Canadian Women’s Open golf tournament changes track to CP and avoids bad press

This may be one of the smoothest sponsorship changes in history.

The CN Canadian Women's Open now becomes the Canadian Pacific Women's Open, meaning Golf Canada can keep all railroad-themed logos on its marketing material. The savings are being calculated as we speak.

But in all seriousness, Wednesday's announcement that one railyway, Canadian Pacific, will replace another railway, Canadian National, as title sponsor of Canada's national women's golf championship is a big one -- and not just because the tournament got a $250,000 boost in prize money. The big coup for Golf Canada is that a title sponsor was signed, sealed and delivered before anyone could start speculating that the event was headed off the rails.

That was the case back in 2005 when BMO pulled out as sponsor, leading to a painful months-long search for a replacement. It wasn't until CN came along that the Open was saved the embarrassment of either offering peanuts in prize money or shutting down for a year.

This time around, Golf Canada got ahead of the game and avoided all that gnashing of teeth, rending of garments and bad publicity. Of course, it didn't hurt having the guy who rescued you last time come riding in to save the day again.

That guy is Canadian Pacific CEO Hunter Harrison, who just happened to be running CN back in 2006 when it gave a big "all aboard" to Golf Canada.

"He's the reason we are here today," said Golf Canada CEO Scott Simmons.

Harrison agreed that the tournament was in jeopardy back in 2005, but that things have changed in the ensuing eight years.

"Having been involved in this great championship in the past, I am well aware of the significant benefits of associating our brand to this event and to the lasting charitable legacy in the communities where we do business," Harrison said. "Together with our dedicated team of railroaders and the support of our great customers, I am confident we will take this event to new heights and continue to preserve its status as the premier event on the LPGA Tour.”

He might have overstated the tournament's pull a tad. It is no longer a major andLPGA tour commissioner Mike Whan wasn't exactly enthusiastic about its chances of regaining that status in the foreseeable future. But it still draws most of the best women golfers in the world and with the purse increased to $2.25 million could pull in a few of the laggards.

“For our players, this championship has become a must-play event and we look forward to working with Canadian Pacific to showcase the LPGA Tour to millions of golf fans in Canada, across North America and throughout the world," said Whan.

The three-year deal kicks off August 21 at the London Hunt and Country Club in London, Ont. The tournament returns to London for the first time since 2006, when Cristie Kerr overcame an 8-stroke deficit to claim her first Canadian Open title.

Not surprisingly, Kerr joined the announcement on a conference call and sang the praises of both the Open and the London course.