Pros think June date will boost the field
OAKVILLE, ONT. • It has long been lamented that the current date of the RBC Canadian Open, falling right after the British Open, has taken some lustre off a tournament that at one time was among the premiere stops on the PGA Tour.
So you can imagine the positive reaction when Golf Canada announced several weeks ago the PGA Tour had moved the world’s thirdoldest open championship to the first week in June, landing right before the U.S. Open.
Everyone from world No. 1 Dustin Johnson to Canadian Mackenzie Hughes was praising the move Wednesday at Glen Abbey, where the 109th edition of the event is about to kick off.
“I think it will be good for the golf tournament,” said Johnson, who has twice been runner-up at this event, most recently in 2016 when he was tied with Jon Rahm and Martin Laird.
“A lot of guys like to play the week before the U.S. Open, so you’ll definitely get some different guys and I think the field will definitely improve even though this year I feel like we have a really good field. But I think the date move is good and I think the field will get stronger for sure.”
Hughes, who was the low Canadian last year in a tie for 32nd overall, echoed Johnson’s sentiments and said he was also pumped the 2019 open will be held at Hamilton Golf and Country Club, a short drive from his hometown of Dundas, Ont.
“It’s going to be really awesome,” he said. “I think there are two really great things going for us with the date move and then moving around to some of the other great courses in the GTA is a bonus, Hamilton being one that’s kind of close and personal to me because I played some golf there growing up, and people there have been very supportive of me through my career. Going there next year will be a big thrill.”
Two-time defending U.S. Open champion Brooks Koepka sees one potential problem.
“The only problem is you’re going East Coast to West Coast (for the U.S. Open at Pebble Beach) and then back to East Coast, so you might see some guys not play, just for the fact that they’re playing the week after. But if they’re not playing the week after, I don’t see any reason why they wouldn’t be here.”
DRIVE TIME
Johnson, who ranks eighth in average driving distance on the PGA Tour this season, was seen experimenting with various shafts for his driver on the practice range.
“I feel like the driver is good,” said Johnson, who also sits atop the FedEx Cup standings.
“I’m hitting it well. It’s just it can always be better. I feel like right now I’m swinging the club very well, so it was a good time to test some different stuff to see if I could get it to fly just a little bit better and I think we’ve got it figured out.”
GREEN, GREEN GRASS OF HOME
Koepka, who is making his second appearance at this event after a tie for 15th in 2015, said it’s good to be back on a North Americanstyle course after having battled on the burned-out, hard fairways of Carnoustie last week in Scotland where he finished tied for 39th.
“This golf course is a great golf course, a good test, especially after last week,” he said. “It’s nice to have some soft, green grass and this finish can really make for an exciting finish. I’m looking forward to the week.”
DIALED IN
In recent years, there has been much debate about the players and the equipment having outgrown the game and the golf courses. Golf legend Lee Trevino was asked at an RBC Hall of Fame induction ceremony if anything could be done to dial things back or if anything should be done.
“It would take years to dial it back,” he said. “Manufacturers are set up; the lobbying and the lawsuits, it wouldn’t be worth it. It would damage the game more than anything ... I’m totally against the long putter. Always have been. I have the solution about the long putter: just make it the shortest club in your bag.”
CHIPSHOTS
Listowel, Ont., native Corey Conners, ranked 126th in the FedEx Cup standings, tipped his cap to Golf Canada and its development program for helping Canadians get to the highest levels of the sport. “It’s awesome to have so many Canadians here and to have all the Canadians on tour, we spend a lot of time together. It’s nice to be able to support one another,” Conners said. There are 21 homegrown golfers in the field this year … Johnson, who has children with Wayne Gretzky’s daughter Paulina, said the Great One will not be attendance this week, but that Gretzky’s father Walter, a celebrity in his own right, will be at Glen Abbey … There are 500 FedEx Cup points up for grabs this week … The total purse is $6.2 million with the winner getting $1.116 million … Jhonattan Vegas is the twotime defending champion.