Oh Canada, No Respect

Oh Canada, No Respect

The Canadian Open has one thing in common with Rodney Dangerfield, no respect. The PGA Tour has pushed the Canadian Open around in regards to scheduling. Currently the Canadian Open is the week following the Open Championship. This is not the easiest commute for the contestants and many of the top ranked players also take the week off after a major championship.

Tim Finchem if you are listening why not elevate the status of the Canadian Open as a World Golf event or better yet, part of the Fed Ex Cup, or heaven forbid a major. The last one is doubtful, but hey why not.

The Canadian Open was first contested in 1904 at the Royal Montreal Golf Club. The Canadian Open has a great history and the champion’s names on the trophy reflect this. Arnold Palmer’s first PGA Tour victory in 1955 was the Canadian Open. Palmer scored 265 (23 under par) at the Weston Golf Club, and we all know what happened to Arnold’s career after that.

The list of past winners of the Canadian Open is a virtual who’s who in professional golf. How about this for a list of “Hall of Fame” winners: Arnold Palmer, Lee Trevino, Sam Sneed, Byron Nelson, Tommy Armour, Greg Norman, Nick Price, Tiger Woods, Jim Furyk and Vijay Singh just to name a few. The only name missing from the trophy is Jack Nicklaus. Nicklaus has finished 2nd seven times.

Golf Canada (formally referred to as the Royal Canadian Golf Association) has been able to pry the Canadian Open away from the blasé golf course that hosted the tournament 25 times. I refer to the Glen Abbey Golf Club that was a staple of the event from 1981 through 1996. In the last ten years the Canadian Open has visited some excellent golf courses; Royal Montreal, Angus Glen, Hamilton and Shaughnessy. This year the St. Georges Golf & Country Club is hosting and the PGA Tour players will be impressed.

The position of the Canadian Open on the PGA Tour schedule should be two weeks away from the US Open in early June. This would increase the amount of international golfers competing. Depending where the US Open is played the Canadian Open could be played in the same time zone to alleviate travel. The golf course conditioning and set up could be similar to the US Open, possibly attracting the more of the top ranked players. Canada deserves a high profile golf tournament; a prelude to the US Open would provide that.