By Jeff D'Andrea

Cooke Municipal to host PGA Tour Canada Pro-Am

May 22, 2013 | 8:27 PM

Prince Albert golf enthusiasts will have a chance that doesn’t come along to often in the golf world, play alongside touring professionals.

Cooke Municipal Golf Course will host the Prince Albert Pro-Am July 2, a satellite event that’s in conjunction with the PGA Canada Tour tournament, the Dakota Dunes Open July 1-7 in Whitecap, Sask.

The PA Pro-Am will feature 18 professionals that are participating in the Dakota Dunes and have them play along with local amateur golfers in Prince Albert and surrounding area.

“It’s an opportunity for the people here to be able to see what these guys can actually do, how they preform, how they conduct themselves on the golf course,” said Darcy Myers, Cooke Municipal’s head professional.

Myers and the rest of the Cooke Municipal staff are excited for the opportunity to host the yet to be named professionals, and the attention they’ll bring along with them.

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“All the publicity coming with this event is huge for us. These professionals…that come here, they’ll tell their friends, tell their fellow professionals ‘what a great event,’” said Myers. “Hopefully this becomes an annual thing to raise a lot of money for the community here.”

Not only is an event like this able to give a lot of attention to Cooke Municipal, but the city as a whole.

“It’s definitely putting us on the map as having one of the country’s best municipal golf courses,” said Jayne Remenda, executive for Prince Albert Tourism and Marketing Bureau, as well as the Prince Albert Destination Marketing Fund. “With all the best pros coming from across the country, there’s going to be a lot of media coverage around the event, certainly around the Dakota Dunes Open and the PGA Canada circuit.”

The idea came for the event at this year’s Canadian Sports Tourism congress meeting in Ottawa, when Remenda met with Hugh Vassos, Executive Director of the Dakota Dunes Open.

Vassos said the Dakota Dunes Open was looking to expand and have a satellite event somewhere in the province. After some discussion, Prince Albert seemed like an ideal place.

“We both thought Prince Albert would be a great place to host the event,” said Remenda. “We came back and pitched it to the Prince Albert Tourism board and the Destination Marketing Fund, and then within a couple days we decided we could make it happen and here we are.”

Each of the 18 pros at the event will play with a group of four amateur golfers. The professionals will be named at a later date, as the players list for the Dakota Dunes Open has yet to be set either.

The Prince Albert Destination and Marketing Fund are the main sponsors of the event, donating $25,000 in order to secure the event. Interested players can get signed up through PA Tourism.

jdandrea@panow.com

On Twitter: @jeff_dandrea