Deer Ridge Golf Club to Host PGA Championship of Canada

The PGA Championship of Canada sponsored by Mr. Lube and presented by TaylorMade-adidas Golf heads to Ontario this June.

Kitchener, Ont.’s, Deer Ridge Golf Club plays host to the championship June 12-15, 2017.

“We are very excited about the opportunity of bring the PGA Championship of Canada sponsored by Mr. Lube and presented by TaylorMade-adidas back to Ontario and the impressive Deer Ridge Golf Club,” said PGA of Canada president Steve Wood.

Designed by Canada’s Thomas McBroom, a designer known for his indelible golfing concepts that have resonated with players the world over, Deer Ridge is unlike any other creation in the architect’s canon. Opened in 1990, Deer Ridge was ranked the 69th best golf course in Canada by SCOREGolf in its 2016 rankings.

“The board of directors and management team at Deer Ridge are thrilled and honoured to host one of Canada’s most storied championships, the PGA Championship of Canada,” said Deer Ridge Golf Club’s head PGA professional Rich Morel. “This is a great opportunity to showcase our fantastic facility to many who are unfamiliar with it both locally and nationally.”

While having a designer say one of his creations is his best is like choosing a favourite child in a family, McBroom admits there are holes on the course that resonate with him two decades after crafting its fairways and greens, picking the 12th hole as one of his highlights.

“There is a great risk-reward element to this hole as well, where one is forced to make decisions on both the tee, and on the second shot, to set up the best approach,” McBroom said. “There are many different ways to play the hole, which I think makes for a strong and interesting design.”

Deer Ridge is also home to a piece of Canadian golfing lore. Brian Hadley of Thames Valley Golf Club shot 59 at Deer Ridge in the first round of the 2013 PGA Ontario Assistants’ Championship.

Re-launched in 2011, the PGA Championship of Canada was contested strictly as a match play event thru 2014 with players from the four brackets—Stan Leonard, George Knudson, Al Balding and Moe Norman—looking to advance through the six rounds to capture the historic P.D. Ross trophy. However, the 2015 championship at Cabot Links saw a format change, with 64 top-ranked players from the PGA of Canada Player Rankings presented by RBC playing two rounds of stroke play. The top-16 players from the 36-hole stroke play portion of the event filled out the four match play brackets with the eventual champion winning four match play rounds.

This year’s championship at Deer Ridge will follow the same format.

Marc-Etienne Bussieres looks to become the first back-to-back winner of the championship since Knudson won in 1976 and 1977.

In addition to Bussieres, past champions of the PGA Championship of Canada include Moe Norman, George Knudson, Danny King, Dave Levesque, Eric Laporte, Bryn Parry, Al Balding, Bob Panasik, Tim Clark, Lanny Wadkins, Jim Rutledge, Wilf Homenuik, Stan Leonard, Lee Trevino and Arnold Palmer.

The player who sits atop the PGA of Canada Player Rankings presented by RBC at the conclusion of the PGA Championship of Canada earns an exemption into the RBC Canadian Open at Glen Abbey Golf Club in Oakville, Ont.