Jim Furyk birdied two of the first three holes then knocked in his tee shot on the 209 yard fourth hole for the lead at 13 under.  "Tough pin," Furyk said. "To be able to fly a 5-iron back there on the fringe, have it release out and go in the hole is, obviously, a special bonus."  The fourth proved the crucial hole in the tournament as Mr. Furyk played the hole in 7 strokes over four days, while runner up Vijay Singh needed 15 strokes.  "Eight strokes, that’s a huge turnaround on one hole," said Furyk, the first player to successfully defend a Canadian Open title since Jim Ferrier in 1951.

Mr. Furyk bogeyed the 18th hole to make the finish interesting and was obviously relieved when Mr. Singh’s birdie attempt to force a playoff scooted five feet by the hole.  Mr. Furyk also removed all doubt whether he’d return next year to again defend his title.  "We’ll see you next year," the crowd favorite told the cheering fans gathered around the 18th green Sunday for the trophy presentation.

The question in Hamilton was whether Furyk would return to the event, stuck in a tough new schedule slot after the British Open and before the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational and PGA Championship. "Wasn’t the first question this year, but still got asked," Furyk said. "I really feel like you should always come back and defend your championship. I had a lot of people thank me for coming back, which to me is kind of like, `I appreciate it, but I feel like it’s thanking me for something that you should do.’ If that makes sense?"  Which indeed it does.