Calling it a “new era of golf,” Keith Dagg recently announced that the PGA Tour Canada event will be back in Victoria for at least three more years, but will now be known as the Bayview Place Island Savings Open.
The tournament, which will continue to be held at Uplands Golf Club through the 2016 season – with an option for two more years after that – will have the Times Colonist as a presenting sponsor. The newspaper drops its role as title sponsor, but remains behind the tournament, which it has supported since the event’s inception in 1981.
Keith Dagg, who oversees marketing and sponsorships for the tournament, has been hard at work trying to save the event.
Operating on an annual budget of $450,000, the tournament was perilously close to ceasing operation in the B.C. capital, as it was back in 2003 when the Times Colonist stepped up from presenting sponsor to title sponsor. Island Savings joined as a second title sponsor in 2010.
Ken and Patty Mariash – who own and operate Focus Equities – have now solidified the future of the tournament for at least three more years.
“To get to $450,000, you can’t do it alone on a bunch of $5,000 sponsorships. We do need those, as well, but the back is broken without having Bayview and Island Savings,” said Dagg, who appreciates every single sponsor for the event, no matter what the financial assistance.