Of course, everything is still virus-dependent, but 2022 could be the year a few more things get back on track. The Mackenzie Tour, the PGA Tour of Canada, is looking to return to a full schedule of events in 2022. The tour is one rung on the ladder of professional golf. At the top of that ladder is the PGA tour.
Many top-Canadian pros, as well as several other PGA players, got their start playing professional golf in Canada, either at the PGA Tour Canada or its predecessor, the CanTour. Current PGA players who have recently played on the Mackenzie Tour include Canadians Nick Taylor, Corey Conners and Mackenzie Hughes. Other recent Mackenzie Tour graduates now on the PGA tour include Tony Finau and C.T. Pan.
COVID-19 concerns essentially led to an abbreviated 2020 season, while a short slate of affiliated events was played in both the U.S. and Canada in 2021. The 2021 events were largely qualifiers for the anticipated Mackenzie Tour return to play planned for 2022, with a handful of players also receiving status for 2022 on the Korn Ferry Tour.
The full Mackenzie Tour Q-School schedule for 2022 was announced on December 28th with six qualifying events scheduled to be played in the states and one in British Columbia. Players who perform well in Q- School are granted entry into regular-season events played in Canada between late May/early June and September.
The very best players in Q- School events receive full-season exemptions for the regular-season events.
The top five players for the full season will automatically advance to the Korn Ferry Tour, one step away from the PGA tour, for 2023. Any golfer who carries a verified handicap of two or better can pay an application fee and apply to Q-school, confirmed Derek Miller, Senior Manager of Tour Operations for the Mackenzie Tour.
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Q-School applications are set to go live online at noon Eastern this Tuesday, January 4th. The website is listed near the bottom of this article. In recent years, the spots for each Q-School generally sell out extremely quickly. Tuesday, January 11, at 5 pm Eastern, is the final deadline to apply.
Each Q-School event is scheduled as a 72-hole, 4-day (Tuesday-Friday), no-cut event. This year, the first Q-School event is scheduled for February 15-18 for The Club at Weston in Florida.
Two events are scheduled for March 8-11, one for the Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail’s Highland Oaks Course in Dothan, Alabama and another at the Mission Inn Resort and Club’s El Campeon Course at Howie-in-the-Hills, Florida.
March 29-April 1, there is an event scheduled in Arizona at the Wigwam Club.
The next week it’s on to Saboba Springs in San Jacinto, California from April 5-8.
The final qualifying event in the U.S. will be at the Home Course in DuPont, (suburban Takoma) in Washington State from April 19-22.
Finally, the Mackenzie Tour wraps up its Q-School schedule at the Crowne Isle Resort and Golf Club in Courtenay, British Colombia from April 26-29. The full-season schedule will be announced early in 2022.
“We expect the full schedule will be released later (in January),” said Laury Livsey of the PGA.
The PGA Tour is also planning to return to Canada in 2022, with the 111th playing of Canada’s National Championship, The Canadian Open, once again sponsored by RBC. This year’s RBC Canadian Open is scheduled for June 6-11 with the 72-hole competition starting on the 8th of June.
This year’s event will be held at St. George’s Golf and Country Club in Toronto and will serve as a qualifier for the 150th Open Championship to be held at the Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews in St. Andrews, Scotland to be played July 14-17, 2022.
More information: www.mackenzietour.com, www.rbccanadianopen.com