Canadian Open Deserves Better

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The Canadian Open—which begins Thursday at the Angus Glen Golf Club in Markham, Ont.—has been sadly reduced to second class status.

Squeezed into perhaps the worst spot on the golf schedule—between the British Open and the Bridgestone; and opposite the Reno-Tahoe—the second oldest non-major has attracted only two of the world’s top players: Jim Furyk, the defending Champion, and the everpresent and seemingly inexhaustable Vijay Singh. The two deserve kudos for making the effort to play.

Other top American players are understandably recuperating after a pair of flights over the pond, while the Europeans are involved with the Deutsche Bank Players Championship. All told, only 17 of the world’s top 100 are in the tournament.

Even Davis Love, whose firm recently redesigned Angus Glen, won’t show up.

Not exactly a ringing endorsement.

The biggest names are stars on the decline such as John Daly, Lee Janzen and Steve Elkington. Bob Tway also will appear.

With a nod to history, I think the Canadian Open deserves better. It’s the second oldest non-major, following the Western Open (now the BMW, but don’t get me started on that one.). And when you consider that the Western could rightly have been considered a Major until the Masters, the Canadian only rises in status. Some have written that as a national championship, it followed only the US Open and Open Championship in stature.

The list of past champions is impressive: Woods, Singh, Norman (Greg, not Moe), Price, Strange, Trevino, Casper, Palmer, Nelson, Snead, Hagen, Armour. Interestingly, it was never won my Nickaus. It may well be the most prestigious tournament not won by the Golden Bear.
The tournament has in the past been held in September, but the Royal Canadian Golf Association had lobbied for a summer date. Tournaments in the fall—and especially with the new FedEx Cup schedule suffer from a lack of starpower. Once the majors are over, the big guns go into hibernation. The RCGA’s thinking was that a summer date would improve the situation.

It won’t, for in the current slot it will never attract a big name (was that intentional on the Tour’s part?).

The bad scheduling and lack of stars also may have had an impact on the Canadian Open’s bottom line. The championship has no title sponsor and the RCGA is dipping into its rainy day fund to offer the purse.

Rick Desrochers, the RCGA’s CEO has said that the Presidents Cup, which is a PGA Tour-sponsored event held this year in Canada, drained about $1 million in sponsorship money away from the Canadian Open.

“But (Tour commissioner) Tim Finchem is well aware of that,” he said.

Unfavorable scheduling by the PGA Tour has resulted in the death of at least one tournament (the International). It would be awful to see the Canadian Open go the same way.

Given its history and its standing as the other North American national championship (ok, Mexico has one, but its not the same),  there’s no reason that the PGA Tour could not have worked with the Canadians to find a better slot.

The 100th Canadian Open will be played in 2009. It would be great if the PGA Tour could maneuver things to give the Canadian Open a better chance.


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5 thoughts on “Canadian Open Deserves Better”

  1. Unfortunately, in an attempt to keep the players happy and smiling, it looks like the cut at Angus Glen (a course designed to host corporate events) will be something like -20.

    I am Canadian, but -20’s just turn me off. I will probably ignore this mini-putt PGA player love-in.

    Do easy courses make these guys feel good?

    Reply
  2. Yes, it’s a shame and I am afraid that it’s going to get worse for some tournaments like The Canadian Open.

    The PGA can make or break a tournament with scheduling.  And after this first year of the Fed Ex Cup, we’ll probably see even more changes that could squeeze certain tournaments even more.

    Always the price of success.  Perhaps the PGA is a victim of it’s own success.

    The Golf Nut

    Reply
  3. The PGA Tour isn’t going to be a victim of anything … its everyone else who gets vctimized … the International … the Western Open … the CCanadian Open … I think this whole FedEx Cup thing is all because, of tthe four biggest tournaments in golf the PGA Tour owns none of them … and that rankles the leadership.

    Reply
  4. Played with former Pres.Of RCGA today and his comments about the future of Can.Open were grim. He sees maybe 1 more year of PGA Tour status, followed by the Open becoming part of the European Tour.

    Wow!

    Reply

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