The fans showed up in historic numbers.
Earl Grey Golf Club showed off.
And the LPGA Tour sharpshooters put on a show at the 2024 CPKC Women’s Open, which wrapped on a sun-splashed Sunday with a trophy presentation for Lauren Coughlin and a new tournament attendance record.
It had been eight years since this championship was last contested in Calgary. After more than 73,000 spectators lined the fairways this week, they can’t possibly wait that long for a return visit.
“When our volunteer team hears this, they will go bananas. This is a home run.”
This 50th edition of the CPKC Women’s Open was, indeed, a smash success.
For Coughlin, in her 103rd career start on the LPGA Tour, this was a long overdue first title. She finished four laps with a combined score of 13-under 275.
For Earl Grey, hosting its first high-profile tour event, this was a dazzling debut. As Koss put it: “I’ve dreamt about this for a long time and I had truly envisioned what I thought it would be like, and I was not even close.”
This was also further proof of Calgary’s love affair with golf, their desire to be dazzled by the best in the birdie-making business. You’ll see it again in mid-August, when the PGA Tour Champions stars return for another instalment of the Rogers Charity Classic at Canyon Meadows.
The previous CPKC Women’s Open attendance record was set in Ottawa — that is, remember, Brooke Henderson’s backyard — in 2022. While the exact numbers were not available at press time, Golf Canada officials confirmed late Sunday that the old mark had been erased.
“Even dating back to 2021, when we were looking at venues to come to in Calgary and we first set eyes on Earl Grey, I think we knew we had the place that was going to be successful,” said tournament director Ryan Paul. “But I didn’t know it was going to be as successful as it’s been.
“We won Tournament of the Year the last two years on the LPGA Tour, and it’s going to be very, very hard for the LPGA to not make it a three-peat. It’s been incredibly successful for us.”
The staff and members at Earl Grey, a pristine private club in the community of North Glenmore Park, were beaming with pride all week — and rightly so.
During Thursday’s opening round, head professional Pat Wilmot was chatting with a reporter in the media centre when he briefly lost his train of thought.
The TV broadcast had just started. He was catching one of his first glimpses of his home club in high-def.
“Man, it looks so good,” he said.
Terry Shinkewski, the superintendent at Earl Grey, noticed that too.
Twenty-some years ago, Shinkewski scribbled a list of career goals. One was to play host to a marquee event.
“Having that fulfilled has been an honour for me,” said Shinkewski, whose maintenance staff was sitting green-side Sunday at No. 18 when Coughlin holed the winning putt.
And how about seeing his office — a 6,856-yard layout on the edge of Glenmore Reservoir, a prime location where you will sometimes hear the hoot of the steam train from across the water at Heritage Park — on Golf Channel?
“It’s kind of overwhelming,” Shinkewski replied. “It’s an incredible feeling to have a look at your own golf course and to see the best players in the world playing it.”
“To be a part of a national open, seeing the best players in the world roaming our grounds, getting to know them, it’s a pretty unique experience,” Wilmot added during the final round. “Just looking back, every day has been better and better. Now, for it to be Sunday, I’m disappointed it’s ending, because it’s been so much work to build it up.
“But it’s definitely lived up to everything I’ve ever wanted it to be. I just hope we get a chance to do it again at some point.”
They certainly made a heck of an impression.
“I think Earl Grey will be showcased and known across the country now,” Wilmot said. “The city knows who we are, but now the province knows us better and all of Canada will now know, when you say Earl Grey, they’ll know exactly what you’re talking about.”
Sure will.
It’ll be known as the place where the players talked about the major-like conditions (and major-length rough), where jaws dropped when Mao Saigo sizzled to an 11-under 61 in the third round.
It’ll be known as the place where Coughlin carded a clutch birdie on the 71st hole en route to a two-stroke victory.
It’ll known as the place where the CPKC Women’s Open attendance record was shattered, where the bar was raised. An army of 1,300 volunteers helped to make it happen.
“I’d been at a few Shaw Charity Classics — now the Rogers Charity Classic — but I did not realize the spirit of volunteerism in this province,” marvelled Laurence Applebaum, the CEO of Golf Canada. “Thirteen hundred people giving up days, getting dressed in the morning, going out to the golf course, spending the day, and some of these aren’t glamorous jobs … It’s pretty special.
“That spirit was felt by us, and that’s why we’ll be back as soon as we can.”