IGA | VANCOUVER GOLF TOUR
For Immediate Release (Vancouver, BC)
Feb. 10th, 2016
The BC MATCH PLAY (Pairs) Championship has reached a milestone 70th Birthday in 2016. And thanks to the continued support of the event’s eight year Title Sponsor CANADA BREAD, with a full field this year’s event will feature a TOTAL PRIZE PURSE of $17,500.
The winning team in this year’s Scratch (OPEN) tournament will share a sizeable cheque of $5,000 while the Champions in the Handicap (NET) tournament will earn a $2,000 team prize. Qualifying for this year’s event commences Mar.25th and 26th at the Pagoda Ridge Golf Course in Langley, BC. Players may register for the event as a pair or as a single and will select one of the 2 days to qualify at. The Match Play field will be set to get underway on Mar.27th with the top 31 teams advancing from each of the 2 fields (Scratch event & handicap event) with last year’s Champions of each event being awarded the #1 seed. Winners of the opening matches will advance to the Round of 16 hosted at the beautiful Sandpiper Golf Resort on April 2nd with the Quarter-finals being hosted at the 7,000 yard Meadow Gardens Golf Club in Pitt Meadows the following day. Meadow Gardens has played host to a number of Provincial Championships and has been voted as “Best Course” in the Maple Ridge/Pitt Meadows Times newspaper 7 times since 2008.
SEMI-FINALS & FINALS TO BE HOSTED AT CAPILANO & SHAUGHNESSY!
To celebrate the rich tradition and history of the BC MATCH PLAY event, the Organizing Committee has arranged an impressive line-up of Golf Courses on the rotation. The event commences with Open Qualifying on Easter Weekend (Mar.25-26th) at one of BC’s newest Premier Courses, Pagoda Ridge Golf Club in Langley and will feature two separate tournaments (Better-ball scratch event and Better-ball handicap event) contested over 4 consecutive weeks.
To commemorate the 70 year anniversary, the Semi-finals and Finals of the event are being hosted on two of Canada’s finest Private Golf Courses, Capilano Golf & Country Club (April 9th) and Shaughnessy Golf & Country Club (April 17th).
BC MATCH PLAY WEBSITE LAUNCHED
To celebrate the tradition of this historic event, Vancouver Golf Tour is launching an official BC MATCH PLAY WEBSITE (www.BCMATCHPLAY.COM) that will focus on bringing the 70 year event to life through extensive social media feeds to capture the competitors of the event in action. Particularly unique will be video footage taken from a newly acquired DRONE camera we are naming “SKY LIVE”. The drone camera will not only capture some of the contestants amazing shots but will capture the beauty and terrain of some of Canada’s finest Golf Club’s on this year’s BC MATCH PLAY rotation.
The site will offer online viewers nine and 18-hole live scoring at the qualifying and early round matches. And fans at home will be privy to LIVE MATCH UPDATES in both the Semi-Finals and Finals matches via the GOLF GENIUS live scoring software.
The second part of the site we want to expand on is gathering as much information on the history of the event as we can to commemorate the 70th Anniversary of the event. If you have any BC Match Play accounts you wish to share, please email info@vancouvergolftour.com.
For full BC MATCH PLAY event details and registration, click http://BCMatchPlay.com.
“This year semi-finalists will have the honor of tee-ing-it up on the spectacular mountainside setting of Capilano Golf & Country Club on Saturday, April 9th “ stated VGT Commissioner Fraser Mulholland. “And for the winning teams (who were the least distracted by the jaw dropping West Vancouver views) will punch their ticket to the finals at A.V. Macan’s masterpiece, Shaughnessy Golf & Country Club on April 17th”.
“On behalf of Shaughnessy Golf and Country Club, I am excited to host / welcome the final matches of the BC Match Play on Sunday, April 17th. We are extremely proud to be a part of this longstanding event, in their milestone 70th anniversary year”, said Alan Palmer, PGA Director of Golf.
“Having the top PGA of BC Club, Tour Professionals and top amateurs play the deciding match at Shaughnessy will certainly be entertaining, and we hope that many spectators and members come out to support the event”, adds Palmer
The 2016 BC MATCH PLAY (Pairs) CHAMPIONS will be bestowed the honor of not only winning the 70TH Anniversary event, but having their names etched on the coveted historic Trophy on Sunday, April 17th!
Stay Tuned for details coming up on a new Singles Match Play event that will pin a 36-hole finals weekend up at the Nicklaus North Golf Course in Whistler, BC on Sept.24, 25th!!!
ABOUT SHAUGHNESSY GOLF & COUNTRY CLUB
Founded in 1911, Shaughnessy has played host to numerous Provincial, National and International events, most recently the 2003 Canadian Amateur and the PGA Tour’s 2005 & 2011 RBC Canadian Open.
For more about Shaughnessy Golf & Country Club: http://shaughnessygolf.org
ABOUT THE BC MATCH PLAY
It was back in 1946 that the legendary Pro Golfer Stan Leonard of Marine Drive Golf Club and some local pros created the BC MATCH PLAY, which would become one of Canada’s Premier Golf Tournaments. So much in fact that for a stretch the tournament was only 2nd in popularity to the Canadian Open. It is reported that before the age of television and PGA Tour golf, fans would come in the thousands to watch some of the top local Amateurs take on some of the top local PGA Pros in some heated battles on BC’s most exclusive Private Clubs. At the height of the tournament it was estimated that a total of 25,000 fans attended the event over the five consecutive weekends of the tournament.
For an more extensive account on the BC MATCH PLAY history, through the eyes of the late Arv Olson, click HERE.
CONTACT
Fraser Mulholland, VGT Commissioner
604.980.4653
fraser@vancouvergolftour.com
Website: http://BCMatchplay.com
VGT: Http://VancouverGolfTour.com
