CP Women’s Open turns millions of eyes to Regina

The stands are built, thousands of visitors are expected and it’s a sight that’s never been seen in Saskatchewan before.

After more than a year of anticipation, the CP Women’s Open has arrived in the province. Months of work went into the course, including bringing in new sod to repair winter kill and making accommodations for the thousands of people expected to make their way to Regina’s Wascana Country Club.

Club CEO Greg Dukart said they are hoping to have more than 70,000 spectators at the course during the tournament. He said work has gone into creating sky boxes, gallery stands and spectator village.

“It’s a small city here. Our corporate village around the 18th probably accommodates two to 3,000 people right there itself; it’s smaller and similar on 17 and spectator village we’re expecting thousands of people,” Dukart said.

He said people who have never been to Regina are going to be surprised with how good their course looks.

“The golf course is quite stunning and I’ve talked to come people who couldn’t believe we have this quality golf course in our backyard,” Dukart said.

It’s been a goal for Dukart to bring an event like this to Regina since he became the country club CEO a decade ago, he said.

“We had a vision at that time to get national and more provincial recognition. The board of directors at that time didn’t know how we were going to get there, but this opportunity presented itself about three years ago,” Dukart said.

From there, Dukart said he met with many partners including Tourism Regina, Hotel Regina and the Economic Development Commission and the Province.

Now the vision is becoming a reality, with the first round of the tournament underway on Thursday.

It won’t just be national attention on the golf course. The world will be watching. Golf Channel is broadcasting the event, which means it could reach 500 million viewers.

“We don’t know if there’s been something bigger or not,” Dukart said. “Maybe this is the biggest thing we can get for destination marketing, for people who want to do business back in Regina or Saskatchewan, it’s quite a good opportunity for sure.”

The first-ever CP Women’s Open Leadership Summit will take place Tuesday night with Hayley Wickenheiser as the keynote speaker.