2020 Fore Scugog tournament the latest to be cancelled due to COVID-19

DAN CEARNS, Journalist Initiative Reporter, for The Standard

SCUGOG: The current coronavirus pandemic has forced Scugog township to cancel the 2020 Fore Scugog Charity Golf Tournament. At a meeting on Monday, May 4th, Scugog councillors saw a report from Lisa Fitton, the Mayor and CAO’s executive assistant, recommending this year’s edition of the annual tournament be cancelled due to the current hardships people are facing because of COVID-19. “As a fund raising tournament, we are dependent on sponsorship from the business community to host a successful event that raises funds for Scugog Youth Initiatives. Considering the current economic climate, we would not recommend approaching the business community for financial or prize donations for this year’s tournament. Another area of concern is related to whether a sufficient number of golfers will participate in the event. The suggested number of golfers to host a tournament is 80 to 100,” Ms. Fitton’s report read. The tournament was scheduled to be held at Sunnybrae Golf Club, in Prince Albert, on September 24th. Ward 3 Councillor Angus Ross questioned if the staff committee had reached out to businesses that have sponsored the tournament in the past to get their thoughts. “No, we have not reached out at this time. We thought it might not be received well by the business community to actually make a request,” Ms. Fitton responded. CAO Paul Allore added, staff felt it “did not seem to be the right time” to ask businesses to fund this cause, in light of the “economic downturn” in Ontario due to COVID-19. To mitigate the effect of this cancellation, the township has decided to split the funds raised at the 2019 tournament into a portion that can be distributed to local youth initiatives in 2020, and the rest to be distributed in 2021.