Apparently no one can keep their lips shut, and the club sent out invites way too early, but in any case, Royal Montreal has been awarded the Presidents Cup and will announce in on Aug. 15. I had an associate who is a member at the club tell me about this yesterday, but it hardly warranted much comment. Apparently Mike Weir and Tim Finchem will be on hand to announce the event. Will Weir even be in contention to be on the team in two years given his play this year?
Apparently Royal Montreal has undergone a Ree Jones-ification in order to “toughen” it up for the event. Are members at these clubs crazy? Why mess up a course and spend millions to make it harder for a couple of days? The members are never going to play the new tees and the Canadian Open is never going back to the club, especially after the RCGA partnered with Angus Glen owner Gord Stollery on his new Tom Fazio-designed club in the city.
Here’s a story about some of this in the Toronto Star.
The worst kept secret in golf: Royal Montreal gets the 2007 Presidents Cup
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Jeff Lancaster
Jeff Lancaster is the Publisher of CanadianGolfer.com.
I am a member of Royal Montreal and I feel it is important to explain why members of the club are not crazy as you suggest.
First of all, the re-modeling of the Blue Course came on the heels of the re-modeling of the Red a few years earlier and was not done to toughen the course for a few days of competition. It was done in order to maintain our long tradition of having a championship calibre golf course and was in the plans before the Presidents Cup was even a possibility.
Secondly, as a not-for-profit club, we are required by law to have a plan in place to spend any excess funds we earn. The club has a history of strong fiscal management and has profited from several land sales and Canadian Opens over the years. This has allowed us to remodel our 19th Hole, build a new range, overhaul the Main Dining Room, completely rebuild the men’s and ladies’ locker rooms and make major renovations to the Pro Shop in the past 10 years alone – not to mention the course re-modeling. All of this was done without going into debt and we have never had a member assesment in our 130 year history.
Now, with the proceeds from the Presidents Cup, we’ll have to find another 10 year spending plan to keep the tax man happy – poor crazy members.
Oh yeah, I forgot – there were only 4 new tees added and we played them just the other day.