Strong field expected at Canadian Open

CP

Thirteen of the top 50 players in the world rankings will be taking part in the 101st playing of the national championship, which takes place July 19-25 at St. George's Golf and Country Club in Toronto.

Joining Casey (ranked No. 8 in the world), Donald (No. 9), Kim (No. 11) and Villegas (No. 15), are Retief Goosen (No. 18), Hunter Mahan (No. 19), Y.E. Yang (No. 21), Tim Clark (No. 22), Sean O'Hair (No. 25), Matt Kuchar (No. 32), Ben Crane (No. 39), Kevin Na (No. 46) and Michael Sim (No. 50).

Other stars of note who'll be in the field include PGA veteran Fred Couples and defending champion Nathan Green, as well as Canadians Mike Weir (Bright's Grove, Ont.), Stephen Ames (Calgary) and PGA rookie Graham DeLaet (Weyburn, Sask.).

"We're very pleased to welcome this tremendous mix of emerging talent and notable PGA Tour veterans to the 2010 RBC Canadian Open," said Bill Paul, the tournament director, said in a news release. "We've continued to track our player field and the fields of other PGA Tour events since 2007 and are pleased with our progress and relative standing to date.

"Thanks to the support of guys like Stephen Ames and Mike Weir out on Tour talking with their peers and a partner in RBC so focused on results and the resurgence of the event, the strength of our field has really come a long way."

Golf Canada is calling the field the strongest in recent memory, as 15 of the top 30 players on the current PGA Tour money list - including Clark (No. 4), Kim (No. 5), Crane (No. 7) and Villegas (No. 8) - have confirmed their intention to compete.

"We said three years ago that this event and the strength of our field will continue to improve and today we stand proudly behind the talent coming to St. George's in July," RBC spokesman Jim Little said in a news release.

Aside from Weir, Ames and DeLaet, the Open's Canadian content will be bolstered by two-time defending Canadian men's amateur champion Cam Burke of Kitchener, Ont., 2009 Canadian men's mid-amateur champion Dave Bunker of Woodbridge, Ont., and 2009 Canadian PGA champion Ben Boudreau of Longueuil, Que.