Preview of the Bell Canadian Open
Fri, 27 Feb 2009 01:35:21
However, the week hasn't gotten off to a great start with the sad news of the passing of Moe Norman. I met Moe when I was playing on the Canadian Tour; he was always around the tournaments that were in Ontario. I'd always see him on the range or walking along near the clubhouse, with a club in his hand, maybe bouncing a ball off the face of it.
I remember when I was playing in Australia one time and passed by a magazine stand in an airport. There was a headline on a golf magazine that said �The Best Norman.� I couldn't see the entire magazine so I just figured it was about Greg Norman, seeing as how he was the local favourite. Imagine my surprise when I picked it up and saw Moe's face.
It seems that just about everyone has a story about Moe Norman and I guess the one good thing about that is that Moe will live on forever with all these stories. I know that Tuesday on the range at Glen Abbey just won't be the same without Moe hitting his shots for all the boys.
Speaking of Glen Abbey, I'm excited about the changes they've made to the course. I played a practice round on Monday and saw some of them first-hand. I think the course will be a really good test for the Open. It's much more demanding now than I remember it.
I know a lot of people look at my record at the course and suggest that I won't have a chance this week. But really, I don't dislike the course that much. Yes, I've only made the cut once there, but you have to consider that many times when I was playing at the Abbey and missed the cut, I was either an amateur or playing on the Canadian Tour. It wasn't so much that I didn't like Glen Abbey, just that I probably wasn't that ready to play a PGA Tour course set up, especially for my own national open.
The last time we played Glen Abbey was 2000 and I've changed my game a lot since then.
I think that this week, I'll use the �Gary Player attitude.� He was once playing in a golf tournament where the greens were really long and shaggy. Another player said to him: �Aren't these greens awful?� and Player replied, �I love them.� He realized that he was going to have to play them anyway so he might as well take a good attitude about it, a sort of �love what you're playing� approach.
I want to also take a moment to address something I've been hearing. I know many of my fans have been suggesting that perhaps I don't play enough or that my schedule isn't set up right, but I can assure you that I take a great deal of time and thought in setting up my schedule. Golf is not my whole life; I have a family and there are a lot of special moments I don't want to miss, just as any father and husband would.
In my early days on Tour, I would play 29 or 30 events a year - I was almost obsessive, but when you look at my results, they weren't always that good. This new approach would seem to suggest that quality has worked better for me than quantity. I'm really happy with my 21 or 22 events a year. I think it gives me a good balance between golf and the rest of my life.
This week, of course, will be a little different. I will get a lot more attention (most of it really amazing . . . I still have chills running down my spine from the great galleries at Hamilton last year) and I know that I have to be regimented in my practice habits. I know there will be many more things to do, but as long as I can get my practice in, I'll be fine.
Of course, this week is not just special because it's the Bell Canadian Open, but the 100th anniversary of the first national championship. That's an amazing achievement and one of which all Canadian golf fans can be proud. This tournament is getting back to where it should be, as one of the top stops on Tour and there isn't a player in the field who wouldn't want to win it.
For a Canadian, with the 100th anniversary and the 50th since Pat Fletcher won, getting a win here would be magical.
As always, thanks for your support.
Mike
