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Let's play devil's advocate, concerning the RBC Canadian Open. The suggestion is simple: Play the tournament at the Glen Abbey Golf Club in Oakville, Ont., every year.
Wait. Keep your slingshot in your pocket. Sure, the Royal Canadian Golf Association and RBC, its new title sponsor, have committed to moving the tournament around Canada. And it's the Canadian Open, not the Toronto or Oakville Open. This would all make sense if the tournament were a true national championship like the U.S. Open.
But the Canadian Open is much more of a PGA Tour event than a national championship. PGA Tour events don't move around. The Canadian Open stayed at Glen Abbey from 1977 through 2000, except in 1980 and 1997, when the Royal Montreal Golf Club staged it. The RCGA owned the course until the fall of 1998, when ClubLink Corp. bought it for $40-million.
The tournament will return to the Abbey this year and next. Tournament director Bill Paul said yesterday the RCGA's contract with ClubLink calls for the club to hold the tournament once more between 2011 and 2015. Why not return it there every year?
“Part of me still feels that if you play at the same site and develop the course it can still be important,” Paul said yesterday, meaning the Canadian Open at Glen Abbey every year could still work. “But you have a title [sponsor] involved who wants to reach out across the country. We're trying to find the right venues. That's the challenge.”
The RCGA isn't avoiding the significant challenge. Its executive director, Scott Simmons, said during a conference call Monday that moving the tournament around was one of the five “core pillars” of the RCGA's plan for the event. He called it “optimal venue rotation.”
The rotation would include Shaughnessy in Vancouver, Hamilton in Ancaster, Ont., St. George's in Toronto, and Royal Montreal's Blue course. That's an appealing quartet.
Players loved Hamilton when it staged the 2003 and 2006 Canadian Opens. But club officials have said it would be some time before Hamilton would take the tournament again. The players were enthusiastic about Shaughnessy in 2005, but attendance wasn't what was anticipated. That's a concern, although the RCGA would like to return there.
Then there's St. George's. It's a dream of a course but it could be a nightmare to hold the tournament there. There's no suitable range, so one would have to be built nearby and players shuttled to and fro. Islington Avenue runs between the clubhouse and course, and there's talk that it would be closed. You couldn't blame local residents should they put the kibosh on this notion.
As for Royal Montreal, it held not only the 1997 and 2001 Canadian Opens but also the Presidents Cup last September. I was at the club Monday and, as pleased as members said they were to put on these events and the Presidents Cup, I didn't sense much enthusiasm for another Canadian Open in the near future. The Blue course itself was fine, but the grounds were still recovering from the beating they took from spectator stands and corporate tented areas.
Good luck, then, to the RCGA and RBC in moving the tournament across Canada.
Meanwhile, the 2000 and 2004 Canadian Opens at Glen Abbey were thrilling. Tiger Woods hit that instantly famous 6-iron from a fairway bunker across the pond to the fringe of the 18th green to win in 2000, and Vijay Singh defeated Mike Weir in a playoff four years later.
Quick now, what happened in 2003 and 2006 at Hamilton? What happened in 2001 at Royal Montreal or in 2005 at Shaughnessy?
Glen Abbey was built purposely for the Canadian Open. Jack Nicklaus designed the course, the first on his own, to challenge tour players and offer excellent viewing for spectators. The course held its own four years ago, when Singh and Weir shot nine-under-par 275 for regulation play. Its final three holes offer the best chance of high drama of any Canadian course.
The devil's advocate says keep the tournament at the Abbey. The RBC Canadian Open is, after all, going the way of all tournaments on the PGA Tour, what with a slate of parties and concerts and over-the-top giveaways to entice players. Survival of the fittest and all that.
Fair enough. PGA Tour events have to conform to today's reality or unreality. But PGA Tour events lock themselves in one place. Glen Abbey should be that place in Canada. That this subversive move won't happen doesn't mean it shouldn't.
