When the LPGA comes to town it’s not just an intimate gathering of tremendous golfers.
The event can overwhelm a community. But in a very good way, as we’re finding out with the CP Open being staged at Wascana Country Club. It’s the first time an LPGA event is being staged in Saskatchewan.
Hospitality tents and TV towers and media centres and bleachers and sponsors’ lounges have been constructed everywhere around the course. It’s a small city unto itself!
The pro-am was played Wednesday, getting local players involved and raising money for charity. At other nearby courses, there have been women’s golf clinics and events where juniors got to play with the pros.
Canadian star Brooke Henderson, among the favourites to win this tournament, has helped promote the event and Lorie Kane visited a local club to share some free pointers. More than 1,000 volunteers have been mobilized as scorekeepers, marshals, ticket-takers and shuttle drivers.
One of those shuttles was pulled over in my neighbourhood, while the driver was looking at a road map. I should have knocked on the window, pointed the driver toward the Wascana and hopped in the van because the opening round starts today and it’s a great thing to see.