A deal that all but sealed via speed dial days after Tadd Fujikawa turned pro was announced officially yesterday. The Moanalua High School junior will play in the Canadian Tour's inaugural Jane Rogers Championship of Mississauga next week.

The tournament will be Aug. 23 to 26 at Lakeview Golf Course in Mississauga, Ontario — just outside Toronto. It is a full-field event with 156 golfers playing for a $125,000 purse.

The Canadian Tour Championship, the final event of the tour season, is the next week.

Fujikawa, 16, turned pro on July 12. Four days later, Rogers Championship tournament director George Sourlis was on the phone to agent Kevin Bell.

"Canada is part of the North American golf landscape," Sourlis said by phone yesterday. "Tadd is not foreign to us by any means. He's been on our radar. We've known about him since before last year's U.S. Open, but that really put him on the map in our eyes.

"He will bring a buzz, no doubt. ... We've got other big Canadian Tour names, but Tadd has been on a PGA stage in three events and drawn a lot of attention."

Fujikawa was the youngest to ever qualify for the U.S. Open, last year at 15. In January, at the age of 16 years, 4 days, he became the second-youngest player ever to make a PGA Tour cut, ultimately finishing 20th at the Sony Open in Hawaii.

"I learned a lot about myself at Sony," Fujikawa said. "Not so much the golf, but the way I play and things I do. I really tried to stay in the moment and did the best I could. I learned I could actually play against the pros. That's what really made my decision to turn pro."

Since Sony, Fujikawa became the first amateur in 15 years to win the Hawaii Pearl Open, missed the cut at a Japan tour event, turned pro, then missed the cut at his professional debut earlier this month in the PGA Tour's Reno-Tahoe Open. Fujikawa opened with a 78, then birdied five of his last 10 holes in the second round to shoot 71.

"There were definitely a lot of positives," Fujikawa said. "I finished very well at Reno, just didn't start off the way I wanted. I really want to just take the positives from those last 10 holes at Reno and try to ride that wave."

The Jane Rogers Championship is named and presented in honor of a Mississauga woman who, while battling cancer, raised funds for her cancer clinic at Trillium Health Centre in the city. All proceeds from the event will be directed to the Colorectal Cancer Association of Canada and the Trillium Health Centre Oncology Clinic.

Fujikawa is one of eight players offered exemptions. Sourlis said most went to "local guys ... it's only fair. At the same time, when we see a kid like Tadd ... not only what he's done on the golf course but also off. He's such a likeable kid — the type of guy you like to see out here."

California's Spencer Levin currently leads the Canadian Tour's Order of Merit, with $72,000 in seven starts. The tour is populated mainly by Canadians and Americans. Former Hawai'i State High School champion Jim Seki is 56th on the money list, with $8,000 in eight starts.

The Canadian Tour started in 1970. Some of its more well-known players included Dan Halldorson, Dave Barr, Chris DiMarco, Stuart Appleby, 2006 U.S. Open champion Michael Campbell and 2003 Masters champion Mike Weir.

According to Bell, Fujikawa is waiting to sign with an equipment manufacturer until after he fully evaluates products.

"As for corporate endorsements," Bell said, "discussions are still ongoing and we are also willing to talk to any interested parties. Our goal is to enter into endorsement agreements that provide short and long-term benefits to Tadd. The primary goals are to provide Tadd with the ability to further pursue his professional golf career and to provide him with long-term financial security."

Bell said they have requests out for sponsor exemptions to tournament directors of the PGA Tour's Fall Series — the tournaments after the FedEx Cup.

Reach Ann Miller at amiller@honoluluadvertiser.com.