RBC Lends Support To Development

Over the past couple of weeks, GNN readers have been hearing about how organizations such as the Royal Canadian Golf Association, Canadian PGA and Canadian Tour have been discussing various means to support developing professionals from this country.

Add the Canadian Open’s title sponsor to the list as RBC has announced an initiative to help emerging professionals make the transition to the PGA and LPGA Tours, one of three announcements made on Wednesday.

RBC will also become a partner in the RCGA’s Team Canada high performance program and its national amateur championships, as well as putting company branding on the golf bags of Mike Weir and Stephen Ames, who become “Team RBC” ambassadors.

The initiative that is designed to support players such as PGA Tour rookies Chris Baryla and Graham DeLaet, as well as Lisa Meldrum and Samantha Richdale on the LPGA Tour will provide a combination of funding and comprehensive financial planning and private banking services.

The golfers who sign up for the program will become RBC ambassadors and have corporate branding on their golf bags.

“This step is a very important element of my development as a professional and my hat is off to RBC for taking a leadership role here and identifying the need,” DeLaet said.

“It’s clear they really get it and are doing an admirable job connecting all the dots through support of Canadian player development from the grassroots all the way up to those of us fortunate enough to make the leap to the PGA Tour,” he added.

The RBC initiative comes at a time when not only DeLaet, Baryla, Richdale and Meldrum have graduated to the highest levels of professional golf, but also when high-calibre Canadian amateurs, some on the verge of turning pro, are becoming recognized internationally.

RBC chief brand and communications officer Jim Little says the accomplishments of national team players such as Nick Taylor, Matt Hill and Jennifer Kirby, among others, highlight the importance of getting behind that program and the national championships.

“Extending our support to Canada’s national amateur championships not only allows talented Canadian players to compete in world class competitions on home soil, but also offers so many more golf enthusiasts and volunteers across the country the long-term opportunity to get involved and be a part of this great sport,” said Little.

RCGA executive director Scott Simmons agreed.

“Programs that promote grassroots and amateur competition as well as those that help support training and high performance opportunities are critical to Canadian golfers developing their competitive potential,” said Simmons.

RBC also announced multi-year extensions of its relationships with Weir and Ames.  RBC becomes the official bank for both players, who will have RBC branding featured prominently on their golf bags.

The recent announcement builds on existing relationships in which RBC is presenting sponsor of the Stephen Ames Cup junior competition between Canada and Trinidad and Tobago. The Mike Weir Foundation is the national charity partner for the Canadian Open.

“I have been fortunate to have had a very close partnership with RBC for a number of years now and I’m thankful to see that continue,” Weir said.

“More importantly, however, I’m excited about their support at the amateur level and their investment in the future of Canadian golf,” he added.

“We are seeing many great, young Canadian golfers coming up and the support of RBC will not only help them succeed, but will provide the opportunities for even more amateurs to pursue their dreams in the sport.”

Ames agreed.

“Canadians are showing every week that they can compete with the best in golf,” he said.

“RBC’s grassroots commitment to the game will be a boost to the next generation of players that will pay dividends for years to come.

“Their strong commitment to charity, both through the RBC Canadian Open and my own charitable foundation, is also something that I’ve appreciated personally, not only for the future of the game, but also for the future of the programs that benefit communities across Canada,” said Ames.

Weir and Ames join rising tour star Anthony Kim with RBC branding on their bags.

“Over the past two years, supporting the RBC Canadian Open has increased our brand profile and given us an opportunity to engage so many of our clients, employees and community partners in an event that they enjoy,” said Little.

Weir Applauds Support For Young Pros

With his 40th birthday on the horizon, Mike Weir was all about looking forward in his career as he prepared for his 2010 debut on the PGA Tour at this week’s Bob Hope Classic in La Quinta, Calif.

He was willing, however, to reflect back to the early stages of his career when informed that associations within the Canadian golf industry have been discussing ways of supporting developing professionals from this country, although nothing official has been decided yet.

“We’ve always been these independent guys that go out and try to either get a corporate sponsor or a businessman to kind of get you going and get you started in the right direction, somebody who loves golf that wants to help a young guy to get going,” said Weir.

“If the RCGA and CPGA are thinking about setting aside some kind of fund to help some of these young guys, I think it’s a great idea,” he added. Read more

Weir’s Induction Is A Home Town Celebration

Considering his national profile, it seemed natural that 2003 Masters champion Mike Weir might be officially inducted into the Canadian Golf Hall of Fame during RBC Canadian Open week at Glen Abbey, where the hall is located.

“Originally, we talked about that, having it possibly around the Canadian Open,” said Weir, who already had a busy week planned at the national championship in July with the inaugural Mike Weir Charity Classic, as well as playing in the tournament.

“It would have been too much to then try to focus on the golf tournament, as well,” said Weir, who discovered that other inductees into the hall had held their induction ceremonies at their home clubs.

As a result, Weir will become the 64th member of the hall of fame this Saturday at a ceremony held at Huron Oaks in his home town of Bright’s Grove, Ont.

“That made sense to me, to have it at Huron Oaks,” he said. “Originally, I didn’t know that I could do that. When that was brought to my attention, I said let’s go to Huron Oaks and do it.

“I’m excited to have the ceremony in Bright’s Grove, at Huron Oaks. This is where it all began for me,” he said.

“It’s an opportunity to share this moment with a lot of friends, family and a lot of people who have been very supportive of my career. I just thought it was, in that regard, the right thing to do,” said Weir, who says he hasn’t been around the old hood much recently, so it will be good to get.

“This past year, I didn’t get back to play at all,” he said. “They’ve been making some changes out there and probably, this time of year, I won’t be able to see the changes.

“I don’t get back as often as I’d like, but I still keep in touch. It was just a great atmosphere. I was one of the younger guys in the group that worked in the backshop and worked in the pro shop – just the characters that we had around.

“The whole atmosphere we had around there, it was a fun place to go practice and play and go to work. I was just a golf rat.

“I was just out there all the time. That’s where I wanted to be. I’m sure my parents were pretty happy about that. They didn’t have to worry about me too much in the summer,” said Weir.

These days, kids in Bright’s Grove are having fun at Mike Weir Park, which took that name the year after he won the Masters, typical of the way his home town has supported him over the years, according to Weir.

“We had a little ceremony there and that was really cool,” he said. “Some of the kids from the public school I grew up going to, they all came down and had a little pep rally kind of thing.

“The response has been fantastic,” added Weir. “It’s a tight-knit community, a hard-working community. I still stay close with a lot of my friends and it’s almost like, when we see each other, we just pick up where we left off.

“It never feels any different.”

Baryla Earns PGA Tour Card

Chris Baryla of Vernon, B.C., tied for seventh at the Nationwide Tour Championship in Charleston, S.C., yesterday, a finish that left him among the top 25 on the money list who graduate to the PGA Tour in 2010.

Baryla shot rounds of 69-70-70-68 to finish at 11-under-par and earn his fifth top-10 in a season that has been plagued by back problems.

“To be able to come back after having my back injury and Monday qualifying into the events and make it into the top 25 is awesome,” said Baryla, who won the Chattanooga Classic a couple of weeks ago.

“This is such a great opportunity for me to go to the PGA Tour and play against the best players in the world. It hasn’t even hit me yet to say exactly how I feel right now,” added Baryla, who tied for eighth at this year’s RBC Canadian Open at Glen Abbey in Oakville, Ont.

Calgary’s Dustin Risdon tied for 12th in Charleston, but wound up 37th on the money list, while Jon Mills of Belleville, Ont., tied for 50th to place 54th on the money list.

On the PGA Tour, Mike Weir flirted with a 59, but wound up settling for a 61 at the Frys,com Open in Scottsdale, Az., yesterday to tie for sixth at a tournament he won two years ago. Calgary’s Stephen Ames tied for 23rd.

Let The Whining Begin About Olympic Golf, But Ignore the Sterotypes

The bellyaching about why golf should not be included in the Olympics will now begin after Thursday’s decision by the International Olympic Committee to recommend that it and Rugby Sevens be included in the 2016 Olympics.

A final decision by the IOC will be made in early October in Copenhagen, but it’s expected to be a mere formality, so the moaning will begin, mostly from those outside of golf who are ticked about their own sport not getting in who will spew their venom golf’s way.

The critics will use a wide brush to paint golf as elitist and not accessible for most due to the expense of playing and, to a certain extent, they won’t be wrong if they use the example of Martha Burk’s campaign a few years back against Augusta National for its exclusion of women from its membership. Read more

Canadian Open’s Green-Friendly For Toronto Player

Déjà vu, Canadian Open style, once referred to the rain that kept pelting Glen Abbey day after day during this year’s national championship, causing some people to dub the 100th playing “Groundhog Day,” because each day was the same as the one before.

As it was in the movie, the reruns eventually ended as they did yesterday with yet another example of déjà vu. The last time the Open went to a Monday final, it was a fellow named Ken Green who took the title.

This time around, it was Nathan Green securing the RBC Canadian Open after a two-hole playoff with veteran Retief Goosen, who forced the extra holes with an eagle on the 18th hole. Both players finished regulation at 18-under.

With seemingly endless storms constantly interrupting play and eight holes-in-one, including an ace from Canadian Mike Weir, throughout the week, it seemed like anything was possible, so seeing a longshot from Toronto take the title didn’t seem out of the ordinary.

Oh, before you get too excited, we’re talking Toronto, New South Wales, Australia, as the home of Green, Nathan not Ken.

“Toronto is just like a small suburb,” said Green of the Aussie version. “It’s sort of got one main street. It’s a beautiful part of the world, but yeah, it’s just strange to think I’ve had three wins in my whole career and two of them have been in the greater Toronto area.”

The other one actually came in Sudbury, but close enough, because Green has always enjoyed playing here after a three-year run on the Canadian Tour between 1998 and 2000.

Green came into this year’s Open, just hoping to hold on to his PGA Tour card, but instead walked away with his first career tour win, a two-year tour exemption and spots in a variety of prestigious events including the 2009 PGA Championship and 2010 Masters, not to mention $918,000 U.S.

“The one thing I sort of realized once I made the playoff was that I was going to keep my card, which is huge,” he said.

Chris Baryla of Vernon, B.C., and Calgary’s Stephen Ames finished at 12-under to tie for eighth and take low Canadian honours.

Weir Gets Penalty Back For A Monday Finish

For the fourth consecutive day, storms brought the RBC Canadian Open to a halt as the third round progressed, forcing a Monday finish that begins at 7:30 a.m. at Glen Abbey in the hopes of completing 72 holes.

Jason Dufner, who was one-under through six holes on Sunday, continues to lead the Open at 14-under, with a one-shot lead over Anthony Kim and Jerry Kelly and a two-shot margin over Michael Letzig, Retief Goosen, Bob Estes, Peter Tomasulo and Scott Verplank.

Before ending his third round on the 11th hole, Canadian Mike Weir had a hole-in-one on the 200-yard, par three, fourth hole using a four iron, but was called in to review video with rules officials after an incident that took place on the 18th hole the previous day.

The ball moved forward while at rest before his second shot in the fairway and the ruling at the time was that Weir, who had called a rules official to assess the original situation, would take a one-stroke penalty and that video would be reviewed.

It was later determined that there was no evidence that Weir had caused the ball to move and the penalty was removed. That changed on Sunday when Weir came off the course yesterday and reviewed the tape again with rules officials and agreed that he should be assessed the penalty.

“It’s just such as uncertain situation, and Mike looked at it. We thought, or Mike thought, that certainly a penalty would be applicable in that case,” said Dean Ryan, rules chair for the Royal Canadian Golf Association.

“It was something we felt like we needed to have Mike review again,” added PGA Tour official Steve Carman.

Weir avoided disqualification because when he signed his scorecard on Saturday, it was correct after the original situation was assessed by rules officials.

Weir said he was surprised that it had come up again, feeling the issue had been settled the previous day.

“It’s such a gray area,” said Weir. “What we came to yesterday was two things. The first was addressing the ball. Addressing the ball is the weight of the club touching the ground which, with my routine, I felt like I don’t do that. The weight of my club is in my arms.

“The second thing is could I have caused it to move in any other way? I didn’t know. I didn’t think I did. I didn’t think I did, but technically, maybe I brushed the grass. Some other way, I may have caused it to move in my back swing,” he added.

“So, I said with that gray area and knowing that there is a possibility, even though I don’t think I did, there is a possibility that I could have caused it to move. I felt like, you know, I should be penalized a shot,” he said.

That penalty could conceivably be a factor as Weir hopes to make a charge over his last 25 holes of this rain-soaked Open. On Sunday night, he was tied for 15th at nine-under and was scheduled to resume today on the 12th hole.

He is scheduled to start the fourth round at 9:43 a.m. on the first tee.

Soggy Start To Open — Again

If there is anything to the theory of déjà vu, then Chez Reavie will be champion of the RBC Canadian Open come Sunday at Glen Abbey in Oakville, Ont.

Since Reavie is tied for 84th after the first round at one-over, it appears at this point that a successful defence of his 2008 championship is not in the cards, but the way the weather is cooperating lends credence to history repeating itself.

The first round was halted on Thursday at 8:46 a.m., and despite some wishful thinking, didn’t resume again until 4:08 p.m., making it almost an exact replica of the washed-out first round in 2008.

“I had a tough time finding my rhythm today for some reason, but maybe all the waiting around and getting warmed up and then getting pushed back an hour – we’re creatures of habit a lot of the time, so maybe that was part of it,” said Mike Weir, who is tied for 37th after getting in his entire round at one-under 71.

Scott Verplank, who is tied with Retief Goosen at seven-under, agreed. “Obviously, the seven-and-a-half hours you’re sitting around, you don’t have your mind on golf. You try not to – you just sit around, go to the trailer a couple of times, stretch.

“I saw a lot of guys working out in the delay. I ate two or three meals, which everybody did. If you play out here long enough, you’re going to have some days like this, so you kind of figure out what to do and just go with it,” said Verplank.

Kevin Na posted nine birdies to top the leaderboard with a nine-under 63 as the Abbey softened up after the delay.

“I started after the delay on 11, which was my second hole,” said Na, who tied the Open record for scoring in relation to par. “I pulled my tee shot into the tree and I didn’t have a good lie in the rough and I had to go over the creek.

“I told my caddie, `I think I can get it over the tree.’

“He goes, `There’s no way you can get over the tree.’

“We sat and argued for a minute. He rarely says you can’t do something, so he made me pitch out and I ended up making a 15-footer for par that kind of kept the round going. After that, I started catching fire,” said Na, who said the greens are very receptive.

“The greens are holding, so you can get aggressive with the irons, but off the tee, you must put yourself in the fairway, This rough is very thick now, as wet as it is.”

Only 46 players finished the first round on Thursday, with 90 still on the course or yet to tee off when play was called. A total of 39 had yet to tee off and will be forced to play 36 holes on Friday. First tee-off time is 7:30 a.m. EST.

For complete scoring, see the website, www.rbccanadianopen.com.

The Green Jacket Comes to the Abbey

The patriarch of one of Canada’s best-known golf families got chatting about one of the best-known golf prodigies ever to come from Bright’s Grove, Ont., and this accomplished player didn’t carry the same name as him.

“I met him at the Memorial,” said Richard Weir of Matt Hill who, like Weir’s son Mike, has grabbed global attention with his 2009 victory at the NCAA Championship and his place in the world amateur rankings, where he was second to Nick Taylor of Abbotsford, B.C., in the most recent standings.

“He was down there to receive his award from Jack Nicklaus (as the NCAA’s outstanding player) and he walked a few holes with my wife and I. He’s a very nice young man and he’s got all kinds of talent,” said Weir.

“Holy smokes! He’s scary good.”

That assessment may be a sign of things to come for Hill and perhaps, an exhibit at the Canadian Golf Hall of Fame may one day be in the cards for him, but a get-together there on Thursday was to honour Weir’s son Mike, the 2003 Masters champ who will be inducted into the hall later this year.

The gathering took place at the hall of fame to officially open the Mementos of a Champion exhibit, which features memorabilia from Weir’s outstanding career, which includes eight PGA Tour wins, which ties him for the all-time lead for Canadians with the late George Knudson.

Making a rare stop in Canada and on display during the RBC Canadian Open this week is Weir’s green jacket, the ultimate prize after some anxious moments for the Weir family.

“I was there, of course,” said Richard. “It was very tense for me – it was tense for everybody. That putt he made on 18 to get in the playoff, my mouth was so dry I couldn’t have spit.”

However, all of the mementos gathered from a variety of sources are special to the senior Weir, who was accompanied by his wife Rosalie, Mike’s daughters Elle and Lili and his brother Craig.

“Each trophy you have memories from, particularly the Masters, but even the (1990) Ontario Amateur trophy brought back memories. It was at Mississaugua (Golf and Country Club) and it was raining just like this,” he said, pointing to the inclement weather that delayed the first round of the Canadian Open on Thursday.

Winning the Open would add a treasure to the collection, according to the senior Weir. “It means so much to him. He’s accomplished far more than I ever expected and I’m very proud of him.

“The Masters was icing on the cake, but the Canadian Open would be special to him, so it’s also special to us,” said Richard.

DeLaet Contributes To Bright Canadian Future

As usual, the anticipation of a home boy winning actually winning the RBC Canadian Open, was high as Thursday’s first round approached at Glen Abbey and Calgary’s Stephen Ames put it all in perspective.

“The odds are pretty stacked against us of that happening. It makes things difficult, to some extent, but at the same time, we have what we call the 15th club in our bag, with the crowd behind us, cheering us on, which is a good thing,” said Ames, adding it’s a feeling that’s prevalent inside and outside the ropes.

“I guess it would be like winning a major, wouldn’t it, to some extent? I can imagine it, yeah. They’d have me busy in Calgary. It would be unbelievable,” said Ames, who would be an odds-on favourite to be the Canadian who accomplishes that elusive goal, along with Mike Weir.

Graham DeLaet of Weyburn, Sask., wouldn’t have such favourable odds in his bid to become the first Canadian to win the national open since 1954, but he doesn’t let that get in his way.

“I come here with pretty high expectations of myself,” he said. “I might not win, but that’s what I’m playing for this week and it would be great to win see a Canadian win the championship.”

Whether that happens this week remains to be seen, but DeLaet, 27, is one of the rising Canadians serving notice that the future is suddenly looking bright.

DeLaet has been somewhat overshadowed by Nick Taylor of Abbotsford, B.C., and Matt Hill of Bright’s Grove, Ont., two amateurs ranked first and second in the recent world rankings.

“It’s really good to see Matt and Nick being ranked number one and two in the world as amateurs. It’s phenomenal for golf in this country. I’ve seen some of the scores they’re shooting and some of the tournaments they’re winning and it’s extremely impressive,” said DeLaet.

Taylor, the low amateur at this year’s U.S. Open, and Hill, the 2009 NCAA champ, have rightfully deserved the headlines they’ve received, but DeLaet is also causing similar fireworks in the professional ranks.

“It’s cool to see him playing so well, coming in here,” said Taylor.

Hill is also aware of DeLaet’s accomplishments. “I heard he played great at the World Cup and played really well in South Africa. He’s been pretty phenomenal,” said Hill.

DeLaet has been on a tear since last year when he won the Canadian Tour’s Desjardins Montreal Open in a playoff before representing Canada at the World Cup where he and Calgary’s Wes Heffernan tied for 14th.

Earlier this year, DeLaet continued his hot hand and tied for second on two occasions in South Africa.

“I shot 64 or lower three times while I was down there. When you shoot low numbers like that, you really start to believe in your abilities,” said DeLaet.

“We had a bit of a break for a couple of months from February until we got back to the Canadian swing and I just kind of picked up right where I left off,” said DeLaet, who finished second at the Canadian Tour’s City of Surrey Invitational in early June.

That one took some pressure off DeLaet.

“It was nice to get a little bit of money and not worry about it. On the Canadian Tour, it can be difficult because, if you miss two or three cuts in a row, you start thinking about it,” he said.

DeLaet can breathe even easier as he won two of his next three tournaments, including the ATB Financial Classic in Calgary and the Canadian Tour Players Cup last weekend in Winnipeg. Those victories sandwiched a tie for third at the Telus Edmonton Open.

“I’m playing with a lot of confidence and I’ve just been on a little bit of a roll,” said DeLaet, who is writing a regular blog on www.cpga.com.

“I can’t really explain it. I’ve always had the ability. I think I’ve shown flashes of it the first couple of years that I was a pro. I’m playing well and when you expect to play well, you tend to play better,” said DeLaet.

DeLaet is expecting that renewed confidence to carry over into PGA and European Q-Schools this year and he says he will likely return to South Africa later this year to play at least in one more event so he can continue playing there.

The immediate goal starts Thursday when he tees off for his national championship and, no matter what happens at Glen Abbey over the next four days, DeLaet sees an interesting future for Canadians and the number of PGA Tour players from this country should soon swell.

“We have enough Canadian guys that we should be represented on the PGA Tour and we just haven’t got them out there yet,” he said.

“I think it’s going to happen within the next few years. You’re going to see a lot more Canadian flags next to guy’s names on the leaderboards out there.”

A Big Challenge Is Not To Be Overwhelmed

Kyle German, who earned an exemption into the RBC Canadian Open after winning the 2008 Titleist and FootJoy Canadian PGA Club Professionals Championship, will be checking in daily with GNN.  Below are his impressions of playing the same course as Kevin Costner and Michael Jordan at Glen Abbey:

It’s easy to see how a sense of entitlement can occur with somebody who regularly plays the PGA Tour.

I’ve been here for two days and you can barely even think about something before it’s handed to you.

Even this morning, we went off on the back nine at Glen Abbey at 7:15 a.m. on a practice round on a Monday and there are already spotters on every hole.

You get the feeling that not a lot people who talk to them. We would walk by and say good morning and they would be kind of jumpy and say, `Hi, how are you?’

It really is incredible. There’s nothing you can want for on the PGA Tour. The TaylorMade reps are out on the driving range for the Mike Weir Charity Classic and they’ve got a bunch of clubs you can try and take and put them in play.

The tournament appears to be gaining momentum. Playing on Sunday afternoon was neat because we were about the only people on the golf course when we played the front nine late in the afternoon.

On Monday morning, when we played the back nine at 7:15 a.m., we were again about the only people out there, but by the time we got done and came back to the range, everybody was getting ready for the Weir pro-am and there were a lot of people, a lot of photographers, a lot of fans.

I have to admit that I got caught up in it when Kevin Costner walked by with a big crowd and then, Michael Jordan walked by and I went, `Now, that’s a big crowd.’

With the celebrities, you feel a little sorry for them. I don’t know what it’s like in their everyday lives, but out here, Joe Thornton couldn’t get from one tee to the next without 100 people yelling at him.

As for the tour players, I’m forever a Trevor Immelman fan. He’s absolutely the nicest guy I’ve met since I’ve been here.

I introduced myself on the putting green and he got talking about the tour and how he loves Vancouver. All of a sudden, he’s got a huge fan here.

It’s very easy to want to be here full-time, but as each day passes, it emphasizes the fact that I can’t allow it to overwhelm me, which I stated in an earlier blog, but mean it more than ever now.

That’s why we’ve only played nine each day. It doesn’t start until Thursday and I don’t want to wear myself out.

Back home, I don’t play a lot of golf. I don’t practice. I’ve hit more golf balls in the last two days than I’ve hit all year, no word of a lie.

As I mentioned, we played the back nine, most of it down in a valley and it’s really nice.

The thing I like is that the rough is thick, it’s not easy. If you hit a bad shot, you’ll be in the rough, but if you hit a good shot, there’s nothing out here that’s going to penalize you. If you hit a good shot, you’re going to be rewarded.

The greens are really good. There’s more of a difference going uphill versus downhill than I would have anticipated. It doesn’t look like severe hills, and I know they’re not up to Thursday speed yet, but downhill, they’ve got some pep to them.

They’re probably in the 10 ½ – 11 range on the stimp. They’re not out of control, but they’re good and really smooth.

Once the tournament gets going, it’s going to be all about taking what the course will give you, not getting greedy and, hopefully, there are enough opportunities to score.

The game plan right now is to hit as many greens in reg as we can because the rough beside the greens is deadly. If we have a 40-footer, fine – two-putt and move on to the next hole.

Cautious aggression is what you call it, I guess.

“Tin Cup Ruined My Life”: Costner

If you’re a baseball fan, “Field of Dreams” is the Kevin Costner movie you’ll remember, but for those who follow the small ball, “Tin Cup” rivals Caddyshack among the all-time great golf movies.

As fondly as golf fans remember washed-up golf pro Roy McAvoy, played by Costner, the star of the 1996 classic has a different take on Tin Cup.

“Tin Cup ruined my life,” said Costner, who joined Michael Jordan and scores of other celebrities at the Mike Weir Charity Classic on Monday at Glen Abbey, where the RBC Canadian Open gets underway on Thursday.

That statement will hardly earn Costner honourary membership in the Canadian PGA, but playing an underdog who falls just short of winning the U.S. Open tends to place unrealistic expectations on a guy who usually just plays the odd charity event such as the one on Monday.

I guess I’m just a guilty after suggesting last month that Open organizers give Costner a dozen balls on the 18th at Glen Abbey and see how many times he can clear the water with a three-wood as he did in the finale of Tin Cup. Read more

Open Progress Report: Your Thoughts Please

Normally, I would save my first appearance at the RBC Canadian Open for Tuesday of tournament week, but this year, the national championship shifts into high gear pretty quickly with the playing of the Mike Weir Charity Classic today at Glen Abbey in Oakville, Ont.

Traditionally, players slowly start to filter in as the day progresses, especially after a long flight from the British Open the past couple of years, so there isn’t usually too much to get jacked about on Monday.

This year, there will be tour players, as well as names like Michael Jordan, Kevin Costner, George Lopez, Martin Brodeur and Paul Coffey, among others that will grab the interest of golf fans, sports fans, star-gazers and the media, which gets an early wake-up call for tournament week this year.

So, the buzz starts early to make a long week at the Abbey even longer, but it’s all in a good cause, that being the Mike Weir Foundation, which benefits children’s charities, and the Reach Out Centre for Kids (ROCK) in Oakville, the community beneficiary.

The marquee value and the charitable benefits of the Weir Classic have added to the allure of our national championship this year after RBC and the Royal Canadian Golf Association added the Pengrowth Concert Series in 2008 to make the Open to add fun to what was strictly a sporting event just two years ago. Read more

Does the Open Affect the Industry?

I’m planning a camping trip in a couple of weeks, but the only tent I will be camped out in will be at the media centre at the 2009 RBC Canadian Open at Glen Abbey in Oakville, Ont. That tent provided good shelter in last year’s deluge at the Abbey, which is hosting the Open for the 25th time this year.

The 100th playing of the national championship comes at a time when the Open is enjoying a renaissance that started about a year-and-a-half ago when RBC came on board as title sponsor and immediately began elevating the tournament’s status on the PGA Tour.

This year, the Open has a solid field that, as of yet, is short on top-10 players, but is still filled with well-known names, including the usual Canadian suspects Mike Weir and Stephen Ames.

Weir and Ames aren’t the only home boys to watch as this year’s NCAA champ Matt Hill, U.S. Open low amateur Nick Taylor and Graham DeLaet, who has had such a hot hand on the Canadian Tour recently, round out a strong contingent from our home and native land. Read more

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.

Open Goes Hollywood

Not only is the field for this year’s RBC Canadian Open including more marquee names, but so are the events surrounding the national championship.

Kevin Costner, comedian George Lopez, Criminal Minds star Thomas Gibson, New Jersey Devil goalie Martin Brodeur and Columbus Blue Jacket captain Rick Nash will join Canadian NBA star Steve Nash in the inaugural Mike Weir Charity Classic the Monday of tournament week next month.

Costner will be hanging around Glen Abbey in Oakville, Ont., as he is scheduled to appear with his band Modern West following completion of the first round on the Thursday of tournament week as part of the Pengrowth Concert Series.

Tom Cochrane and Red Rider (Friday) and the legendary Canadian pairing of Randy Bachman and Burton Cummings (Saturday) round out the list of performers in that series.

The Royal Canadian Golf Association and RBC announced yesterday a full calendar of events for this year’s Open.

“The RBC Canadian Open has become more than just the traditional four rounds of golf, it’s a week-long event in the middle of summer that will attract thousands of people to the Toronto area for this world-class golf experience,” said Jim Little, chief brand and communications officer for RBC.

“With concerts on the golf course, promotions in downtown Toronto and at our RBC branches across the Halton region, and the inaugural Mike Weir Charity Classic, we’re proud to welcome everyone and their families to the RBC Canadian Open.”

RCGA executive director Scott Simmons added that more announcements would be made in the next few weeks and that the plan to make the Open a premier stop on the PGA Tour is progressing ahead of schedule. Last year, the tour recognized the Open as most improved onsite presentation.

“From the way we conduct the event, our fan experience, our marketing and promotional efforts and our commitment to charitable giving, we are making this event a first class stop on the PGA Tour,” said Simmons.

For more information on the complete schedule, see the website, www.rcga.org.

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