With Adam Hadwin unable to defend his Vancouver Open title later this week, Vancouver Golf Tour commissioner Fraser Mulholland was looking to add a little star power to the circuits biggest event of the year.
North Vancouvers Eugene Wong will help provide just that.
Wong made headlines this past weekend after he holed a 9-iron from 133 yards on the 72nd hole to win the Canadian Tour Championship in Toronto.
That shot was the reason for a 4:10 a.m. wake-up call on Tuesday for Wong, who was asked to appear on Golf Channels Morning Drive show.
On Friday, hell be part of an impressive field to tee it up in the first round of the Paine Edmonds Vancouver Open at McCleery Golf Course.
"Eugene is obviously a marquee player and its great to get him into our field," Mulholland said Tuesday. "I dont think a lot of people have had the opportunity to see him play, so I think it will be exciting for the local golf community to come out and see just how good a player he is."
Wong will play with Abbotsford pros James Lepp and Nick Taylor in what has to be considered the featured group. They will tee off at 8:10 a.m. Friday at McCleery and at about noon in Saturdays second round at Langara.
"Thats a group that should catch some eyes," Mulholland said.
The leaders will tee off between 1 and 1:30 p.m. in Sundays final round at Fraserview. Sundays winner receives $10,000.
This is the fourth straight year the Vancouver Golf Tour has partnered with Vancouver Parks and played its marquee event at the three City of Vancouver courses.
Hadwin won the event each of the past two years, but is unable to defend his title as he is seeking to finish inside the top 25 on the Web.com Tour and earn PGA Tour status for 2013.
Other prominent players competing in the Vancouver Open include Chilliwacks Brad Clapp, who lost in a playoff last year to Hadwin, Order of Merit leader Bryn Parry of North Vancouver, Langleys James Allenby, Coquitlams Matt Makinson, Cory Renfrew of Victoria, Surreys Ryan Williams, Matt Daniel of Richmond, Langleys Adam Cornelson, Oliver Tubb of Vancouver and Phil Jonas of Surrey. Canadian Junior champion Adam Svensson of Surrey is also in the field.
Wong, meanwhile, is still getting congratulatory calls and messages over his tournament-winning shot.
The funny thing is Wong and his caddy joked about holing the shot for the win before he did just that.
"My caddy and I were talking about it coming down the fairway on 18. I said, wouldnt it be nice to make this to win and he said, yeah, it would be. He told me to take dead aim at it and thats what I did."
On Twitter: Twitter.com/bradziemer
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