World Golf Hall of Famer Colin Montgomerie comes prowling back on to the Bear following the scent of victory.
The 54-year-old Scottish great was the master of the Narita greens in taking the Japan Airlines Championship by one stroke over Billy Mayfair and second-round leader Scott McCarron on Sunday. It was the first PGA Tour Champions event held in Japan.
The players then faced a harried and draining travel schedule as they boarded a chartered JAL flight at Narita Airport into Vancouver, and then either ferried across to Swartz Bay or flew into Victoria, for this week’s $1.8-million US Pacific Links Bear Mountain Championship.
Montgomerie outlasted McCarron in three playoff holes to win last year’s inaugural Pacific Links Tournament on the mountain course.
“Those two guys are tough to beat . . . they are both playing so well,” said Jordan Ray, director of golf for Bear Mountain.
They were also two tired guys, as was the rest of the stellar field that included John Daly, Jesper Parnevik, Bernhard Langer, Fred Funk, Scott Verplank, Bob Gilder, Larry Mize, Jeff Sluman and Tom Kite, among others. The lobby of the Westin Bear Mountain was like a ghost town late Monday afternoon as the players went immediately to their rooms after the long trans-Pacific transit from Japan.
The near lone player out for a practice round was Sir Nick Faldo, who did not play in Japan. The Englishman, who has won three British Opens and three Masters, was knighted by the Queen in 2009. He escaped his adopted home of Florida, and Hurricane Irma, before the airports shut down and headed for the relative tranquility of Bear Mountain earlier in the weekend.
This is all heady company for qualifying hopefuls like Nanaimo native Murray Poje of Tsawwassen, a qualifier for last year’s Pacific Links tournament, who hopes to do the same today in qualifying to join a list of Canuck stick swingers this week that will include Canadian Golf Hall of Famer Stephen Ames, Rod Spittle and hometown favourite and sponsor-exempt Jim Rutledge.
“It’s a treat for me, as it was last year, just to be here and in the company of all my golf idols I’ve seen for years on TV,” said Poje.
For organizers, a year’s worth of work comes to fruition this week.
“We have pristine conditions with our greens in fine shape, our 500 volunteers ready to go, and our defending champion [Montgomerie] back with a hot stick,” said tournament director Brad Parkins.
“It takes a total team effort to host the likes of Faldo, Daly and Montgomerie.”
A region always puts a bit of its reputation on the line whenever hosting any big sporting event. That is acutely felt by the volunteers and Bear Mountain’s golf director Ray, a graduate of Spectrum Secondary and Camosun College’s golf program.
“We all want to show off the Island in the best way possible. There is a lot of pride in this for us,” said Ray.
“To see all these golf greats on the mountain is so cool and a huge point of pride.”
The preparation time last year for the inaugural tournament was truncated because Bear Mountain had only four months to prepare after it was deemed Tianjin, China, could not host because it had not recovered from the devastating industrial explosions that rocked the city in 2015.
“We’ve had a full year this time to get ready,” said Parkins.
Including in terms of marketing.
Last year’s tournament drew 27,000 fans on short notice.
“It was cool and cloudy weather and the Royals [William, Kate, George and Charlotte] were in Victoria,” noted Parkins.
“We hope to get 30,000 to 35,000 fans this week.”
That would put it within hailing distance of the Shaw Charity Classic in Calgary, which sets the benchmark for PGA Tour Champions, with tournament attendance annually hovering in the 45,000 range.
Because the Golf Channel is not broadcasting the Pacific Links event this year, it means golf fans will have to come out and see for themselves the greatest players of yesterday, without the option of sitting on the couch.
Practice rounds will be today. The Pro-Am, which is open to the public, is Wednesday and Thursday. The 2017 Pacific Links tournament begins with the first round Friday and concludes with the final round on Sunday.
