Now a winner, Shore has more goals to chase

WINDSOR, Ontario – With his first career victory on PGA TOUR Canada in the bank, Davis Shore will continue his pursuit of greener pastures this week when the Windsor Championship returns to the picturesque Ambassador Golf Club for the first time since 2019.

“This is my first time in Windsor, but it seems like a really cool place,” Shore said. “The course is in great condition. It’s just about perfect. The fairways are great and the greens are rolling really, really pure. So it should be a fun week.”

Shore won last week’s Osprey Valley Open presented by Votorantim Cimentos CBM Aggregates in Toronto by one shot and improved to No. 6 on the Fortinet Cup standings. Shore, a Knoxville-native who played at the University of Alabama, hopes to build on the success that Tennesseeans have had in Windsor, with Brentwood, Tennessee’s Dawson Armstrong hoisting the Windsor Championship trophy the last time the tournament was contested four years ago.

A strong showing in Windsor from last week’s Champion will go a long way in solidifying Shore’s place in the season-long Fortinet Cup points list that awards the top five finishers at the end of the season with 2024 Korn Ferry Tour cards.

“To make that top five is not an easy thing to do,” Shore said. “We still have a lot of points to earn to get in that top five, but this is just huge to be in my position. It kind of gets the monkey off your back a little, so to speak. I feel like now I can just go play.”

Shore got a taste of success earlier this year on PGA TOUR Latinoamérica, where he had three top-10s, was runner-up at the JHSF Aberto do Brasil and finished 13th on the Totalplay Cup points list. He began his PGA TOUR Canada season two weeks ago at the Commissionaires Ottawa Open, but the victory last week was enough to elevate him 94 spots on the Fortinet Cup list.

Shore knows very well the struggle of a season-long points race. His roommate on PGA TOUR Latinoamérica was Walker Lee, who picked up a win and finished third on the Totalplay Cup points list to secure conditional membership on the Korn Ferry Tour. Shore wants to follow his buddy’s blueprint.

“He had a win and I watched – even with a win – how hard he had to play at the end to still maintain his top-five position,” Shore said. “Just watching that and knowing that, I think is going to help for the rest of the season.”

The difference last week for Shore came on the greens. He began to make some of the putts that had not been falling all season.

“I think I had my best putting round of the year in the second round on Friday,” he said. “That’s been something I’ve been struggling with a little bit this season on PGA TOUR Latinoamérica. It was something I’ve worked really hard on of late and to see it pay off, like it did on Friday, gave me a lot of confidence heading into the weekend.”

The win was especially sweet for Shore. He overcame plenty of physical problems while at Alabama – a hip impingement, a torn labrum that required corrective surgery and a fractured L3 vertebrae – which kept him from playing golf for nearly an entire season in college.

Canadian Myles Creighton of Digby, Nova Scotia, also guaranteed conditional membership on the 2024 Korn Ferry Tour by placing second on the PGA TOUR Latinoamérica Totalplay Cup points list. He opted to compete on PGA TOUR Canada in order to keep his game sharp. He finished one shot behind Shore last week at Osprey Valley.

“I’m used to playing both tours,” Creighton said. “This is the first time I’ve locked up Korn Ferry status. That doesn’t start until January, so I’m trying to find stuff to do until that happens. I’d like to win a couple times and win the money list, but I’d have to finish first on the points list to better my status. It’s strange, I’m trying to figure out what to do with all my time. I’m not a good at just sitting around, so I figured I’d come up here and play a couple tournaments … just stay sharp.”

For Windsor Championship Tournament Director Adam Wagner, the return of PGA TOUR Canada to the city of Windsor is a long time coming and has created a buzz around the city from both players and fans alike.

“The tour keeps coming back. They love the golf course. They love the structure that we have. They love the city,” said Wagner.

In the previous two playings of the Windsor Championship in 2018 and 2019, both held at Ambassador Golf Club, the tournament raised over $215,000 for local charities within the Windsor and Essex County area.

The Ambassador Golf Club was designed by architect Thomas McBroom, who has crafted exceptional courses around the world. The course opened its doors in 2005 and is a public course. It was nominated for “Best New Course” in Canada by Golf Digest and Ontario Golf Magazine. It has twice been ranked No. 1 in “Best Value” in Canada. The course will play 7,033 yards to par 71 this week.