Fresh off of a great weak at the British Open, the PGA tour returns from across the pond and heads north of the border. For the second time, Canada’s most prestigious event, The 2007 Canadian Open, will be held at the Angus Glen Golf Club in Markham, Ontario. The third leg of the Triple Crown of open championships, The Canadian Open; holds the distinction of being the third oldest national championship in the world, just behind the U.S. Open, and The Open Championship.
There were also two changes to this year’s event, the date and the course. In 2002 the tournament was held on the South course and this year it will be held on the North Course. The second change was moving the date from September to July. This did not seem to bother J.C. Cunningham, general manager at Angus Glen, "We see this date change as a positive opportunity to promote the event as a family experience for golfers of all ages. The event is also an excellent opportunity to entertain clients and colleagues. The weather in July is spectacular and there’s no better way to pass the day with a colleague than watching some really outstanding golf."
Davis Love III’s design firm, Love Design has been overseeing the redesign of the North course in preparation for this year’s event. “I think you’ll find it to be a different course out there,” said Love III “It’s a wide-open, wild traditional, more Scottish links style look. I think the players when they get here, that’s what they are going to say. It’s a bold exciting golf course and it will be fun to play. Love was contracted after Angus Glen sought out his services to ready the course for this years’ event. Hopefully the players will enjoy the refinements to the Jay Morrish designed course as much as Davis does.
This week’s field will be definitely be affected by the close proximity of the event to The Open Championship, but that will not make the event any less exciting. Look out for Mike Weir, fresh off of a strong showing at the Open Championship, Stephen Ames, Vijay Singh, and defending champion Jim Furyk. Also scheduled to appear this week are tour favorites Chris DiMarco, John Daly, Camilo Villegas, Justin Leonard, Shigeki Maruyama and Jesper Parnevik. There are also 19 Canadians in the field including the before mentioned Mike Weir and Stephen Ames, plus Jim Rutledge, Ian Leggatt and 15 other Canadian hopefuls who look to take home their national championship for the first time since 1954, when Pat Fletcher won. The field this year has the attention of the tournament director, Bill Paul, “The field is set and we’re ready to kick off the 2007 Canadian Open, Canadian golf fans will be treated to a showcase at Angus Glen with a number of talented young Canadians set to challenge stars of the PGA Tour for our national Open title.”
This year’s purse is 5 million dollars, with the champion receiving $810,000. There are also 25,000 FedEx Cup points available. The North course plays to a yardage of 7,320 yards and a par of 71. Past champions include, Byron Nelson, Arnold Palmer, Sam Snead, Greg Norman, Lee Trevino, Nick Price, Tiger Woods, VJ Singh and Jim Furyk. Surprisingly Jack Nicklaus never won this prestigious event, although he was a runner up 7 times. Should be a great event, and if last week was any indication of things to come, look out, there could be yet another exciting finish in store this week up in Canada.
Television Coverage:
Thursday 7/26: 3-6 PM ET GOLF
Friday 7/27: 3-6 PM ET GOLF
Saturday 7/28: 3-6 PM ET CBS
Sunday 7/29: 3-6 PM ET CBS
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