Photos from the event can be found here
Content from the event can be found here
By: Brendan Stasiewich, PGA of Canada
The El Campeon course at Mission Inn Resort in Howey-In-The-Hills, Florida, showed its teeth on Tuesday during the opening round of the PGA Head Professional Championship of Canada presented by Callaway Golf supported by G&G Brands.
Only three players finished the round under par, with Kevin Stinson emerging as leader after making four birdies in his final six holes to card a 5-under 67.
“The wind lied down so made it a little easier, the greens are perfect so if you get them on line and read them right it goes a long ways,” said Stinson, who, with a win, would become the only player in PGA of Canada history to win the PGA Championship of Canada, the PGA Assistants’ Championship of Canada and the PGA Head Pro Championship of Canada.
1-under after four, Stinson found himself behind a tree on the fifth hole and his approach came up short in the bunker. From there, Stinson hit the shot of the tournament thus far, holing it to move to 2-under.
“I couldn’t see much, just knew the pin was in a good spot so I figured If I got it out running towards it, it might have a chance. I got a little lucky for it to go in, (but that is) always nice,” said Stinson.
After a bogey on 10, Stinson bounced back with birdies on 13 and 14, as well as birdies on 16 and 17 to sign for the round of the day by three strokes.
“These events are what we look forward to all year, our national championships. It’s a great group of players every year, so you want to play as best as you can. The courses back home are a bit wet and soggy right now, so it’s nice to be somewhere warm and have the chance to play a cool golf course,” said Stinson.
Behind Stinson in second place is Eric Locke, who fired a 33 on the back side on his way to a 2-under 70, as he looks for his first PGA of Canada National Championship title.
Rounding out the top three is Kevin Black, who made only a single bogey to fire 71.
At each National Championship, a hole is deemed the E-Z-GO ‘It’s Good to Go’ Hole of the Week. This week, the par-5 14th is the selected hole. Any player to make eagle will be put into a draw for a $250 bonus prize. One player made eagle on 14 on Tuesday: Kyle Brodhagen.
Last evening, Golf Away Tours awarded a six-night trip to Ireland for two at the opening reception. Ian Doig won the random draw and will be off on a trip of a lifetime thanks to our friends at Golf Away Tours and Tourism Ireland.
In 2023, the PGA of Canada won the Four Nations Cup in South Africa – and now it is our turn to host in 2025, with venue TBD.
The winner of this week’s event will receive an invite to the 2025 event alongside the winner of the 2024 Assistants’ Championship and next year’s PGA Champion of Canada. They will be joined by the top player on the PGA of Canada Player Rankings presented by ECCO Golf.
Second round tee times begin at 7:16 AM ET on Wednesday.