Pictured left to right: Étienne Papineau, Premier Scott Moe, and Henry Lee kick-off the Elk Ridge Saskatchewan Open week with a ceremonial tee-off. (Ben Tompkins/northeastNOW Staff)

By Ben Tompkins

PGA Tour Canada

Elk Ridge tees off festivities ahead of 2023 Saskatchewan Open

Jun 21, 2023 | 1:14 PM

Elk Ridge Resort hosted their opening ceremonies and media day, Tuesday afternoon, to kick off the 2023 Saskatchewan Open.

The four-day tournament marks the second event on PGA TOUR Canada’s 10-tournament season, and Elk Ridge’s second attempt at successfully hosting the coveted event.

The resort was the host site last year and held roughly half of round one before the rest of the week had to be cancelled as it was rained out.

Ryan Danberg, managing partner at Elk Ridge Resort, told northeastNOW they’re hoping for a better result this week.

“Mother Nature’s looking like she’s gonna prevail and I think we’re in for an exciting week,” he said. “I was talking to the players and they say it’s next level from last time… it’s really exciting to see the buzz amongst these players that are quite excited to be here. There’s probably going to be five to seven guys from this tournament who are on the PGA Tour in the next 24 months, so it’s exciting.”

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PGA TOUR Canada will use a combination of holes during the competition and will play 6,781 yards to par-70.

Making up the front nine of the tournament composite course is Tamarack’s number one and Aspen’s Numbers two through nine. The back nine is the entire Birch Course.

The field will consist of 159 players from 11 different countries which includes one from Albania, France, Germany, Ireland, Japan, Korea, and Switzerland, three from Australia and England, 27 from Canada, and 119 from the United States.

Numerous competitors in this weekend’s event hone their skills on the putting green. (Ben Tompkins/northeastNOW Staff)

Danberg added it’s quite cool to see all the international representation travelling to northern Saskatchewan, and they’re quite excited to showcase the area.

“It’s so cool the different countries and to hear the different travel schedules and how they got here, that’s what I admire the PGA Tour Golf team for, is that the field changes so much on a week to week basis. We’re really hopeful to get this event in and just let us show the world what we can do here at Elk Ridge and collectively with the PGA Tour Canada.”

The PGA TOUR Canada season began last week at the Royal Beach Victoria Open in Victoria, British Columbia.

Quebec native, Étienne Papineau, used a final-round 64 to post a five-shot victory, which was the first by a Quebec-born player since 2013 and propelled him into first place in the Fortinet Cup point standings.

Papineau spoke about the event and what kind of confidence he can carry over into the rest of this week.

“It’s definitely a good start, but I mean this week is a new week, and new start for me. Last week was great, but this week is a completely different week, it’s a new course with new conditions, but it definitely gives me a lot of confidence after a great win last week, so hopefully, I can keep going on that nice run of mine from last week.”

Papineau’s triumph came one week after Abbotsford’s Nick Taylor won the PGA TOUR’s RBC Canadian Open and was another encouraging sign for Canadian golf.

He mentioned Taylor, alongside other Canadian golfers, as role models who had gone through the Canadian PGA Tour to get to where they are today, stating the Saskatchewan Open was a big part of that.

“All the great Canadian players, Cory Conners, Mackenzie Hughes, Adam Svensson, and Nick Taylor, all these guys have played on this tour, so it’s great to follow them in their journey. Obviously, they’re now on the PGA Tour, but they’ve been through what we go through now, they have been models for Canadian golfers like me, so hopefully one day we get to join them on the big tour.”

Another one of those Canadian golfers is 21-year-old amateur, Josh Nagy, who hails from Saskatoon.

He is quite familiar to both the area and the course, as he said he grew up playing out here and spent most of his summers at Elk Ridge, and that it may have even been Danberg who actually gave him his first golf lesson.

Elk Ridge (Ben Tompkins/northeastNOW Staff)

“It’s kind of a dream come true to be able to come out here and play… I know my family is coming out, so I think it should be good to have some extra people in my corner out there,” Nagy said. “My game is in a good spot I feel like, so I’m excited to see how it compares with this level of field.”

Round one will begin Thursday morning, with round two set for Friday, round three on Saturday, and the final round taking place on Sunday.

Elk Ridge has also partnered with Hockey Saskatchewan and STARS, where a portion of profits from the Elk Ridge Saskatchewan Open will go towards the two programs.

Fortinet Cup

Papineau earned 500 points for his victory and leads the Fortinet Cup standings, with the winner earning a $25,000 bonus and full 2024 Korn Ferry Tour membership.

Meanwhile, the second-through-fifth finishers earn conditional 2024 membership, with all top-five finishers being exempt into the final stage of 2023 PGA TOUR Qualifying Tournament, and those finishing sixth through 25th being exempt into the second stage.

In addition, the Fortinet Cup winner will also receive an exemption into the PGA TOUR’s 2023 Fortinet Championship in California, and finally, the top-60 players on the points list will earn membership on the 2024 PGA TOUR Americas through the Latin American swing.

Following the completion of the 2023 PGA TOUR Canada season, the PGA TOUR Latinoamérica and PGA TOUR Canada will merge into a singular Tour to form PGA TOUR Americas, which will begin play in February 2024.

PGA TOUR Americas will consist of 16 events contested across Latin America, Canada and the United States from February through September, with the top-10 finishers on the season-long points list will earn Korn Ferry Tour membership for the following season.

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Ben.Tompkins@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter @BenTompkins_8