Brennans Caddy Report-Canadian Open

Coming off two top ten finishes in a row you can see the confidence increasing in Mike as the weeks go on. Mike battled hard last week and although it wasn't the perfect weekend it was very solid and definitely something to build on as we continue this good stretch of golf. The Canadian Open is definitely one of the biggest events for us each year as it is our National Open. I realize this week isn't the best as far as scheduling for the Open as it is sandwiched between the British Open and the next two weeks which are the WGC event and the PGA.

It has attracted a pretty good field though with Vijay, Furyk, DiMarco, and others which is great to see. There is always a lot of talk about the weak fields we get here but you have to realize that there are so many worldwide events that's its hard to get strong fields every week. The one real positive this week is that we have 22 Canadians playing in the field and it should showcase some of our good young talent. It is a great opportunity for the young guys to play in a PGA tour event and get their feet wet.

This years Canadian Open is being held at Angus Glen Golf Club which is about 20 mintes north of Toronto. There are two courses on the property the North and South, the North hosted the event in 2002. The South is the host this course this year, with the final two holes from the North acting as 17 and 18. There was limited opportunity for tents ands grandstands on the original South 18 so they decided to use the final two holes from the other course.  The North Course hosted the Canadian Skins game in 2001 which Mike participated in. There have been a few changes since then that were made by Davis Love, who was brought in to do a minor redesign.

Angus Glen is one of the top corporate golf facilities in Canada.  They are known for their good courses and fantastic service. The course isn't as difficult as the courses who have hosted the Open the last few years but nonetheless it is a good test. It has some very large greens that have quite a bit of undulation. The fairways are quite wide as far as PGA standards go and the rough is pretty thick. The condition of the course is great is always so it should be an exciting week. If the wind doesn't blow I would expect to see some good scores this week.

There are some very exciting par 5's that have some risk reward. The first hole is almost 600 yards, uphill so I don't think you will see too many getting home in two. 11 is a great hole that has water all down the left hand side. If you get your drive in the fairway it will be a middle iron approach to a long skinny green. Today in the pro-am Mike hit a 5 iron second shot and made eagle. I expect to see a lot of birdies and I am sure some eagles on 11 this week. 15 is another par 5 that has water on the left off the tee which forces guys to keep the ball up the right hand side of the fairway. With a good drive the hole is reachable and should also yield some red numbers.

There are 3 par 3's that are over 200 yards and one shorter one that is very tricky due to the slope on the green. 4, 8, and 17 are all mid to long iron shots that are quite difficult shots. With the green undulations it is going to be important to leave yourself in the correct spots on the green so that you have some uphill putts.

The par 4's are a good combination of short holes to a few long challenging ones. There is a great mixture which requires you to hit almost every club in the bag.  With the softness of the greens and their superb condition I would expect most guys to be hitting their short iron quite close. Iron play and putting are the keys to the week in my mind.  The fairways are wide enough that if you are not driving the ball your best you should be able to get away with it. Hitting the ball in the proper sections of the greens will be the key in order to make birdies.

I am very excited to get this week rolling.  Mike has done some good things the past few weeks and I expect more good things the next three weeks. Let's hope the Canadians have a great week and we can have a Canadian winner for the first time in a long time!

Thanks for reading,

Brennan Little