At Surrey’s Northview Golf and Country Club this week, they’ll be celebrating the time when Mike Weir became the first Canadian in 45 years to win a PGA Tour event on Canadian soil.
It’s “PGA Tour Week” from Sept. 3-6 at the two-course golf facility on 168th Street, where Weir won the Air Canada Championship 21 years ago, on Sept. 5, 1999.
In salute, Northview’s Ridge Course will have the same pin placements and green speed (12+) as the 1999 Air Canada Championship where Weir earned his first PGA Tournament.
Weir’s win electrified the local golf community.
Greg Pool, Northview’s head pro, was there that weekend, as a wide-eyed 12-year-old.
“In 1999 I played the Best of the Best event put on the PGA of British Columbia on the Canal course on the Monday that week,” Pool recalled. “I was part of a competition within the event, as a youngster, and I was able to caddie for (hockey players) Eddie Shack and Ed Jovanovski in the pro-am. I still have a picture of myself wearing the Air Canada Championship caddie bib, with a big crowd around us. Those are very special memories I have.”
The tournament helped propel Pool on his golf career path.
“I remember being out here on Friday or Saturday and leaving the course around noon, after watching a few hours of the event,” Pool remembered, “and then we went straight back to our home course to practice and play a round ourselves, because we were pretty pumped up by the whole experience.”
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Northview’s PGA Tour Week promo involves “closest to the pin” prizes on Hole 14, where Weir amazed everyone by holing out for an Eagle 2 that Sunday afternoon.
“The 159-yard downwind 8 iron landed softly on the front of the green and rolled into the cup dead center,” says a plaque on the hole.
This week, “a few special things” will happen at Northview, Pool said, including the opening of some back tee boxes that haven’t been played in many years. Tee times can be booked seven days in advance at northviewgolf.com.
In the summer of 2019, Northview hosted a “Party on the 18th” in celebration of the club’s 25th anniversary, and Weir sent his best wishes in a video posted to Youtube.
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Northview hosted PGA tournaments from 1996 to 2002, first as the Greater Vancouver Open and later as the Air Canada Championship.
CLICK HERE to read more Northview history.
“This is our first real official anniversary of the ACC event, where we’re trying to make golfers feel like they’re playing a round of golf as it was done back then, during the Air Canada Championship,” Pool said.
“We’ve had some good input, some feedback on our social media outlets. It’s been very positive so far, and we’re expecting a lot of people here.”
tom.zillich@surreynowleader.com
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