Open tees off with Costner at Weir event

by Garry McKay
The Hamilton Spectator

This year's Royal Bank of Canada Canadian Open is filled with historical significance but it will be played on a backdrop of glitz and glamour with celebrity athletes and entertainers involved.

This year's Open, Canada's only Professional Golfers' Association (PGA Tour) event, is this week at the Glen Abbey Golf Club in Oakville.

It will be the 100th playing of the Canadian Open and the 25th time it's been held at Glen Abbey, the course that Jack Nicklaus designed for the Royal Canadian Golf Association specifically to host our national championship.

The Canadian Open was first played in 1904 and the Royal Canadian Golf Association celebrated the 100th birthday of the event in 2004.

This year is actually the 100th playing of the tournament, however, because the championship was not played several times during First and Second World Wars.

While the RCGA is certainly celebrating the past and the fact the Canadian Open is the third-oldest national championship in the world behind only the British and U.S. Opens, it is doing it with a vision to the future.

Since the Royal Bank of Canada became the Open's title sponsor in 2008, the banking giant and the Canadian Golf Association have structured a plan to help the tournament regain the prestige it had in the 1960s and 1970s.

They are reaching out to casual and even non-golf fans with events such as the Pengrowth Concert Series, with spectators being treated to a free concert on the grounds at Glen Abbey at the conclusion of play Thursday, Friday and Saturday.

Also, the first Mike Weir Charity Classic will be held today starting at noon featuring PGA stars such as Weir, Stephen Ames, Anthony Kim, Camilo Villegas, Luke Donald, Fred Couples, Trevor Immelman, Sean O'Hair and defending Canadian Open Chez Reavie as well as sports and entertainment celebrities such as Paul Coffey, Kevin Costner, Joe Thornton, Luke Schenn, Rick Nash, George Lopez and Michael Jordan.

The tournament itself continues to battle for its place on the PGA Tour schedule, immediately following the British Open, a week that many of the top players choose to take off.

However, this year's field, including Kim, Villegas, Donald, Couples, O'Hair, Weir, Ames, Bubba Watson, John Holmes, Dustin Johnson, Retief Goosen and John Daly, is as strong as it's been in years. And that doesn't include a lot of the up-and-coming young Canadian players such as Nick Taylor and Matt Hill, who are ranked among the best in the world.

The players will play practice rounds today and tomorrow. There is a pro-am Wednesday and the four-round, 72-hole tournament begins Thursday.

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