MISSISSAUGA – James Hutchison is as eager as ever for the spotlight to shine bright on the Mississaugua Golf and Country Club.
“We know it’s a great club,” Hutchison explains, “and this will cement us as one of the very top clubs in the country.
“Personally, I’m excited for the public in general to see the club the way that we see it every day.”
Hutchison has been at Mississaugua for nearly 10 years and currently acts as the Director of Instruction. With the CPKC Women’s Open just around the corner, there is a palpable buzz amongst both the staff and the membership – and with plenty of big reasons.
The biggest, perhaps, is that when the first ball is in the air in late August, Mississaugua will join an elite group of clubs that have hosted all of Canadian Men’s Amateur, Canadian Women’s Amateur, RBC Canadian Open, and CPKC Women’s Open. With Mississaugua’s inclusion, that number will be just eight.
The latest to join the group was Shaughnessy Golf & Country Club in 2023.
Hutchison said it was a “fairly quick” timeline to lock in the LPGA Tour at Mississaugua, which was originally founded in 1906. This will be the first time since 2019 that the championship will be contested in the Greater Toronto Area.
“Hosting this wonderful tournament at our historic club gives us the opportunity to not only showcase our championship golf course but proudly share Mississaugua with the rest of Canada and the world,” said Rodger Leslie, Mississaugua Golf and Country Club President, at the time of the announcement that the club would play host.
“The Members of Mississaugua are thrilled to welcome the very best LPGA Tour players to the Club for the 2025 CPKC Women’s Open.”
The field is already set to be one of the finest of any event on the LPGA Tour schedule, and Hutchison said the key for a players’ success will be around the greens. Off the tee Mississaugua is fairly generous, he says, but it will come down to ball-striking and who can make putts. If they get the greens rolling fast, he explains, the greens and the green complexes are the challenge of the course.
While the course has hosted the RBC Canadian Open six times previous, the last was in 1974 (won by Bobby Nichols). Sam Snead and Walter Hagen are also past champions. Hutchison says days of hosting the PGA Tour are likely gone, as he knows the club isn’t long enough – nor would it be able to handle “the kind of crowds” the RBC Canadian Open now gets. Total attendance at TPC Toronto at Osprey Valley this summer was, for example, upwards of 100,000.
But having the CPKC Women’s Open is “the” event for them to host, Hutchison says.
And he, along with the rest of the team at the iconic club, couldn’t be more excited.
“It’s the top of the top,” Hutchison says. “If we can continue to host this, and the other top amateur events, that would continue to keep us in the conversation as a top club.
“I think everyone is just excited to put the course on showcase.”