CANADIAN OPEN Birdie bender comes 3 days too soon for Weir

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 23/07/2009 (6251 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

OAKVILLE, Ont. — Birdie-birdie-birdie, eagle-birdie-eagle. Mike Weir shot them all, in succession, on the back nine at Glen Abbey. Canada’s best golfer, in the week of Canada’s premier golf tournament — if rather eroded, over the years — was at his very best.

“Just, I wish I could do that in a tournament,” Weir said with a laugh. “I haven’t done that in a tournament for a long time.”

Indeed, instead of doing it during the RBC Canadian Open, Weir carded that 28 on the back nine during his charity tournament on Monday, three days before the main event’s opening round.

No Canadian has won the country’s national championship since Pat Fletcher in 1954. Weir — or maybe Calgary’s Stephen Ames — is the one who has long seemed destined to break that streak, and that maybe this is the year.

Unless it isn’t.

“The odds are pretty much stacked against us,” said Ames, noting that there are 15 Canadians, few of whom are real contenders, in a field of 156. “And it makes things difficult.”

That’s not the only part that makes this mountain hard to climb. In some ways, it appears mathematically easier, these days. Tiger Woods isn’t playing this tournament anymore (he hasn’t since 2001, the year after he won), and since being moved to the week after the British Open, the Canadian Open has had well-chronicled trouble attracting the other big dogs, too.

People here are talking about how RBC’s firm-handed sponsorship of the event is helping — and since Anthony Kim, one of just three top-20 players in attendance, is here because he is sponsored by the big bank, it’s demonstrably true — but until PGA commissioner Tim Finchem’s musings on a so-called flex schedule in 2013 become reality, it won’t much matter. You play the week after the British Open, you’re an afterthought. And so at the Canadian Open, Weir and Ames are bigger fish in a much smaller pond.

That doesn’t necessarily make the swimming easier. It’s not like there is a home-course advantage at play. Ames lives in Alberta, which hasn’t held an Open since 1958, while Weir lives in Utah, which is even less likely to join the rotation. More than that, Weir and Ames have to shake a lot of extra hands and attend to a lot of extra distractions this week, starting with Weir’s charity tournament and going on from there. Being a Canadian at the Canadian Open makes the task harder.

“I think without a doubt,” Weir said. “Compared to the British Open, let’s say, the little things that I have to do this week compared to last week is a significant difference. There’s no denying it. I’m not as under the radar as maybe other tournaments. But that’s fine. It’s our national championship, and all us Canadians, we want to put to rest that it’s been so long since one of us has won one.”

“You have to pretty much monitor your time a little better this week,” added Ames, ranked 56th in the world golf rankings, 29 spots behind Weir.

“A lot of autographs, thousands of autographs. I’ve gone through two pens in the last two days. It’s amazing. You don’t stop.”

Neither, of course, does the streak. Starting with his first appearance in the Canadian Open in 2000, Weir has finished 70th, tied for 34th, tied for 22nd, 10th, second — in that this-was-his-chance playoff with Vijay Singh in 2004 — tied for 34th again, and last year, tied for fifth. Ames was tied for seventh in 2005, in Vancouver, and tied for 27th in 2007. Promising Canadian amateurs Matt Hill and Nick Taylor, in the field for this week’s tournament, may one day add to Canada’s chances.

NOTES: The Open lost one of the bigger names from its field on Wednesday. Fred Couples, a favourite among Canadian crowds, withdrew from the tournament because of a back injury.

— Canwest News Service