Jul
30
Canadian Open round four: Lucky 13 for Furyk
This tournament will be remembered for the one that got in - Jim Furyk’s ace on the 4th - but it’s the ones that got away that really sealed the deal. Hunter Mahan had enough 10-15ft opportunities to hold the balance of power by the turn and Vijay Singh flopped from even closer range, although he can be excused the last 23-footer he needed for a playoff.
With Singh going backwards and Mahan misfiring it looked all over when Furyk sank his tee shot on the 4th, although it was the birdies around the turn that really sealed the deal on Furyk’s 13th Tour win. Easier pin positions on greens that never in the end got over their soggy start helped his cause.
I felt sorriest for Mahan, whose final score does not reflect the excellent golf he played. He had no choice but to throw caution to the wind on the last two holes and paid the penalty.
Overall, though, this was an uninspiring affair. Maybe it was always going to struggle the week after the Open Championship, but you don’t have to love the cruelty of the US Open to think a country’s top competition shouldn’t be letting birdies fall like rain and one player to score three eagles in a round. Several players made the point that the course is more important than the money nowadays in choosing where to play (they can pretty much get the cash wherever they go) and Angus Glen just didn’t stack up.
Much as they try to pretend in public that (almost) everyone loved the course, I believe the RCGA have got the message.
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4 comments
Comment from: Oliver Sudden [Visitor] 
You mentioned Bob Heintz last week and he did very well T5, good call. He played Sunday with George McNeill from Fort Myers Florida, my home town. George is a great story. He shot 66-66 on the weekend for T3 and $290,000. When you consider that 8 months ago he did not have enough money to buy a golf ball this is amazing. He must have a good shot this week in Reno. I like Kim this week too.
2007-07-31 @ 00:45
How did Angus Glen get it back so quickly? Must be the metropolis of Markham, one of the many bedroom suburbs of the big T-O. I'd like to see the Canadian Open at Devil's Pulpit or Devil's Paintbrush instead. Angus Glen is similar to Hazeltine National by my way of thinking. One of those courses the PGA used to choose, but now doesn't have to. The Canadian Open will one day be able to reject the Angus Glens of the golfing world. Time to develop a true rotation of great Canadian courses, a la Britain, and utilize it again and again.
2007-07-31 @ 11:44
Singh the hardest-working golfer on the PGA Tour
Tiger picks only select tourneys, but classy Vijay plays them all
July 31, 2007
AL COATES
RECORD STAFF
There was no drama at the Canadian Open Sunday at Angus Glen North. Jim Furyk saw to that rather nicely, winning in a breeze with a final-round seven-under 64 and a four-round total of 16-under 268.
When Vijay Singh missed a near-impossible tying putt for birdie on 18, the Canadian Open title leapt into Furyk's outstretched mitts for a second straight year. His victory in 2006 came at the much-praised Hamilton Golf and Country Club layout in Ancaster.
The story of the Open -- and this was a tournament largely devoid of compelling stories -- was Hole No. 4, a 205-yard, par-3 sitting duck that was there for the taking throughout all four rounds. Furyk birdied it three times, and aced it in the final round, to play the hole in five-under for four rounds. Singh played it in three-over -- and that was all she wrote.
Furyk is a great ball-striker, a deserving winner -- and a decent guy. Singh is something else. He's the hardest-working man on the PGA Tour, he's obsessed with perfection -- which is why he works out twice a day, hitting 400 or 500 balls on the range between workouts -- and he is the PGA Tour's single best friend.
And this is why: While the Tigers, and the Phils -- and the Davis Love Threes -- of the pro golf world pick and choose their events, playing only the majors and the courses and tournaments that suit them, Vijay Singh does what really matters.
He shows up. He gives to the game. He gives to the fans.
He supports the events and its sponsors, both big and small, because he appreciates that he's a drawing card. In short, he repays golf for everything that it has given him.
The Canadian Open field at Angus Glen North was a weak one. Canadian Open fields have been weak for years, whether the event is played in September, when all the golfers are bored, tired and gone home, or in late July, when the Open date is stuck into the middle of two majors -- The Open Championship and the PGA Championship -- and this week's Bridgestone Invitational world golf championship.
Star power? No such thing. Take Furyk and Singh out of Sunday's leaderboard and this is what your remaining top 10 looks like: George McNeil, Ryan Palmer, Bob Heintz, Hunter Mahan, Brandt Snedeker, John Mallinger, Steve Allan and Paul Gow. That's not a PGA Tour leaderboard -- that's the C Flight grouping at the Rockway men's club championships.
Back to Singh. This guy doesn't have to play and grind week in, week out, but he does. Maybe he's chasing some personal golf demons. Maybe he needs to play a gruelling schedule to keep sharp. Maybe he loves the life of a touring pro so much that there is literally nothing else he would rather do.
Singh, a Fijian of Hindu descent, is 44 years old, married, with an 18-year-old son. He's a globetrotter, with 54 wins total for his career (31 of them on the PGA Tour), 19 of them coming since he turned 40, a testament to his work ethic and conditioning.
He's won twice this year -- the Mercedes-Benz and Arnold Palmer events -- and will routinely play 30 to 35 events worldwide each and every year. Woods might play 20 total -- and now, he's a dad, with dad-like responsibilities at the Florida homestead.
The book on Singh is that he is chilly, aloof, and curt. That's probably because pesky writers and broadcasters with memories that are way too long keep reminding him of an alleged scorecard-doctoring incident from his early years -- or the period in which he was banned from the Aussie tour for running up huge debts and then finding himself unable to repay them.
Those days are long gone -- and the Vijay of today is a guy with a warmth in his manner, a sparkle in his eye and a blinding, toothy smile.
This is a guy with three major titles to his name -- the 2000 Masters and the 1998 and 2004 PGA Championships -- and a record that stands tall. He was PGA rookie of the year in 1993 and the top PGA money winner in 2003 and 2004.
He was world No. 1 for 32 weeks in 2004-2005 and, in 2004, he was named the PGA player of the year, while winning the Vardon Trophy for best stroke average and the Byron Nelson award for best adjusted scoring average.
He's a class act. He doesn't deserve his icy reputation.
What he does deserve is respect -- he shows up, he shows up to play and he shows up anywhere and everywhere. He's a golfer who truly works for a living -- and the game is better for his presence.
Record sports editor Al Coates can be reached at acoates@therecord.com
MILLS JUMPS 3 SPOTS IN RANKINGS
One final note on the Canadian Open: When Oshawa's Jon Mills pulled out of the Open early last week, thus allowing Cambridge's Vic Ciesielski and Nanticoke's Brad Fitsch into the event, it was for a very good reason.
Mills decided to skip his national Open to play in a Nationwide Tour event in Omaha because he needed to improve his standing on that circuit in order to work his way back to the PGA Tour, where the big boys hang out.
At that time, Mills was 29th on the Nationwide money-earnings list. The top 25 earn PGA Tour cards for 2008.
Mills is now 26th, thanks to his top-20 showing at the Cox Classic. He went 16-under over four rounds (65-69-69-65) to earn $9,100 US and jump three spots in the rankings. Mills has made $112,438 this season.
-- Coates
Tiger picks only select tourneys, but classy Vijay plays them all
July 31, 2007
AL COATES
RECORD STAFF
There was no drama at the Canadian Open Sunday at Angus Glen North. Jim Furyk saw to that rather nicely, winning in a breeze with a final-round seven-under 64 and a four-round total of 16-under 268.
When Vijay Singh missed a near-impossible tying putt for birdie on 18, the Canadian Open title leapt into Furyk's outstretched mitts for a second straight year. His victory in 2006 came at the much-praised Hamilton Golf and Country Club layout in Ancaster.
The story of the Open -- and this was a tournament largely devoid of compelling stories -- was Hole No. 4, a 205-yard, par-3 sitting duck that was there for the taking throughout all four rounds. Furyk birdied it three times, and aced it in the final round, to play the hole in five-under for four rounds. Singh played it in three-over -- and that was all she wrote.
Furyk is a great ball-striker, a deserving winner -- and a decent guy. Singh is something else. He's the hardest-working man on the PGA Tour, he's obsessed with perfection -- which is why he works out twice a day, hitting 400 or 500 balls on the range between workouts -- and he is the PGA Tour's single best friend.
And this is why: While the Tigers, and the Phils -- and the Davis Love Threes -- of the pro golf world pick and choose their events, playing only the majors and the courses and tournaments that suit them, Vijay Singh does what really matters.
He shows up. He gives to the game. He gives to the fans.
He supports the events and its sponsors, both big and small, because he appreciates that he's a drawing card. In short, he repays golf for everything that it has given him.
The Canadian Open field at Angus Glen North was a weak one. Canadian Open fields have been weak for years, whether the event is played in September, when all the golfers are bored, tired and gone home, or in late July, when the Open date is stuck into the middle of two majors -- The Open Championship and the PGA Championship -- and this week's Bridgestone Invitational world golf championship.
Star power? No such thing. Take Furyk and Singh out of Sunday's leaderboard and this is what your remaining top 10 looks like: George McNeil, Ryan Palmer, Bob Heintz, Hunter Mahan, Brandt Snedeker, John Mallinger, Steve Allan and Paul Gow. That's not a PGA Tour leaderboard -- that's the C Flight grouping at the Rockway men's club championships.
Back to Singh. This guy doesn't have to play and grind week in, week out, but he does. Maybe he's chasing some personal golf demons. Maybe he needs to play a gruelling schedule to keep sharp. Maybe he loves the life of a touring pro so much that there is literally nothing else he would rather do.
Singh, a Fijian of Hindu descent, is 44 years old, married, with an 18-year-old son. He's a globetrotter, with 54 wins total for his career (31 of them on the PGA Tour), 19 of them coming since he turned 40, a testament to his work ethic and conditioning.
He's won twice this year -- the Mercedes-Benz and Arnold Palmer events -- and will routinely play 30 to 35 events worldwide each and every year. Woods might play 20 total -- and now, he's a dad, with dad-like responsibilities at the Florida homestead.
The book on Singh is that he is chilly, aloof, and curt. That's probably because pesky writers and broadcasters with memories that are way too long keep reminding him of an alleged scorecard-doctoring incident from his early years -- or the period in which he was banned from the Aussie tour for running up huge debts and then finding himself unable to repay them.
Those days are long gone -- and the Vijay of today is a guy with a warmth in his manner, a sparkle in his eye and a blinding, toothy smile.
This is a guy with three major titles to his name -- the 2000 Masters and the 1998 and 2004 PGA Championships -- and a record that stands tall. He was PGA rookie of the year in 1993 and the top PGA money winner in 2003 and 2004.
He was world No. 1 for 32 weeks in 2004-2005 and, in 2004, he was named the PGA player of the year, while winning the Vardon Trophy for best stroke average and the Byron Nelson award for best adjusted scoring average.
He's a class act. He doesn't deserve his icy reputation.
What he does deserve is respect -- he shows up, he shows up to play and he shows up anywhere and everywhere. He's a golfer who truly works for a living -- and the game is better for his presence.
Record sports editor Al Coates can be reached at acoates@therecord.com
MILLS JUMPS 3 SPOTS IN RANKINGS
One final note on the Canadian Open: When Oshawa's Jon Mills pulled out of the Open early last week, thus allowing Cambridge's Vic Ciesielski and Nanticoke's Brad Fitsch into the event, it was for a very good reason.
Mills decided to skip his national Open to play in a Nationwide Tour event in Omaha because he needed to improve his standing on that circuit in order to work his way back to the PGA Tour, where the big boys hang out.
At that time, Mills was 29th on the Nationwide money-earnings list. The top 25 earn PGA Tour cards for 2008.
Mills is now 26th, thanks to his top-20 showing at the Cox Classic. He went 16-under over four rounds (65-69-69-65) to earn $9,100 US and jump three spots in the rankings. Mills has made $112,438 this season.
-- Coates
2007-07-31 @ 23:23
And the point of that "comment" is what precisely?
2007-08-01 @ 03:32
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