THUNDER BAY – It appears the will is there to bring the Staal Foundation Open back in 2019 and beyond.
The final putt had dropped only minutes before and committee chair Walter Flasza announced the local organizing group was working on keeping the Mackenzie Tour-PGA Tour Canada tournament in Thunder Bay for the foreseeable future.
“Right now we’re at the end of a two-year agreement with the Tour and the facility. We’re looking at doing a three-year extension and opening discussions on that front,” Flasza said. “There’s a lot of work that needs to be done to solidify arrangements.
“So we don’t have anything definitive at this time, but we have a lot of hope.”
Tour officials have repeatedly labelled the Staal Foundation Open as one of its marquee events, one players routinely rates at the top of the list when asked in the season-ending survey sent out to their membership.
There’s no question the event has been a success on a fundraising front.
The 2018 event raised more than $189,000, bringing the five-year total past $1 million. However, the total was $80,000 less than last year in support of children’s cancer charities.
Family spokesman Eric Staal, a forward with the NHL’s Minnesota Wild, was non-committal when asked about the Staals future involvement with the tournament, but also did not rule it out.
“Right now we’ll sit back and have meetings as a family and discuss amongst ourselves what we’re thinking moving forward. It’s obviously been a great event here in Thunder Bay and the ability here in five years to raise over $1 million and give it back to local charities is something we’re proud of,” Staal said on Sunday.
“As far as moving forward, we’ll talk and discuss as a family and we’ll see what we decide.”
The tournament began in 2014.
