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Tiger Woods won the 2000 Canadian Open and if the Royal Canadian Golf Association can help make it happen, he could one day design a course to play host to the tournament.
His stamp on a Canadian Open course would put the tournament front and centre in players' minds again, just as happened when Jack Nicklaus designed the Glen Abbey Golf Club in Oakville, Ont., more than 30 years ago.
Bill Paul, the RBC Canadian Open's tournament director, said on Thursday that he spoke with Woods about his design business during the Masters last April.
"We talked about where he was going with his design and I said we should talk further if there's any opportunity to do a course in Canada," Paul said. "He said, 'Let's do it,' " meaning they should explore the possibility.
Paul later spoke with Woods's agent, Mark Steinberg, about getting together again to discuss the matter. It wasn't long before the U.S. Open, which Woods won, came up. Woods then had reconstructive knee surgery and has since been recuperating.
"It's in my diary now," Paul said about further discussion. "I have to follow up with Tiger and Steinberg."
The RCGA would need somebody else to foot the bill for any deal with Woods. It couldn't afford his fee, or even the cost of building a course. The RCGA's executive director, Scott Simmons, made it clear during an interview in his office at Glen Abbey on Thursday that its financial resources are limited.
The RCGA, Simmons said, broke even this year on the Canadian Open and the CN Canadian Women's Open, and lost $2-million overall on its amateur golf operations. The association would have lost $3.5-million were it not for $1.5-million in interest, which is generated from the $34-million it has on hand from the sale in 1999 of Glen Abbey to ClubLink Corp.
"I don't think a lot of Canadians understand the precarious position the RCGA is in financially," Simmons said.
That position, Simmons emphasized, doesn't mean the RCGA will stop its pursuit of the Canadian Open becoming what he called "best of class" on the PGA Tour. He used the word "aspirational" frequently to describe the RCGA's ideas.
"We want to be the No. 1 event on the PGA Tour and that parallels our vision for the RCGA," Simmons said. "That allows us to focus. We may never get there, but that's our goal."
Given the financial constraints of engaging Woods to do a course, the RCGA may never get anywhere with that idea. Is there a company that would pay to have a Woods course? Clearly, it would have to make sound business sense.
"I was told Tiger's fee is significantly higher than what a Jack [Nicklaus] signature course is," Paul said. "Jack's fee is $2.5-million (U.S.) I have to figure 8-to-10 for Tiger. You look at that, and you say, why not? It got me thinking."
Paul started thinking about Nicklaus's association with Glen Abbey, which was the all-but-permanent home for the Canadian Open from 1977 to 2000. It held the tournament in July and will do so again next year. Paul has an excellent relationship with Woods, and never bothers him with questions as to whether he plans to play the Canadian Open. Paul knows Woods will play if he wants to.
"We only had that quick conversation at the Masters," Paul said. "If Tiger did a course [in Canada] naturally we would want it to host the Canadian Open."
"I'm sure even Tiger would admit that it would be a feather in his cap if he knew his course was going to be a part of the Canadian Open rota," Simmons said. "If it's going to happen anywhere in the country, you'd think Alberta is the logical choice. We can't afford to go to a small market. You have to go to a market that RBC will embrace and where there's enough corporate support to allow you to at least break even."
Simmons knows that Alberta lacks a course that could play host to the Canadian Open. He's also spoken with Mike Weir about a course. He said the RCGA has made it known to Weir and the International Management Group in Toronto, with whom he works, that the association would "love to understand" how it could be involved in a course he designs in Canada.
The RCGA is in uncharted water when it comes to working with Weir, who is on the cusp of starting a design practice. It's even further out in uncharted water when it comes to possibly working with Woods.
It's all "aspirational" at this stage. But overtures have been made, and expressions of interest offered. That's a start.
SWITCHING THINGS UP
The Royal Canadian Golf Association and the PGA Tour will change the sequence of the front nine holes at the Glen Abbey Golf Club in Oakville, Ont., for the 2009 RBC Canadian Open. Tournament director Bill Paul said this will make for improved flow between the front and back nines.
The course will start with what is now the par-four, 417-yard fourth hole and progress through the ninth hole, which will become the sixth. The par-three, 156-yard third hole will become the seventh, the par-four, 485-yard first, where the tee is close to the seventh green, will become the eighth, and the par-four, 414-yard second will become the ninth hole.
"We looked at this eons ago," Paul said. "It knocks 850 to 1,000 paces off the walk."
As the course now plays, golfers must walk from the ninth green on one side of the clubhouse to the 10th tee on the other side, near the parking lot. That's the long walk to which Paul referred. The walk from the 18th green to the first tee, which every player makes on either Thursday or Friday when play starts on each nine, will be about the same distance as now.
"I asked 17 players about the change this year and they all thought about it and said it would be great," Paul said.
Paul still has to discuss the change with ClubLink Corp., which owns Glen Abbey. He'll meet next week with Charles Lorimer, ClubLink's vice-president of sales and marketing.
"They're pretty open-minded about these things," Paul said. The Canadian Open will be played July 23 through 26. Chez Reavie is defending champion.
