Notes from the Canadian Open
Comments from both Stephen Ames and Mike Weir after their final round today were emphatic that after the majors, PGA Tour players look at the course to make decisions about their schedule. Both felt that to attract a better field to the Canadian Open, the RCGA has to find more old style courses that: set up well for all types of players (not just bombers), require players to move the ball around a bit and demand thinking. Both said the Angus Glen North course held up pretty well and was considerably better than most felt it would be. That said, neither thought it would be on a future Canadian Open rotation.
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Despite starting seven shots off the lead and not producing any magic on Sunday, Mike Weir still attracted the largest gallery by far. I don’t have the actual numbers but it seemed there were many times more fans with Weir’s group than Vijay’s final pairing. It was only after Weir finished that his fans seemed to drift back to join with Furyk or Singh. Even at the end, it didn’t appear that either had as much support as Weir’s gallery.
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It doesn’t look like the Canadian Open will do much for either Mike or Stephen with respect to securing a spot on the President’s Cup team. Argentina’s Andres Romero (remember him from Carnoustie?) won a big European Tour event today which will move him past both Canadians on the pecking order. There are still a couple of big tournaments for Weir and Ames to gain some points before the head pecker has to make his decision.
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Rough week for the local lads but a couple of highlights. I followed Derek Gillespie (Oshawa), Danny King (Milton), Ian Leggatt (Cambridge), David Hearn (Brantford), Brian McCann (Mississauga), David Morland (Aurora) and Victor Ciesielski (Cambridge). Also tried to keep tabs on Richard Scott (Kingsville), Andrew Parr (London) and Brad Fritsch (Manotick). Hearn started off like a house on fire with a 6-under 65 but three consecutive rounds of 73 moved him back to even par and a tie for 58th.
Everyone else missed the cut but both King and Gillespie had great chances. Playing together, both came to their final hole on Friday at 1-under, right on the cut line. Unfortunately both missed the fairway on Angus Glen’s tough 18th hole and made double bogey. Gillespie has been tearing up the CanTour leading up to the Open while King has honed his game primarily teaching on the range at Magna and in a few local tournaments. Interesting that both are working with coach Sean Foley whose numero uno client is Stephen Ames.
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Another local player, Jon Mills, elected to skip the Canadian Open and see if he couldn’t move up the Money List on the Nationwide Tour. This week’s event was the Cox Classic played on the Champions Run course in Omaha, Nebraska. In 2005, Jon shot 60 there enroute to a 3rd place finish. This time out he wasn’t quite as sharp but did manage to finish T17. The $9,100 he picked up moved him from 29th to 26th spot on the money list. The Top 25 at season’s end will receive PGA Tour cards for 2008 so it looks like a pretty good decision on Jon’s part.
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The Canadian Women’s Amateur is being held this week at Granite Golf Club in Stouffville, a very strong Tom McBroom course. The field for the women’s event features most of the best amateurs in the country. While it won’t quite be on par with the Canadian Open , the two fields do have one thing in common - they both have one World Golf Hall of Fame member in the starting rotation, Vijay Singh for the men, Marlene Streit for the women. The winner of eleven Amateur titles and five runner-up finishes, Streit probably isn’t a contender anymore but in conversation today with 2-time Amateur Champ Laura Matthews and Canadian team member Stephanie Sherlock, both said they wouldn’t bet against her – she’s surprised too many people over the years. A great opportunity to see one of Canada’s true golf legends! The event runs from Tuesday through Friday.
Is Gary Player on drugs?
As if there wasn’t enough excitement last week at the Canoustie Carnival, South African pipsqueak Gary Player lets on that he knows a secret but he can’t tell anyone. Just before the start of the British Open, Player announced that he knew of at least one player that is taking performance enhancing drugs but he was bound by an oath of secrecy not to divulge the player’s name. Upon further questionning, Player suggested that maybe as many as ten players on the PGA and European Tours are involved in some kind of illegal doping.
Naturally the merest hint of a steroid is enough to summon World Anti Doping Czar Dick Pound to the scene. Like Batman responding to the Bat signal over Gotham City, Chief Inspector Dick rushes to defend Player’s accusations and use further unsubstantiated rhetoric to get the PGA Tour and European Tour to implement a drug testing policy.
Down at World Headquarters, Lord Finchem of Ponte Vedra wants nothing to do with drug testing. Until recently he’s run a lily-white sport without taint of drugs – performance enhancing or otherwise. (OK we’ll ignore that little cocaine flap about fifteen years ago). Now Commander Tim has one of the game’s greatest stars shooting his mouth off about steroids and the entire golf media trying to figure out who the dirty player is.
Talk about a situation that’s FUBAR.
If Player really has information about a pro golfer or golfers taking steroids his first and only course of action is to report it PRIVATELY to the Commissioner. Both the method and timing of Player’s announcement are suspect – it looks like he’s grandstanding. Actually it looks like he borrowed a page from Dick Pound’s handbook – “make a wild and unsubstantiated claim about drug use in (insert name of sport here) so that WADA can move in to clean things up.”
Finchem has dragged his heels on drug testing for far too long. The argument that there is no drug use on the Tour so we don’t need testing just doesn’t work any more. At last year’s Canadian Open Finchem was asked repeatedly about how and when he would initiate a drug policy but refused to provide any clear indication. Now a year has gone by with no change and a member of the Hall of Fame is making public statements about drug use. The Tour looks foolish.
Every Tour player interviewed always claims they know of no drug use and furthermore they know of no drug that could enhance a golfer’s performance. If that’s the case then the Tour has nothing to worry about. However they can’t be seen to be dragging their heels when people like Player are shooting their mouth off. Until now there has been a perception that everything is clean. If Player and Pound create the perception that golf is dirty I can’t imagine what it might do to all those wonderful sponsor relationships with corporate America. It’s time to bring perception and reality together with an effective drug testing policy.
In the meantime, Gary Player should keep his mouth shut and Dick Pound should go back to fighting with Don Cherry and substantiating his wild claim that a third of NHL players are on steroids.
Weekly Odds & Sods
A great weekend for Canadians on the Canadian Tour. Oshawa’s Derek Gillespie put on a great charge to try and overtake Mike Mezei in the Free Press Manitoba Classic but fell a stroke short. Canadians took the top fours spots in Winnipeg with Dustin Risdon third and Craig Taylor 4th. Gillespie’s runner-up finish moves him into third on the CanTour Order of Merit and will secure him a spot in the Canadian Open field in two weeks time. He’ll be joined at Angus Glen by another Canadian, Wes Heffernan and quasi-Canadian Alan McLean who is Scottish by birth, listed on the leaderboard as a South African but lives in London, Ontario with his Canadian wife and daughter.
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Also a pretty good week for Alena Sharp on the LPGA Tour. Alena started the final round of the Jamie Farr Classic in a tie for fourth but a 78 dropped her all the way to a 28th place tie. Alena had a 65 Thursday and a 67 Saturday but a little inconsistency on Friday and Sunday hurt her in the pocketbook. Still a great learning experience for the young Hamilton player to tee it up on Sunday amongst the leaders. By the way, M.A.S.H. went off the air at least 20 years ago and I haven’t seen Jamie Farr who played Klinger in anything since. What’s the Best Before date on a celebrity name for a golf tournament?
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I’m in a British Open pool where you have three picks and it’s one of those where it doesn’t pay to pick Tiger or Phil even if they win. I’ve got Vijay Singh, Luke Donald and Mike Weir. I’m useless at pool picks and never win so don’t use my suggestions. I probably would have picked Jean Vandevelde if they had invited him back.
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Blogging this week may take on a different flavour as I’m on a research assignment in the BC Rockies. I’ll try to provide a wee peek at some the mountain courses I’ll be playing.
Fore Inventors Only
Not sure how many of you caught that new reality series called “Fore Inventors Only” on the Golf Channel last night (Wednesday 8 PM) but it is hilarious. The premise is that so-called ordinary people bring their golf inventions on the show and a panel of 3 judges votes on whether the invention goes to the next level which is field testing. (Similar format to American Idol).
After watching an hour of this, I can attest that few of the inventors are ordinary people. Apart from their nervousness some of them really thought their inventions would work. For instance:
One guy brought out a tee that had a notch in it about half way down the shaft. He explained that if the notch was parallel to the swing line, the tee wouldn’t break. However if the notch was perpendicular to the swing line, then the tee would break. Billy Harmon, one of the judges asked what the point of that was, to which the inventor explained that once the tee broke, you would then have a short tee for iron shots. When Harmon stated that he just used a broken tee found on the ground, the inventor tried to sell him on the idea that at the clubs he played at there were no broken tees, thereby forcing him to buy both short & long ones. (Notched tee did not get the required 2 votes to go to the next level.)
Among some of the other inventions:
A carry bag with built in seat. (Approved)
A travel cover with front wheels as well as back wheels. (Approved)
An e-caddie electronic device that gives you a morale boost after bad shots. (Rejected)
A golf ball launcher for handicapped people. (Rejected)
A tunnel visor similar to what race horses wear to keep out distracting sights. (Rejected)
A golf cap with the crown cut out so golfers can still wear a hat but have it function like a visor. (Rejected)
Super sensitive impact tape that can even record the impression of a 2 foot putt. Apparently the inventor had already invested over a million dollars on this one. (Approved)
While the inventions and inventors are pretty strange, it’s the interaction of the panel – Harmon, Stina Sternberg of Golf Digest for Women and former PGA tour player Fulton Allem – that really makes the show quite funny. Usually Harmon and Allem are in agreement while Stina comes across as the female version of American Idol’s Simon Cowell – a women with serious attitude and not a lot of tolerance for the inventors or her fellow panelists.
The next show is Tuesday July 17 at 10 PM but you can see video of the last show on Golf Channel’s website at www.thegolfchannel.com It’s worth having a look.
Woody, what were you thinking?
PGA Tour player Woody Austin has pulled out of the Open Championship next week because ““I don’t know how to play that type of golf. I would probably go and shoot two high numbers and make a fool of myself.”
Well, guess what Woody, you just did anyway!
Only a fool skips a Major Championship for which they qualified. Would you skip the Masters because the greens are too slick or the US Open because the rough is too deep?
Only a fool states publicly that his reason is to avoid public humiliation. Couldn’t you invent a little wrist injury. It seems to be the injury-du-jour lately.
Did you learn nothing from a similar Scott Hoch episode from several years ago? Hoch didn’t want to go to the UK to play golf either and managed to not only sound idiotic but to offend an entire nation of golfers and a world of golf fans by dissing The Open, Scottish golf, trans-Atlantic travel and just about everybody associated with or sympathetic to The Championship.
As Stuart Appleby once said about the American players who didn’t want to go to Australia for the Presidents Cup, “American pros are like prawns. They don’t travel well.”
Woody, here’s a few things you may want to consider when you think about Carnoustie or some future Open site:
1. The wind blows all the time in Texas too.
2. There is fescue on many American courses.
3. The fairways and greens are firm at most PGA tournament courses nowdays.
4. Seaside or lakeside courses like Pebble Beach or Whistling Straits are like Scottish links courses.
Woody, you are a fool. Stop whacking yourself in the head with your putter. Metal on wood wins every time.
Weekly Odds & Sods
This past week the RCGA appointed a former employee to head up the organization as Executive Director. Scott Simmons, 45, had a stint as Director of Marketing and Communications with the RCGA from 1992 – 2000, then left to work for The Beer Store and Lakeport Breweries. In choosing a former employee the RCGA takes a risk but only time will tell whether it works or not. On the plus side Simmons knows how things work and has a lot of former relationships he can count on. On the negative side the RCGA has not added any instant credibility by appointing a recognized leader or change agent which will no doubt be interpreted by some as a step back. Simmons will have a few personal challenges to deal with too, most notably how he handles former associates and presumably friends as he attacks the long list of fixes required at the RCGA. Simmons offically starts his job on July 23rd, the week of the Canadian Open.
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I’m of mixed emotions about the Canadian Senior Match Play championship which concluded today in PEI. The last two Canadians were ousted in the quarter finals as six of the final eight players were American. The event was won by Donald Marsh of Alpharetta, Georgia.
Each year more and more Americans play in this event for two reasons: 1) the winner gets an exemption into the US Senior Amateur, thereby avoiding regional qualifying and 2) while the RCGA has restrictions on the number of foreign players who can enter, those restrictions only kick in if the field is full. Unfortunately not enough Canadian players enter so more spots are open to foreign players.
I’d like to see our national amateur championships restricted to Canadian golfers only. Many will argue that elite players need to test themselves against the best and I can accept that argument for professional golfers. However for amateur competition, it’s important to see a Canadian name on the trophy. Our amateur competitions are stepping stones to the pros for some but the pinnacle of their golf career for others.
The Americans who come north of the border for the Senior Match Play are a unique breed of golfer. Most are rich and retired and compete all year long in the US. The Canadians on the other hand essentially have a short season and really have just their provincial and national tournaments for top level competition. To compete all season in local and provincial events, then lose out to an import in the biggest event of the season seems unfair. It’s kind of like letting outsiders into your club championship.
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I played the Barrie Country Club on Thursday in a media outing for the Titleist FootJoy Ontario PGA Championship coming up July 16-17. Barrie is one of those courses I’d never get tired of playing. It has tight tree-lined fairways, lots of elevation, seriously sloped greens and it’s in wonderful condition. Best of all you can walk it. The course was designed in the sixties by Robert Moote and got a bit of a cosmetic do-over by Graham Cooke a few years ago. It’s long enough and challenging enough for members on a day to day basis and must suit the Ontario pros too because Barrie has been the permanent home of their championship for the past five years.
There’s a brand new clubhouse under construction which will be ready later this year and it’s going to be a beauty. Barrie had one of those square box concrete clubhouses that seemed to be all the rage in the sixties, certainly a dark period architecturally, but the new clubhouse has interesting roof lines, massive windows and huge balconies overlooking the course.
The greens at Barrie will be a test for the Ontario pros. At least one of them (the 7th) could provide Shinnecock/Oakmont type excitement if the speed is anywhere north of 10. I played with Scott Pritchard, Associate Director of the Ontario PGA and his attitude is sensible when it comes to setting up a course for a championship. He doesn’t want to embarrass the players by making it so tough it turns into a circus act so I expect green speeds will be manageable.
Thanks to head Pro Bill Wogdon and his staff for a great outing (and to Titleist for the latest ammunition). The Ontario PGA Championship is a tremendous opportunity to see some of the best club pros really mixing it up. Definitely worth a visit to Barrie to watch them.
Muskoka Bay still spectacular
Part of my Canada Day celebration yesterday included a visit to Muskoka Bay Golf Club near Gravenhurst. Last year it was recognized as the Best New Course in Ontario (tie with Coppinwood) by Fairways Magazine and I’m pleased to report that it’s even better this year as the extra season has added additional growth to the out of play areas and with another year under them the greens are spectacular!
The whole Muskoka Bay property is stunning. There seems to be a great view from almost every tee and no two holes are alike. I’m particularly fond of a stretch that includes the shortish par-4 4th, the reachable par-5 5th and a long par-3 at the 6th. Those three holes combine a lot of strategy, tough shot-making and require a deft touch on some pretty severely sloped greens.
While every hole at Muskoka Bay could be a signature hole, #’s 1, 4, 9, 12 and 17 get most of the attention and deservedly so. Doug Carrick has only designed two courses in Muskoka but this one along with Bigwin Island both have incomparable views and exciting terrain to work with. Some people scoff at Muskoka golf as being all the same – just a lot of trees, rock and elevation – but I still marvel at the stupendous routings and the natural wonder of it all. I don’t ever get bored with Muskoka golf.
As a special bonus to my visit, I ran into former Director of Golf and all-round good guy Jeff Boismier who was showing some people around the property. I expect Jeff will be back running another course soon. The golf industry needs more good people like him.
Weekly Odds & Sods
Happy Canada Day eh!
Another withdrawl for Michelle Wie, this time after 27 holes at the US Open. Complaining again of a sore left wrist, Michelle tells her playing partners she’s done and leaves the course. She was 17 over par at the time. The sponsors who are paying her a reported $20 million per year must be elated she is getting so much attention.
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Jesper Parnevik (remember him) shoots 64 on Saturday to move into second spot at the Buick Classic Invitational Open in Michigan and will play in the final group with Tom Pernice today. Parnevik has been lost in the wilderness for several years. Last time I can remember him contending was at the Canadian Open in 2004 when Vijay beat Mike Weir in the playoff at Glen Abbey. To say this guy marches to a different drummer would be a gross understatement – it’s more like he skips to a lute and a zither. Gives great interview though. No explanation for yesterday’s good play. Maybe all that volcanic sand he ate back in the day is finally working.
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Ian Leggatt finally made a cut – his first this year. I chatted with Ian a couple of months back when he was in town for the opening of the Institute at Bond Head. He talked about working on a couple of basic things and had no excuses for his bad play to date. No injuries, no pain, he just wasn’t striking the ball as well as he used to and the putts weren’t dropping. Ian has done a huge amount for golf in Canada particularly with kids. He’s not a guy to go around tooting his own horn publicly but he deserves more recognition and credit than he gets. Sometimes he comes off in a group interview or scrum as being a bit surly but he’s a smart guy and is likely frustrated with some of the inane or repetitive questions he is asked. In a one-on-one interview he’s sharp, witty and demonstrates that he’s pretty well versed on a broad variety of subjects. Hope he’s turned the corner and we’ll see more good play from him. Incidentally, Ian’s not a lock for the Canadian Open. At the time we spoke he made it clear that as much as he likes the Open, his primary objective this year was to get back to the PGA Tour full-time. If he thought he could improve his chances of moving up the Nationwide Tour money list, then he would play there rather than at Angus Glen. This weekend will be his first cheque with just three events left before the Open. I’m betting we’ll see him at Angus Glen.
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David Hearn wthdrew from the Nationwide Tour event sometime between the finish of yesterday’s round and this morning. Haven’t heard anything yet. If anybody knows, kindly update us.
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There are 24 Koreans amongst the 68 players who made the cut at the US Women’s Open. There are another 13 in the field who didn’t make the cut. What the heck is Korea doing so right to get so many players into the top tournament in the world? Not to mention that Korean women make up a sizeable percentage of players on the LPGA Tour from week to week and practically dominate the Duramed FUTURES Tour every year.
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This came from a reader and struck home as another birthday is fast approaching:
20 signs you have grown up
1. Your house plants are alive, and you can’t smoke any of them.
2. You keep more food than beer in the fridge.
3. 6:00 AM is when you get up, not when you go to bed.
4. You hear your favourite song in an elevator.
5. You watch the Weather Channel.
6. Your friends marry and divorce instead of “hook up” and “break up.”
7. You go from 130 days of vacation time to 14.
8. Jeans and a sweater no longer qualify as “dressed up.”
9. You’re the one calling the police because those #$%*& kids next door
won’t turn down the stereo.
10. You don’t know what time Taco Bell closes anymore.
11. Your car insurance goes down and your car payments go up.
12. You feed your dog Science Diet instead of McDonald’s leftovers.
13. Sleeping on the couch makes your back hurt.
14. You take naps.
15. Dinner and a movie is the whole date instead of the beginning of one.
16. A $4.00 bottle of wine is no longer “pretty good shit.”
17. You actually eat breakfast food at breakfast time.
18. “I just can’t drink the way I used to” replaces “I’m never going to drink that much again.”
19. Like your parents used to, you start sentences with, “When I was young…..”
20: You read this entire list looking desperately for one sign that doesn’t apply to you and can’t find one to save your sorry old ass.
Peter Mumford is the Editor and Publisher of Fairways Magazine in Toronto. Fairways is intended for avid golfers and this blog site is an extension of that same philosophy - we don't dumb it down for the uninformed!