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CANADIAN PACIFIC WOMEN'S OPEN

August 22, 2017

Calgary, Alberta, Canada

THE MODERATOR: We are welcomed today by Derrick Powers, the golf course superintendent at River Mead Golf Club as well as a representative from the Canadian Golf Superintendent's Association, and Derrick will be making a presentation to Eric Ruhs, superintendent here at the Ottawa Hunt and Golf Club. But before that special presentation takes place, maybe just a couple of comments from Eric.

Eric, obviously your team battled some weather today out there. Maybe just a quick overview of how bad it was and what exactly you saw out there?

ERIC RUHS: I think we dodged a bit of a bullet today. We had a fair bit of rain in a short time, but the winds didn't seem to affect us nearly as much as it seems to in other parts of the surrounding city. Clearly, this summer we've had ample opportunity to practice with rains, so we're a little bit familiar with the process at this point. So we've got another round coming in this afternoon, and hopefully we'll walk through that well.

Q. Obviously the course didn't get in the shape it is in today by accident. Maybe you can just talk a little bit about your preparations getting ready for the tournament?
ERIC RUHS: It's been a tough season in some respects. We've had more rain than we'd care to have when we're trying to grow short turf. So a large part of our work this year was applying very regular amounts of sand top dressing to encourage firm playing conditions on green surfaces in particular and bailouts and approaches.

Then aside from that was just maintaining our mowing regime and our fertility regime such that we didn't get any significant surges and we could try to hone in on peak playing conditions early and try to keep it there.

Q. Now we also know that conditions like this don't come without the hard work of a large community of people. Maybe you can just speak to a little bit about your team and the effort that they put in?
ERIC RUHS: Yeah, thanks for that opportunity. We have a team of students that range in age from 16 to 70 in our department. They're in every single morning sometime between 4:30 and 5:30 in the morning. For those of you that have kids in their 20s, that's a large part of our work force, that's hard to get them to do that. They've risen to the challenge and we've got a keen group. They're excited about this week's event. Without fail, every one of them has shown up and something as early as today with the rain storm coming in, every one of them with a phone call was back in to help us clean up. Very proud of a good team that we've put together. Can't do it without them.

Q. Eric, you just mentioned clean-up. Can you be more specific?
ERIC RUHS: With practice rounds today, we couldn't do too much. So really today was predominantly debris clean-up. We didn't get into pumping. We did get into bunker rebuilds with the 18 holes attended to. This evening our crew comes in at 4 o'clock, pending this afternoon's weather we'll address all the corners a little more aggressively and with more detail. But with practice rounds, we have to let them take that opportunity to play.

Q. I've seen a lot of familiar faces out there from on the can a golf courses. Could you talk about some of the other supers and helping you get on the course?
ERIC RUHS: Yeah, volunteer core. We have almost 20 volunteers that have joined us. A number of them are superintendents from area golf clubs, some of whom have worked for us years ago and we're still in very close contact with. Then a number of staff members that used to work for us in years gone by have sought us out as much as we've sought them out to come and join us for this pretty exciting event.

Q. You've been here at Ottawa Hunt Club longer than some of the players in the field have been alive. Maybe you could just comment maybe on the different approach this year versus past Women's Opens or maybe just the changes to the golf course and how those affected?
ERIC RUHS: Yeah, the game has evolved. Most of us know that the tools have changed, the quality of play has improved, and as such, so have a lot of our maintenance practices. We've cut things tighter, the diet for speed is different, and the equipment that we can do those chores with has improved significantly.

So we've held this in 94, again in '08, and current in '17 as long as I've been here, so in that time, equipment has changed dramatically and expectations have gone with that. So everybody's working towards a much better competitive playing field.

THE MODERATOR: If there are no more questions, we'll turn it over to you, Derrick, for your presentation.

DERRICK POWERS: I'd like to thank Golf Canada and to the Canadian Pacific for this opportunity to honor one of our members today. The Canadian Golf Superintendent Association represents over 1,000 individuals at the national level across Canada.

Our mandate is to support and promote the profession and provide education and research resources for the golf course superintendents. As part of the ongoing effort to recognize the role of the superintendent at the golf facility, the CGSA sponsors the national tournament programs for members that host these prestigious events. Our members are an essential part of the team that ensures the golf course provides fair and consistent conditions for competition. Events like this require countless hours of additional work before, during, and after the competition. Eric Ruhs has been the superintendent here at the Ottawa Hunt and Golf Club since 1987, and this is his third LPGA Tour tournament that he's hosted, which is incredible.

He's overseen two major golf course renovations at this club. Eric was the 2005 recipient of the George Payne Memorial, which is the highest distinguished for the Ottawa Valley Turfgrass Association, and he's been a member of the CGSA for over 30 years.

It is my pleasure to call upon Eric to accept the CGSA National Tournament Award in recognition of his efforts in hosting one of the most prestige of our national tournaments, the Canadian Pacific Women's Open. So please join me in congratulating Eric on receiving this award.

ERIC RUHS: Thank you.

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