Have A Great Day, Eh?

Happy Canada Day!

If you’ve got the day off (or a couple of days off), GNN wishes you a relaxed time with friends and family, enjoying a barbeque or fireworks or even one or two cold ones, but drink responsibly if that’s the case.

If you’re working, we wish you a full tee sheet and brisk business in the hope that Canadians aren’t letting an annoying recession get in the way of playing the game. Sometimes, golf just finds a way, even under tough circumstances.

For that reason, take a moment this Canada Day to think how good we have it in the Canadian golf industry. Read more

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Are Big John and DeLaet Next?

The Royal Canadian Golf Association announced new additions to the RBC Canadian Open field on Tuesday.

“We’ve been tracking our progress against all relevant measures including world rankings, money leaders, FedEx point leaders, major champions,” said RCGA executive director Scott Simmons.

“With today’s announcement, we are very, very proud to announce that, for 2009, we have effectively doubled our field strength versus 2007, the year before RBC joined us (as title sponsor),” added Simmons.

More players will be announced before the Open takes place at Glen Abbey in Oakville, Ont., and one of the players rumoured to be getting an exemption is fan favourite John Daly, but that has yet to be announced.

Another player likely to receive an exemption is Graham DeLaet of Weyburn, Sask. DeLaet won last week’s ATB Financial Classic in Calgary and he currently sits third on the Canadian Tour’s money list.

Here is a list of players already confirmed for the 2009 RBC Canadian Open:

Announced on Tuesday

Sean O’Hair
Retief Goosen
Hunter Mahan
Nick Watney
Bubba Watson
Brian Gay
Ricky Barnes
Steve Marino
Charlie Hoffman
Dustin Johnson
J.B. Holmes
Jeff Quinney
Kevin Na
Scott Verplank
Billy Mayfair
Jerry Kelly
Todd Hamilton
Corey Pavin
Lee Janzen
Shaun Micheel
Bob Tway
John Rollins
Steve Flesch

Previously Announced:

Mike Weir
Anthony Kim
Stephen Ames
Chez Reavie
Trevor Immelman
Camilo Villegas
Luke Donald
Fred Couples
Mark Calcavecchia
Nick Taylor
Matt Hill

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Antigua Continues Its Long-Term Relationship

The Antigua Group Inc., recently announced a four-year extension to its licence agreement with Tournament Sports Marketing of Waterloo, Ont.

The extension continues an 18-year partnership in Canada between the two companies.

“We are extremely proud of our long term partnership with Tournament Sports Marketing and their principle, Mr. Kim Bauer,” said Antigua president Ron McPherson.

“TSM has done a fantastic job in Canada with the Antigua brand since 1991 and, over the past several years, we have worked together on the Nancy Lopez brand in Canada, as well,” he added.

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Sun Mountain Has College Spirit

Sun Mountain is offering a stand bag and cart bag with major U.S. college and university team colours and logos.

To date, Sun Mountain has agreements with 53 universities, including Michigan, Ohio State, Oklahoma and Georgia, with more likely to be announced later this year.

The lightweight stand bag is based on Sun Mountain’s Superlight 3.5 bag that offers a six-way top and seven pockets, including a water bottle pouch, velour-lined valuables pocket and full-length clothing pocket, It weighs less than four pounds.

Additional features include a built-in collar handle, patented roller bottom stand mechanism for a faster leg action, and lightweight, high strength aluminum legs, with non-slip triangular feet.

The college cart bag is based on Sun Mountain’s C-130 bag, which has a 14-way individual club divider system.

The top of the bag has an integrated handle for easy loading and unloading, as well as a molded putter compartment. Other features include non-slip rubber feet and a reverse top to present clubs from short to long when the bag is on the cart, which features 10 pockets.

“In the past, golfers had to pick between a top quality golf bag and a golf bag in their college colours,” said Sun Mountain president, Ed Kowachek. “Now, folks can have it all – quality, performance, cutting-edge design and college colours.”

For more information, see the website, www.sunmountain.com.

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Hill Scores Tour Exemption

Matt Hill’s summer just got a little more jam-packed after winning the NCAA individual title earlier this year.

Hill now has two professional tournaments on the horizon after recently receiving an exemption into the RBC Canadian Open and he recently learned that he will also be playing in this week’s AT&T National hosted by Tiger Woods at Congressional in Maryland.

Hill will join another Bright’s Grove, Ont., native as Mike Weir is scheduled to play at Congressional as is U.S. Open champ Lucas Glover.

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Affordability Keeps Them Coming to Cardinal

Dalt Hicks is a person who would be a good candidate for the question posed in yesterday’s blog and currently posted in the GNN Forum about who should be recognized for outstanding contributions to the golf industry on Canada Day.

The 81-year-old owner of the Cardinal Golf Club near Newmarket, Ont., is naturally concerned with profit in today’s struggling economy, but he’s also devoted to affordable golf, a key factor in growing the game, according to the most recent participation study conducted by the Royal Canadian Golf Association.

Despite uncertainty in the economy, Cardinal recently expanded to 72 holes, including its executive Kettle Creek course, with the opening last weekend of its Redcrest course, a challenging test of golf, but still playable for various skill levels.

In the March 2 edition of Hutch’s blog, Hicks indicated that he was too far into the project to stop it when the economy started tanking, but he showed no fear back then and he doesn’t seem overly concerned now. You can read that earlier blog here.

“Nobody knew what was going to happen,” recalled Hicks. “You read the papers every day and the automotive industry’s been a disaster for six months. Doom and gloom is easy to publish, but I don’t see it that way. Read more

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A Tiger Sighting at Fox Harb’r

Tiger Woods, coach Hank Haney and Charles Barkley combined for a fundraising event Friday at the Nike Golf Invitational at Fox Harb’r Golf Resort and Spa in Wallace, N.S.

The event, attended by 100 invited guests of Nike Golf Canada, raised funds for the Tiger Woods Foundation and Canadian junior golf.

“I’ve never been to this part of Canada before. It’s really beautiful,” said Woods. “The event was great and it was really fun to play with my friends Hank and Charles. We don’t get a chance to play with each other very often.

“I’m also thankful that we were able to raise a lot of money for my foundation and for Canadian junior golf,” said the world’s No. 1 golfer.

Ron Joyce, who founded the Tim Hortons chain and created Fox Harb’r, said the Tiger sighting was a milestone event for the resort.

“We were thrilled to host Tiger Woods at Fox Harb’r for this important fundraising event and to welcome him to Atlantic Canada,” Joyce said.

Vitalis Gomes, director of golf for Nike Golf Canada, added that the event served several purposes.

“We are grateful to have had the opportunity to provide an intimate setting for our partners to interact with Tiger Woods and to showcase spectacular Fox Harb’r and raise significant funds for young people,” he said.

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Prairie Pride on Tour

Graham DeLaet of Weyburn, Sask., fired a bogey-free 64 to win the ATB Financial Classic in Calgary by four strokes over Byron Smith, who closed with a 68.

DeLaet finished the tournament at 21-under-par 267 and earned his second Canadian Tour title and first since the Desjardins Montreal Open last August.

Scott Gibson’s 69 moved him into solo third at 15-under 273, while Mauricio Molina finished fourth at 14 under.

Third round leader Stuart Anderson fell to fifth at 275 after a closing 73, one ahead of Garrett Frank (67) and two ahead of Andrew Parr (70).

Richard Scott (68) and Josh Habig (74) shared ninth spot at 278.

Parring the first, DeLaet caught fired with six birdies on his next seven holes to hold a three-stroke cushion over Byron Smith after eight holes.

“I’m a little bit speechless,” said DeLaet.

“I got off to a great start by one-putting my first seven holes,” said DeLaet, who earned $24,000 and jumps to third on the Order of Merit. “I made a couple of nice up and downs for par and made some really good birdie putts.

“The crazy thing is that I turned in six under and didn’t have much of a cushion. I knew Stuart and Byron were right behind me, so it was a pretty stressful day for a while.

“Because of that, I kept pressing and made a really good par save on 10. I hit a really good approach that landed three feet from the pin, but it spun off into the back fringe.

“I ended up making a good eight-footer for par, which kept the momentum going. It would have been a little devastating if I had missed that one because I had only a two-stroke lead over Byron at the time.”

Riding that momentum, DeLaet snaked in a 30-footer downhill at No. 13 for his seventh birdie of the day and followed it with scrambling pars at 14, 15 and 17, where he failed to cut the corner and was forced to take an unplayable lie at the par five.

“Both Josh and I thought we got around those trees and couldn’t believe that we ended up in the junk.”

Forced to lay up with his third, DeLaet pulled his fourth into the rough 12 feet left of the pin and sank the chip for another rescued par.

“I was hitting it great and rolling it well, which is a pretty good combination.” he said. “When you keep doing that, you’re going to do well.”

After several second place finishes, DeLaet knew the time for his second tour win was imminent.

“I have been playing with a lot of confidence for the past year and knew that if I kept playing like this, the wins would come,” said DeLaet.

Despite a 68, Smith couldn’t keep up with DeLaet this afternoon.

“I ended up hitting some good golf shots. but they kept rolling over the green,” said Smith. “They were getting a little bit hard and when you try to force things under those kinds of conditions, it simply doesn’t happen.

“Graham DeLaet is an amazing talent, he’s quite impressive. When he gets confidence and learns how to seal the deal, which it looks like he has, he will be very, very dangerous.

“I think he is one of those guys that not only is going to make it, but who is going to do really well.”

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