2021 ATB Financial Classic Tournament returns to help support mental health initiatives
The ATB Financial Classic is back in 2021 with a distinctly Canadian look.
Wednesday, less than a week away from the return of the golf tournament, media and sponsors were invited to learn more about the Mackenzie Tour and this year's charities.
PGA Tour Canada announced Wednesday that it has secured a three year agreement with returning key sponsor ATB Financial. This year's tournament will take place at Country Hills Golf Club in Calgary from Sept. 13-19.
ATB Financials Classic tournament director Colin Lavender said that thanks to the pandemic, the field for the 2021 tourney will be a little different than past tournaments, but that fans should still expect a high level of play.
“The big difference this year is that it's primarily a Canadian field," Lavender said. "Most years, it's about 80 per cent American and this year, it's about 90 per cent Canadian just due to the COVID restrictions on travel.”
The pandemic resulted in the cancellation of the 2020 tournament.
“It was very frustrating last year not being able to have it," Lavender said. "It's great for the players to have somewhere to play and a place for them to progress to try to attain their dream of getting onto the PGA Tour.”
PGA Tour Canada announced Wednesday that it has secured a three year agreement with returning key sponsor ATB Financial. This year's tournament will take place at Country Hills Golf Club in Calgary from Sept. 13-19.
CHARITY COMPONENT
The competition is just one aspect of what the tournament brings, with the Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA) chosen as the primary charity for this years ATB Financial Classic.
Karen Gallagher-Burt is with the CMHA and said the funds raised are needed now more than ever. “When we get events like this, it's such a boost in multiple ways," she said. "Number one is always the awareness. It's the fact that people are seeing us in the media, they're paying attention to what's going on.”
“The other part is the awareness of the funding needs," she said. And for us, particularly, this kind of money comes in at a time when we need that gap funding, we need to fill in some of the cracks and programs that are escalating due to COVID.”
Gallagher-Burt added that the number of Canadians in need of mental health support is growing rapidly, “What we have seen is that generally speaking in any organization or large corporations, particularly when you look at their claims for ability or disability number one is always been musculoskeletal; so you injure your body somewhere, but reality is that for many companies, that's gone to number two, and mental health has come to (be) number one. So what they're seeing is this significant increase in all staff."
Organizers of the tournament said that charitable donations are a key component of all PGA Tour events, including on the Mackenzie Tour and are hopeful that they can raise $50,000 to $100,000 for the CMHA.
For more information or to purchase tickets visit (https://www.atbfinancialclassic.com/)
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Parents of infant who died in wrong-way crash on Ontario's Hwy. 401 were in same vehicle
Ontario’s Special Investigations Unit has released new details about a wrong-way collision in Whitby on Monday night that claimed the lives of four people.
Three Quebec men from same family father hundreds of children
Three men in Quebec from the same family have fathered more than 600 children.
B.C. mayor stripped of budget, barred from committees over Indigenous residential schools book
A British Columbia mayor has been censured by city council – stripping him of his travel and lobbying budgets and removing him from city committees – for allegedly distributing a book that questions the history of Indigenous residential schools in Canada.
OPP's mandatory alcohol screening during traffic stops 'not acceptable': CCLA
A spike in impaired driving-related collisions has caused Ontario’s provincial police to begin enforcing mandatory alcohol screening (MAS) at all traffic stops in the Greater Toronto Area -- a move one civil rights group says is ‘not acceptable.’
Maple Leafs down Bruins 2-1 to force Game 7
William Nylander scored twice and Joseph Woll made 22 saves as the Toronto Maple Leafs downed the Boston Bruins 2-1 on Thursday to force Game 7 in their first-round series.
Jurors in Trump hush money trial hear recording of pivotal call on plan to buy affair story
Jurors in the hush money trial of Donald Trump heard a recording Thursday of him discussing with his then-lawyer and personal fixer a plan to purchase the silence of a Playboy model who has said she had an affair with the former president.
Southern Alberta store broken into by burly black bear
Staff at a small southern Alberta office supply store were shocked to find someone had broken into the business last week, but they were even more confused when they discovered the culprit was a bear.
Captain sentenced to 4 years for criminal negligence in fiery deaths of 34 aboard scuba boat
A federal judge on Thursday sentenced a scuba dive boat captain to four years in custody and three years supervised release for criminal negligence after 34 people died in a fire aboard the vessel.
New scam targets Canada Carbon Rebate recipients
Fake text message and email campaigns trying to get money and information out of unsuspecting Canadian taxpayers have started circulating, just months after the federal government rebranded the carbon tax rebate the Canada Carbon Rebate.