallow.

But now hopes are high. Architect Cary Bickler has renovated both courses, including the addition of new water hazards, and Dave Zickau, Palm Desert Country Club's director of golf, says the club "will focus on customer service so when they come here the first day, they will want to come back. That's what will sustain us."

Daily fees won't exceed $69 for the 18-hole championship course, and $32 is the highest anyone will pay to play the nine-hole executive course

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From one of the classiest golfers in Canadian history, amateur and professional, comes the following farewell message and words of thanks from Vancouver's Doug Roxburgh on his final day as Golf Canada's Director of High Performance.

"As I wind down my position as Director of High Performance at the end of this month I would like to take this opportunity to thank all the great staff, supporters, volunteers, players and families that I have had the opportunity to work with over the last twelve years.

"I have enjoyed every minute and looked forward to coming in to work each and every day but simply the time had come to step aside for someone else to manage the programs leading up to the Olympics in 2016 and beyond.

"The program is in good hands. Jeff Thompson and the Golf Canada staff are leading the way. We have a tremendous coaching staff and IST in place. We have solid sponsors. We are working closer than ever with our Provincial Golf Associations and the PGA of Canada. We have some great young players coming up through amateur golf and more in the early stages of their professional career. There is still more to do and your support of Canadian golf does make a difference.

"Have a happy and safe Holiday Season and prosperous New Year. Thanks again for all your support."

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The latest word on that deal with the PGA TOUR that has apparently saved the Canadian Tour for at least one more season comes from CanTour Commissioner Rick James following a conversastion Janes has had with Golf Canada or the Globe and Mail, or whoever is writing for the Golf Canada web site these days.

Q: What was the Canadian Tour membership asked to consider when it came to the PGA Tour offer [which was presented Wednesday night].

JANES: We've asked our members to come together to consider a proposal from the PGA Tour. We have been developing a relationship with the Tour over the last 10 years. It started in early 2001 when the Tour granted us two exemptions for our top players to go to an advanced stage of their Qualifying school. In 2007, when the Presidents Cup was in Montreal, we developed a campaign to help the PGA Tour to promote the Presidents Cup across Canada so that brought us a little bit closer to them and built up elements of trust and relationship. In 2009 we became a full member of the International Federation of PGA Tours and we started to work closely with the PGA Tour on anti-doping policy and then we started to become very active about lobbying for advanced standing for our members, particularly in the last two years, we've really become active in seeking an alliance with the PGA Tour. It's been part of our strategic plan for some time.

We've had some financial issues over the course of the last three or four months and I had reached out to the PGA Tour for some assistance and advice and that has actually culminated in an agreement [that was put forward to the membership Wednesday night]. Essentially that agreement will allow us - the board of directors and the Canadian Tour - to enter into an agreement that will provide us with some support in the areas of tournament development and sponsorship, certainly over the course of the next year. What it looks like beyond that, this is still very much a great opportunity to work close. We have a lot to do in order to stabalize and solidify and grow the Canadian Tour. With the help of the PGA Tour that's our goal, our mutual goal, to keep this Tour strong.

Q: Is this a similar arrangement that the PGA recently announced with the Tour de las Americas?

JANES: It's not the same. The new PGA Tour Latinoamerica is actually a brand new tour. It is wholly owned by the PGA Tour. This is a very different situation. Our business will continue to operate under the guidance of our board and our current structure. Over the course of 2012, there won't be any changes to our business structure. All we are doing is taking full advantage of the expertise that is going to come our way by being involved with the PGA Tour.

Q: How will the Canadian Tour be positioned under the PGA umbrella?

JANES: It's premature to say. I know there's been speculation about a bail out, a buy out or takeover. That's not the case. I think this is something that's been built on the wonderful relationships we've had over the years. They recognize the value of the Canadian Tour in professional golf . Over the years this has proven to be a very valuable system in terms of developing players. Mike Weir and Steve Stricker to Nick Watney and Stuart Appleby and so on who have gone on to the PGA Tour and that's well recognized. Make no mistake, Adam Hadwin actually did a lot of good for us this year in terms of his fantastic performance and profile - that certainly caught the attention of the PGA Tour as well. This is really something that is born of good relationships and working together over the years. We're really looking forward to it.

Q: This arrangement sounds similar to what the Canadian Football League went through several years ago when it reached out to the NFL for financial and marketing support?

JANES: The CFL is a great analogy. We often consider ourselves very much like the CFL in that, traditionally, our tour has been very strong in Western Canada. One of the things we'll be working on over the course of this coming year with the Tour is to strengthen and grow our tour in Eastern Canada.

Q: You had some successes out West this year with a couple of new events and the Players Cup in Winnipeg. The hole of course is east of Manitoba where there are no events in the Greater Toronto Area, Quebec or the Maritimes. What can you tell me about the schedule moving forward for next year?

JANES: Eastern Canada is absolutely fundamental. We have six good events in Western Canada and we have the opportunity to put in one or two more. But it's Eastern Canada where we need to grow. We think there are as many as 15 good playing dates in Canada over the course of our golf season. In 2012, we will likely have 9 to 10 events. The growth next year will come in Eastern Canada. We are hopeful to announce a new event in the Atlantic region. We are also working on Quebec and the corridor from Windsor on through to Kingston and Ottawa as well. So our schedule will come out when its complete in January once we've gotten into this new arrangement. Our schedule drives everything. There's absolutely no doubt about that. Our players are a critical asset - without them we don't have a tour - but without a good schedule we don't have quality players.

Q: Will South America and Mexico continue to be part of the Canadian Tour's long term schedule?

JANES: Our focus is exclusively on the Canadian marketplace going forward. Mexico and South America are going to be the domain of the PGA Tour Latino Americas and whether we integrate at all with them that's just speculative at this point. Clearly our seasons are complimentary in that the new Tour in South America operates essentially opposite of ours. So we're hopeful that we'll see a lot of players from that Tour from that region continuing to play in Canada. But for the time being our focus is exclusively on the Canadian marketplace and taking care of our own home turf.

Q: From a financial standpoint, where does the Canadian Tour stand today? How close were we to losing the Canadian Tour?

JANES: We were very close to losing the Canadian Tour. It's hard to say that because we wouldn't lose the events, we have some very, very stable events. Our event in Victoria, for example, will be celebrating its 30th anniversary. Our events in Alberta are very, very strong. Similarly in Saskatchewan and to a certain extent Winnipeg, where we've got some wonderful sponsorships and long term support. Those events would continue, it's just the operating infrastructure may well have dwindled to a skeleton of what it is today. Not that its currently a big operating entity but it would have been difficult. Where we are today is not only the best situation we could be in today, all things being equal, its the best situation we could be in, in my opinion.

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Coquitlam, BC's Jiso Keel, 16, has been rewarded for an outstanding season by being named Golf Canada's top junior for 2011. Keel earned a win at the 2011 CN Future Links Pacific Championship, tied for 2nd at the Royale Cup Canadian Junior Girls Championship, reached the Round of 16 at the U.S. Girls' Junior Championship, finished in the Top 10 in both the BC and Quebec CN Canadian Women's Tour events and collected low amateur honours in her professional tournament debut at the 2011 CN Canadian Women's Open.

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Maple Ridge, BC native Justin Shin, a junior with the New Mexico State Aggies, has been selected to compete in the 2011 Patriot All-America Golf Tournament, a 54-hole collegiate golf tournament to be played Dec. 28-30 at Wigwam Golf Club in Litchfield Park, Ariz. The tournament features 84 collegiate golfers including 21 of the world's top-100 ranked amateurs. Shin's top finish was at the Herb Wimberly Intercollegiate, where he placed second with a three-round score of 12-under par.

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Danny Leitch, Director of Business Development for BC Golf Guide, now offering holiday golf packages beyond British Columbia as Golf The World Vacations, writes to inform that Westin Mission Hills Resort in Palm Springs is offering a special package worth knowing about by logging on here: Golf The World Vacations

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