Staal Open to give six golfers chance at $1 million shot

The odds of an amateur golfer making a hole-in-one are about 12,500 to one.

That’s relatively good, if compared to lottery wins and lightning strikes. It’s about a one in 28 million chance you’ll win Friday’s $50-million Lotto Max grand prize and in and around one in a million odds that you’ll be struck by lightning in your lifetime living in Canada.

Recognizing those odds, organizers of the Staal Foundation Open plan to give six golfers a shot at a cool $1 million during the second-year PGA Tour Canada event.

The Staal Family Foundation Million Dollar Shootout, new to the event this year, is a great addition to the tournament and a great way to reach out to people throughout Northwestern Ontario.

“We’re divided up into six regions,” tournament director Scott Smith said on Thursday, launching the event at the Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre, whose hospital foundation was announced once again as one of the charitable beneficiaries of the tournament.

“For example, in the east we’ll have Marathon and Manitouwadge. Marathon will be hosting two events. What we’ll do is take the closest to the pin out of those three qualifiers. So it will be a short from 130 yards at all the courses and the closest to the pin will come to Thunder Bay.”

The six finalists, drawn from qualifiers at 28 participating regional courses, will each get one shot at the million-dollar prize at Whitewater Golf Course.

“Also they’ll get a chance to come into Thunder Bay and participate in the pro-am with the pros. They’ll also get hotel rooms, some VIP passes, and more importantly some Thunder Bay hospitality.”

Smith said the tournament is all about promoting Thunder Bay, which is why the Million Dollar Shootout was such a good fit.

“It’s about raising money for charity. It’s about tourism and economic impact. This does all of those things,” Smith said.

“It also does it not only Thunder Bay, but it does it for the entire region.”

Details will be available at www.staalopen.ca.

Staal Family Foundation patriarch Henry Staal on Thursday also announced this year’s charity recipients, which will remain true to the ones chosen for the inaugural event last year.

In addition to the Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Foundation, the Northern Ontario Families of Children with Cancer and Camp Quality Northwestern Ontario.

All were easy choices, said Staal, who spent a tension-filled evening on Wednesday watching his second-oldest son Marc help the New York Rangers advance to the NHL’s Eastern Conference final with aGame 7 overtime win over Washington.

“Cancer touches everyone,” Staal said. “It’s touched our family, so I think that was the biggest reason they chose the charities that they did.”

Camp Quality’s Ashleigh Quarrell said it was an honour to be chosen again.

“We are very, very grateful to the Staal Foundation Open and the Staal Family Foundation,” she said. “This money is incredibly critical to us.”

Finally tournament organizers put out a call for volunteers and caddies. Information can be found on the tournament website.