The Air Canada Championship was a golf

Golf

Golf is a precision club and ball sport, in which competing players use many types of clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a golf course using the fewest number of strokes....

 tournament on the PGA Tour

PGA Tour

The PGA Tour is the organizer of the main men's professional golf tours in the United States and North America...

 from 1996 to 2002. It was played at the Northview Golf & Country Club (Ridge Course) in Surrey, British Columbia

Surrey, British Columbia

Surrey is a city in the province of British Columbia, Canada. It is a member municipality of Metro Vancouver, the governing body of the Greater Vancouver Regional District...

, Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

. It was founded in 1996 as the Greater Vancouver Open. The purse for the 2002 tournament was $

United States dollar

The United States dollar , also referred to as the American dollar, is the official currency of the United States of America. It is divided into 100 smaller units called cents or pennies....

3,500,000, with $630,000 going to the winner.

This was not the first time the PGA Tour included a stop in British Columbia on their schedule. Dow Finsterwald

Dow Finsterwald

Dow Henry Finsterwald, Sr. is an American professional golfer who is best known for winning the 1958 PGA Championship. He won 11 Tour titles between 1955 and 1963, played on four Ryder Cup teams, and served as non-playing captain for the 1977 U.S. Ryder Cup team.Finsterwald was born and raised in...

 won the unofficial 1955 British Columbia Open Invitational, and Jim Ferree

Jim Ferree

Jim Ferree is an American professional golfer who played on the PGA Tour and the Senior PGA Tour.Ferree was born in Pinebluff, North Carolina, and grew up in Winston-Salem, where he attended Reynolds High School. He learned the game of golf from his father, Purvis, long-time pro at Winston-Salem's...

 was victorious at the 1958 Vancouver Open Invitational.

Winners

Air Canada Championship

• 2002 Gene Sauers
  Gene Sauers
  Gene Craig Sauers is an American professional golfer who has played on the PGA Tour and the Nationwide Tour.Sauers was born in Savannah, Georgia. His father started him playing golf at the age of 9. He attended Georgia Southern University in Statesboro, Georgia...
  
  
• 2001 Joel Edwards
  Joel Edwards
  Joel Ashley Edwards is an American professional golfer.Edwards was born in Dallas, Texas. He attended North Texas State University and turned professional in 1984....
  
  
• 2000 Rory Sabbatini
  Rory Sabbatini
  Rory Mario Trevor Sabbatini is a South African professional golfer.Rory Sabbatini was born in Durban, South Africa. He started playing golf at age 4, but concentrated on it from age 12. He was recruited by the University of Arizona, turned professional in 1998 and joined the PGA Tour in 1999...
  
  
• 1999 Mike Weir
  Mike Weir
  Michael Richard Weir, CM, O.Ont is a Canadian professional golfer on the PGA Tour. He spent over 110 weeks in the top-10 of the Official World Golf Rankings between 2001 and 2005. He is best known for winning the Masters in 2003....
  
  

Greater Vancouver Open

• 1998 Brandel Chamblee
  Brandel Chamblee
  Brandel Eugene Chamblee is an American professional golfer.Chamblee was born in St. Louis, Missouri. He attended the University of Texas where he was an All-American. He has a home in Phoenix, Arizona and has three children: sons Brandel Jr., Brennen, and a daughter, Bergen...
  
  
• 1997 Mark Calcavecchia
  Mark Calcavecchia
  Mark John Calcavecchia is an American professional golfer and a former PGA Tour member. During his professional career, he has won thirteen PGA Tour events, including the 1989 Open Championship. Calcavecchia currently plays on the Champions Tour.-Early years:Calcavecchia was born in Laurel,...
  
  
• 1996 Guy Boros
  Guy Boros
  Guy Donald Boros is an American professional golfer who has played on the PGA Tour and the Nationwide Tour. He is the son of Hall of Fame golfer Julius Boros....
  
  

Vancouver Open Invitational

• 1958 Jim Ferree
  Jim Ferree
  Jim Ferree is an American professional golfer who played on the PGA Tour and the Senior PGA Tour.Ferree was born in Pinebluff, North Carolina, and grew up in Winston-Salem, where he attended Reynolds High School. He learned the game of golf from his father, Purvis, long-time pro at Winston-Salem's...
  
  

External links

• Tournament results at GolfObserver.com - select under "Tournament Name"
• 2002 Tournament preview - at GolfToday.co.uk