Talk was rampant on an Ottawa area golf forum early on Wednesday regarding the fate of a golf championship that has become a staple in the region.
A site member had made an inquiry to the tournament organizers of what has been known as the Ottawa Citizen Championship, a major amateur golf event. They received this response from them: “The Ottawa Citizen is no longer facilitating the golf championship. The future status is up in the air at the moment as there is some outside interest in keeping it going. Stay tuned for further information. ”
That got social media channels buzzing about the future of the decade old event and where it was headed, if anywhere, for 2012.
When prompted Tournament Director John McConachie came forward to us this afternoon to publicly clarify the situation for interested parties. He had hoped the Ottawa Citizen would be able to share the news when they were ready to do so but wanted to ensure that golfers received the facts rather than allowing rumours to grow.
“Yes, The Ottawa Citizen has indicated that they will no longer be the sole sponsor of the tournament which was initiated 11 years ago,” said the man who has ran the event since day one. He added, “There are parties interested in continuing the tournament which has become a must-play event for many of the top golfers in the Ottawa-Gatineau area and beyond and negotiations are ongoing . There is no truth to the rumour that Flagstick pulled their support of the OCAGC. In fact at a meeting between Flagstick and OCAGC representatives in early January a Flagstick rep indicated that they were prepared to increase participation for the OCAGC or son of.”
That representative of Flagstick, CEO and Publisher, Jeff Bauder, added to McConachie’s comments. ”The championship has been a great one for the city and we hope to see it carry on. The Ottawa Citizen has been a fantastic title sponsor and supporter of golf in the city and we hope to see the tournament continue in some way.”
There is no timeline set on the negotiations that are underway but we will provide updates as they become available.
It’s been some time in the making but the 
