Calgary’s Steve Blake Receives Sponsor Exemption into 2024 Rogers Charity Classic

CALGARY– Calgary golf professional Steve Blake has booked another date with the legends of golf after receiving a sponsor exemption to tee it up at home at the 2024 Rogers Charity Classic.

Tournament officials celebrated Blake’s 56th birthday on Monday by officially putting his name first on the 2024 tee sheet for the PGA TOUR Champions event, August 14-18. Blake is one of five exemptions handed out each year to fill the 78-man field.

“The Patron group and Rogers are proud to showcase the stars of the PGA TOUR Champions to Canadian golf fans and to make a positive impact on the people in our community,” said Sean Van Kesteren, executive director, Rogers Charity Classic. “Giving one of Calgary’s top senior golfers, who needs the support of our entire community right now, this opportunity to play in front of his friends and family is not only extremely rewarding, but supports this mission.”

In addition to taking on the greatest names in the game of golf, Blake is also facing a bigger challenge outside the ropes: Stage 4 lung cancer.

“It is very hard to put into words what this exemption really means to me. Eight months ago, I was given the devastating news that so many (too many) of us have heard… you have cancer,” said Blake, a member of the Hamptons Golf Club and active, non-smoker. “At that point in time, your whole world suddenly is turned upside down and my thoughts went from playing golf the next day to, am I going to survive the next day?”

Blake has spent the last eight months completing chemotherapy treatments.

“I am always looking for ‘short term’ and ‘long term’ goals to help me stay focused on the future, to make that future as positive as I can. This exemption not only allows me to get back to focusing on playing golf the next day, preparing for ‘my Masters’ and feeling some normalcy in my day-to-day life, but I also hope it will allow me to share my story to inspire those experiencing a similar situation to get up each day and keep fighting because you never know what lies around the next corner and encourage others to go in for early detection screening,” added Blake. “This exemption, at this moment, means the world to me. It will be an opportunity to follow my dreams.”