The interviews and writing of this article took place in the weeks leading up to the CPKC Women’s Open and is being published after the conclusion of the event. The 2026 CPKC Women’s Open was heralded as a ‘Royal Success at Royal Mayfair’ with seven Canadians making the cut including three amateurs and $4.4 Million raised for the Edmonton Stollery Children Hospital.

There’s a saying in Alberta that if you don’t like the weather wait 15 minutes and it’ll change. Well, in Edmonton this summer it didn’t change much at all. In the months of June and July the city received over 500mm of rain and as a result, golf courses were flooded, including the Royal Mayfair Golf & Country Club which is to play host to the CPKC Women’s Open in August.

Surprisingly, this weather pattern is somewhat similar to what the course faced the last time they hosted this prestigious tournament in 2013, said superintendent Wade Peckham. As it did back then, this year’s problem became an all-hands-on-deck scenario. That however was easier said than done.

“First of all, we didn’t have up to two feet of rain like this year, in 2013. I remember it was wet. We had a few bunker washouts and the odd wet spot but it was, I’d say we were in a much better position in 2013,” Peckham recalled.

As for the staff spirit in facing the same-old, same-old as rain continued to fall in sheets, Peckham said, “I have certain people that are good at doing it but it gets to point, where the water table kept rising up, and we didn’t have the real hot, dry weather where it could evaporate from the top down. These people were struggling. It’s hard work. But I think what was even worse was we had seven complete bunker washouts.”

To top that off, many of Peckham’s staff are young and inexperienced for the most part in ground maintenance.

“My staff is composed of a lot of kids like university students. And maybe for some of them it’s their first job and they learn how to work. It was their introduction to some extremely hard work.”

A big part of keeping spirts up lay on the superintendent’s  shoulders and he stepped above and beyond in that role.

“Feeding them. Telling them jokes. The main thing maybe was me keeping a very positive attitude. In front of staff we (management) put on a brave face. Like, ‘It’s not the end of the world here.’ All we want to do is get this place fixed for the membership and whatever comes after that is money.”

Speaking to the work Peckham and his crew put in to have this riverside layout primed for the best women golfers in the world, the Mayfair’s GM, Matt Johnson, noted that first and foremost, they had to look after the club’s members.

“To be honest, we’ve been bringing the course back for our members more than anything, so we haven’t brought in any extra resources. Our team worked probably a little harder and probably spent a little more energy than typical. They’re probably a little worn out from putting Humpty Dumpty back together. What’s really happened is their energy is focused on clean-up and restoration rather than preparing for the tournament right now,” the GM said in a phone interview during the first week of August. “What I mean by that is we had multiple trees come down like a lot of courses in the city and we’ve been focused on our members safety.

“The course shows well considering. The greens are in great shape and that’s the number one thing. A tree fell on one of the greens but the crew did an amazing job packing it up so it will be at least puttable. The LPGA has been amazing to work with. It’s not like hosting a U.S. Open where they bring in their own team. Where they have an agronomist on site the whole time. The greens are in great shape. The bunkers are the bunkers and anything that happens on the fairways, the rules officials will deal with that.”

Johnson went on to note that representatives from the LPGA had looked over the course in late July saying, “They found nothing to worry about.”

Peckham explained that a big motivator for seeing his staff upbeat as they battled with Mother Nature’s wrath was what was taking place alongside them.

“What really helped was the set-up for the CPKC that’s been going for a month. It’s huge. I tell them ‘Wait ’til they get here. Wait ’til you see what’s being set up. It’s pretty spectacular.’ They’re getting excited now. My staff has done great work.”

As to why these issues happened, the superintendent noted that an old design has everything to do with the flooded fairways issues.

“They put high bunkers on the right, mounding on the left, or vice versa, so water that falls collects. There’s no way around it.”

In his interview the GM was quick to point out that the Royal Mayfair wasn’t the only golf course to be hammered by the unusual weather in Edmonton this summer.

“Certainly we’re not playing ‘Oh, poor me!’ We understand all golf courses are affected. We understand the whole city is in the same place and just because we have a big tournament we don’t want any pity on us, that’s for sure. We’re doing all we can to show the city to the world,” which it will do given all the time and effort put in by the maintenance staff at the only Canadian stop on the LPGA Tour this season.

About his tenuous situation, Peckham said tournament agronomists have seen what had/was taking place saying, “They are well aware of what’s happening here. They have ways to deal with it. I’ve said this a hundred times: ‘It’s why God invented white paint! There’s the golden rule:  Lift, Clean, and Place.’ There’s not a pro on the planet who doesn’t want to hear that!”

“I don’t know what the LPGA is going to do but they’re well aware … I mean they’re very happy. You know, aside from damaged fairway areas everything else is fine. It’s great actually, I think it’s actually better than 2013.”

And with that Peckham and his dedicated staff continued their ongoing work to harness what’s falling from the sky not only for the LPGA tournament but for their membership as well.

As a seven-year-old spectator attending her first LPGA Tour event, Red Deer’s Eileen Park imagined herself on the other side of the ropes.

A decade later, her dream is about to come true.

Now 17, Park will compete alongside some of the biggest stars in golf at the 2026 CPKC Women’s Open, set for August 20th-23rd at Royal Mayfair Golf Club in Edmonton. 

The amateur standout earned a tournament exemption with a victory earlier this summer in the PGA Women’s Championship of Canada. 

She will be one of three players in the field with a connection to Alberta. Tillie Claggett and Aphrodite Deng are the others.

“I’m looking forward to competing in my first LPGA Tour event. It’s an incredible opportunity for me,” said Park, a junior member at Red Deer Golf & Country Club and part of Golf Canada’s NextGen team. “I actually went to the 2016 CPKC Women’s Open in Calgary. And after 10 years, to get to play in it, it feels truly amazing.

“Ten years ago, when I went to go watch, I actually told my parents that I wanted to play in this event when I was older. So my mom mentioned to me, before the final round (of the PGA Women’s Championship of Canada), that it would be amazing if you get into the event 10 years after actually saying that. The story kind of matches up crazy.”

If you’ve been following the provincial golf scene, it hardly feels crazy to see Park’s name on an LPGA Tour tee sheet.

This rising star won back-to-back titles in 2022 and 2023 at the Alberta Girls U19 Championship — at 13 and 14 years old. She also captured the national junior crown in 2023 and continued to make history by winning the Alberta Women’s Amateur Championship in 2024.

Park posted a two-stroke victory last month at the PGA Women’s Championship of Canada, held at Brooke Henderson’s childhood home course in Smiths Falls, Ont.

With that win, she scored an invite to the 2026 CPKC Women’s Open. Henderson headlines this star-studded field as defending champ, while Nelly Korda arrives as the top-ranked player in the world and Lydia Ko has fond memories from her triumph when Royal Mayfair last hosted this prestigious event in 2013. 

“There are so many players that I respect out on the LPGA Tour,” Park said. “It will be exciting to compete with them. I will just say everyone that I will get to meet is going to be a superstar to me.”

Claggett hopes to be joining those superstars on a full-time basis as soon as next season.  

She lived in Calgary until just before her 15th birthday, grooving her swing — and growing her love for the game — at Glencoe Golf & Country Club and Pinebrook Golf & Country Club before her family moved to Texas as she was entering high school.

After a stellar college career at Vanderbilt, the 22-year-old Claggett turned professional in the spring. She has already collected three pro trophies, including a pair of wins on the Annika Women’s All Pro Tour, and earned this exemption via the She Plays Golf Championship Series, presented by Audi.

This will be her third career start on the LPGA Tour.

“But it will be my first one as a pro, which obviously comes with higher expectations,” said Claggett, who is on Golf Canada’s national team. “The LPGA is where I want to be, and that has always been the case, but it’s a little more in the immediate future now — hopefully next year for me. I just want to go compete and see if I can make the cut and finish well against the people that I’m hoping to be playing against every day really soon.” 

Ask about her new job, and Claggett oozes positivity.

She’s finding joy in the practice sessions and is proud of how she has handled the pressure of needing to make cuts.

She recalled a conversation from a recent pro-am in Wisconsin that really put things in perspective. 

“I was playing with four women and another pro, and one of the women asked myself and the other pro, ‘So, is your job just to play golf and work out?’” Claggett relayed. “We kind of looked at each other and said, ‘Yeah, I guess so.’ And she said, ‘That’s what I do too, but I don’t get any money from it!’ It’s little things like that that remind me how grateful I should be.

“It’s really the coolest thing that I get to go out and do what I love and try to make money doing it every day.”

It does, indeed, sound pretty good.

Although this will be her first trip back to Alberta since moving away, Claggett expects to see some familiar faces in the crowd at Royal Mayfair. 

Less than two hours from home, Park will have plenty of supporters in the gallery.

But it’s not just about putting on a show for family and friends. Both realize this is also an opportunity to inspire future birdie-machines, young kids who might whisper to their parents ‘Hey, that girl is from Red Deer!’ or ‘Look, that girl is from Calgary!’ 

“I don’t know that there was anybody from Alberta playing in the Canadian Women’s Open when I was growing up. Most of the Canadian golf scene was dominated by Ontario, B.C. and a little bit Quebec,” Claggett said. “But when I was 10, 11 or 12, I was really looking up to the girls on Team Alberta and the girls going off to college and the girls who played at my course. 

“I think there’s something to seeing people who came from where you come from going out there and doing it and living out your dreams. If I can be that inspiration for somebody, that would mean a lot to me.”

Park, that starry-eyed spectator back in 2016, is proof those dreams can be the start of something special.

“I hope I can be somewhat of their idol, like 10 years ago the pros were to me,” she said. “I just hope they will fall into the game of golfing and have the same goal as I did, and hopefully some of them will be there 10 years later with me.”