TORONTO — The top men's golf tour in Canada is introducing a new sponsor and points format.
PGA Tour Canada, formerly known as the Mackenzie Tour, announced on Thursday that Fortinet will now sponsor the circuit's season-long points competition and championship trophy. The Fortinet Cup will mirror the competitive structure of the points-based competitions on the PGA Tour, PGA Tour Champions and PGA Tour Latinoamérica.
Fortinet is offering a new $100,000 player bonus pool, with $25,000 to the winner of season-long points competition. The Fortinet Cup Championship at Deer Ridge Golf Club in Kitchener, Ont., will be the tour's season finale.
“The Fortinet Cup will give players a week-to-week gauge of how they’re doing, with significant benefits available to them thanks to Fortinet," said Scott Pritchard, the executive director of PGA Tour Canada. "It will certainly be fitting that the points chase culminates at the Fortinet Cup Championship in Ontario.
"We have an exciting season ahead of us and are extremely happy to make this announcement and begin this partnership.”
PGA Tour Canada used a money-list ranking to determine its top players since its inception in 2013. The third-tier circuit planned on switching to a points list in 2020 until the global pandemic forced PGA Tour Canada to cancel its last two seasons.
Previous money-list winners include current PGA Tour players Paul Barjon (2019), Tyler McCumber (2018), Kramer Hickok (2017), J.J. Spaun (2015), Joel Dahmen (2014) and Mackenzie Hughes (2013).
The Fortinet Cup winner will earn membership on the 2023 Korn Ferry Tour, with the No. 1-ranked player at the end of the season eligible to play in every open Korn Ferry Tour tournament the following season. An exemption into the 2023 RBC Canadian Open is also at stake for the Fortinet Cup winner.
Nos. 2-50 in the Fortinet Cup standings will earn Korn Ferry Tour membership.
Fortinet, based in Sunnyvale, Calif., offers broad, integrated and automated cybersecurity solutions.
PGA Tour Canada will announce its 2022 schedule next week, which will begin in early June and conclude with the Fortinet Cup Championship in mid-September.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 14, 2022.
The Canadian Press
