The Greater Vancouver Open was a professional golf tournament in Canada on the PGA Tour, held in southwestern British Columbia from 1996 to 2002. It was played after the majors in late summer, at the Northview Golf & Country Club in Surrey, a suburb southeast of Vancouver.
History For its first three years, it was an alternate event in late August, concurrent with the NEC World Series of Golf at Firestone in Akron, Ohio. In 1999, the new Reno-Tahoe Open became the alternate event for the WGC-NEC Invitational at Firestone. The Vancouver tournament was promoted to a regular tour event and scheduled a week later, as the Greater Milwaukee Open moved up to July. Renamed the "Air Canada Championship," sponsored by the country's leading airline, it was coupled with the Canadian Open for consecutive tournaments north of the U.S. border in early September.
Mike Weir won that year for the first of his eight tour wins; he became the first Canadian to win a PGA Tour event on home soil in
The purses grew substantially during the run of the event, from $1 million to $3.5 million in six years. It was replaced on the schedule in 2003 by the Deutsche Bank Championship in Massachusetts, near Boston.
This was not the first time the PGA Tour included a stop in British Columbia on their schedule. Dow Finsterwald won the unofficial 1955 British Columbia Open Invitational, and Jim Ferree was victorious at the 1958 Vancouver Open Invitational.
Winners YearWinnerScoreTo parMargin ofvictoryRunner(s)-upPurse(US$)Winner'sshare ($)Ref.Air Canada Championship 2002 Gene Sauers 269 −15 1 stroke Steve Lowery3,500,000630,000 2001 Joel Edwards 265 −19 7 strokes Steve Lowery3,400,000612,000 2000 Rory Sabbatini 268 −16 1 stroke Grant Waite3,000,000540,000 1999 Mike Weir 266 −18 2 strokes Fred Funk2,500,000450,000Greater Vancouver Open 1998 Brandel Chamblee 265 −19 3 strokes Payne Stewart2,000,000360,000 1997 Mark Calcavecchia 265 −19 1 stroke Andrew Magee1,500,000270,000 1996 Guy Boros 272 −12 1 stroke Emlyn Aubrey Lee Janzen Taylor Smith1,000,000180,0001959–1995: No tournamentVancouver Open Invitational 1958 Jim Ferree 270 −18 1 stroke Billy Casper 42,000 6,400
References
External links Tournament results at GolfObserver.com - select under "Tournament Name" 2002 Tournament preview - at GolfToday.co.uk Northview Golf & Country Club