The Canadian Open

Glen Abbey Golf Club
Oakville, Ontario, Canada
Par: 71 / Yardage: 7,222 yards
Purse: $5 million with $900,000 million going to the winner
Defending Champions: Jim Furyk

List of Champions & Scores

Results & Scores 2007 Canadian Open

Box Score of 2007 Canadian Open

Tournament facts:

Tournament information:

The fledgling tournament was hosted annually through 1914 before being postponed from 1915 to 1918 due to World War I. When the event was re-instituted in 1919, it was never to be halted for reasons other than weather again. During World War II, its value as a national open skyrocketed as it, along with the British and U.S., were three of the only golf tournaments played during that era. The conclusion to World War II took some of the luster from the event.

Today, with the Canadian Open not being as prestigious as other national opens, it provides a great place for American golfers to seek a country's championship; seeing that it is the easiest to qualify for and typically has a lower quality field than other similar events, the Canadian Open affords those not likely to win a major championship the opportunity to still capture a national open.

Though the field can be underwhelming at times, the Canadian Open has been the site of many notable achievements. Arnold Palmer captured his first PGA Tour win at the 1955 Open. Lee Trevino's 1971 victory capped off his amazing run at three national open victories in a month. Tiger Woods, in 2000, became the only other player to accomplish this feat, winning the U.S., then the British, followed by the Canadian.

Course information:

The land on which Glen Abbey Golf Club stands was originally acquired as a private estate in the 1930s by Andre Dorfman, a wealthy mining engineer. On his 350 acres, lying just west of the Town of Oakville, Dorfman built the handsome stone mansion that became known as Golf House. This building is currently attached to the headquarters of the Royal Canadian Golf Association, and the Canadian Golf Hall of Fame. Golf House stands on the upper part of the present course, looking down into the deep, wooded ravine cut over the centuries by Sixteen Mile Creek making its way toward Lake Ontario.

In 1953 Dorfman sold his property and home to the Jesuit Fathers, who used it as a retreat for the men of the Toronto and Hamilton Dioceses until the early 1960s, when the Order sold the estate to business interests, leaving, as a memorial of their tenure, the word ‘Abbey’ permanently associated with the site.

A golf course was constructed on the eastern section of the property and, along with tennis courts, a pool and a ski run, operated under the name Upper Canada Country Club, and Clearstream developments, until the early 1970s. In 1974 Great Northern Capital bought the land as part of a parcel they were putting together for residential development.

The principal owner, Rod McIsaac, approached the RCGA about redesigning the golf course to be suitable as the home for the Canadian Open. Together they hired Jack Nicklaus to design a spectator-friendly, championship quality golf course to become the permanent host of the Canadian Open. Glen Abbey Golf Club opened on June 1 1976, and hosted its first open in June of 1977. Today Glen Abbey is one of Canada's premier daily fee courses, Glen Abbey Golf Club is ranked No. 8 in Canada. A house on the property that was once owned by the Jesuit Fathers of Upper Canada is supposedly haunted as many say that a ghost resides in the old mansion and is seen to be "walking up the back stairs and down the main hallway towards the library." Eyewitnesses claim the ghost is a man and resembles a Jesuit father. At 7,222 yards, the course will play to a par of 71. It has a course rating of 75.5 and a slope rating of 146. The course features Penncross bentgrass with poa annua on the tees, fairways, and greens, with the rough being Kentucky Blue Grass. The course has always been popular on the PGA Tour over the years and has been a popular venue for fans as it's just outside of Toronto.

The Buzz:

With the charter going from the British Open, flying those players from Manchester, England to Toronto they have attracted a lot more marquee names. Four players, Jim Furyk, Stephen Ames, Ben Curtis and Anthony Kim were in the top-15 of the British Open and are playing this week which is a good sign. Yes the tournament is stuck with these bad dates through 2010, but if the tournament grows like it is, look for it to get a more favorable date.

Jim Furyk is back looking for the three peat, but that may not be very easy for him. In four previous starts at Glen Abbey, he finished T37 in 1999, T22nd in 1998, missed the cut in 1995 and T39th in 1994. He didn't play in the event in 2004 so we have to wonder with just 3 rounds under par and 3 rounds of 77 if Glen Abbey isn't is cup of tea.

Now we tend to forget that this is the national open of Canada but it's been a while since a Canadian has one it, you have to go back to 1954 when Fletcher won it. Mike Weir came close to winning in 2004, only to give up a lead on the final holes and then lose a playoff to Vijay Singh. Other than that it's been a bit bare as Dave Barr finished T4th in 1988, while David Morland IV finished T5th in 2001. There will be 14 Canadians in the field with Stephen Ames and Mike Weir being the favorites. The other Canadians are: Jon Mills, Jim Rutledge, Ian Leggatt, David Morland IV, David Hearn, Bryan DeCorso, Wes Heffernan, Eric Landreville and Brad Fritsch, as well as amateurs Nick Taylor and Michael Knight. Again the big question will be if a Canadian can come to the fro-front this year, 2004 did bring a lot of excitment.

Weather is again going to play a factor for those playing this week. Last week everyday brought winds over 25 mph, this week winds won't be a factor but rain and thunderstorms will. For the last couple of weeks Glen Abbey has gotten over 10 inches of rain including 4 and a half inches Sunday/Monday. Forecasters are calling for rain just about every day, except for Sunday. So with wet weather look for a possible mudder to win this week, no Tim Herron isn't in the field this week.

Here are some things to look for this week:

Photo: © Royal Canadian Golf Associtation Mike Weir playing the 18th hole at Glen Abbey during the 2004 Canadian Open..

This year the Bell Canadian Open returns to Glen Abbey, a public course just outside of Toronto that hosted 24 RBC Canadian Opens. Glen Abbey lasted hosted in 2004 and with a lot of renovation the year before in toughening it up the results was that the course was the fourth hardest on the PGA Tour for all of 2004 with a 72.731 scoring average.

• Key stat for the winner:
  Those that have played the course before will have a slight edge but the key to the course will be for those to manage the par 4s. With the 16th playing as a par 4 in 2004 instead of a par 5, it was the 11th toughest hole on the PGA Tour in 2004. The 14th hole was the 10th hardest as both holes played showed the might of the par 4s.
• Over the years Glen Abbey got a reputation as a long hitters kind of course, but if you look at all of the champions since 1990 all but Greg Norman, Tiger Woods and Vijay Singh were short hitters. Another thing, most of the winners at Glen Abbey fade the ball, that makes sense since five of the six holes that bend go to the right, a Jack Nicklaus design trait.
• Greens are contoured and well bunkered which means that those that scramble will do very well.
• Putting seems to be the key to success at Glen Abbey. Those that have putted well tend to get the nod over players that hit lots of greens. So a good putter and scrambler will prevail this week.
• With the last hole being a par 5, it has produced some wild finishes over the years. Final hole birdies were made by Greg Norman in 1992 to get into a playoff, and by David Frost ('93) and Nick Price ('94) to win by one. '98 was the most bizarre finish with Andrade winning the playoff with a par, while in '99 Hal Sutton birdied the hole three times and made par it in the final round. 2000 will always be tops on the highlight reel for Tiger Woods hitting the prettiest shot from a fairway bunker over the lake to made birdie and nip Grath Waite by a shot while in 2004 Vijay Singh made a birdie, Mike Weir didn't which forced a playoff which Singh won.
• The last time a first-time winner prevailed at the Bell Canadian Open was in 2002 and previous to that was in 1996 when Dudley Hart won and before that it was in 1981 when Peter Oosterhuis won. So the Bell Canadian Open hasn't favored non-winners and I don't see that changing this year. Of the 98 winners of the event, 50 including the last five champions have been won by a player who owns a major championship title
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