Graham DeLaet of Canada tees off the 1st hole during the first round of the Reno-Tahoe Open held at the Montreux Golf and Country Club on July 15, in Reno Nevada. (Photo by Marc Feldman/Getty Images)Marc Feldman/Getty Images
Graham DeLaet is one of Canada's top golfers and is destined to be mentioned in the same breath as 2003 Masters champ Mike Weir.
But DeLaet isn't a tour-hardened veteran. He's a 28-year-old rookie on the PGA Tour, cutting his teeth at his first Canadian Open championship at St. George's Country Club this week.
The native of Weyburn, Sask., who once coveted a career as a pro hockey player will be bombarded at every turn with the question of whether he will be the first Canadian to win the national open since Pat Fletcher in 1954.
"It's fair," DeLaet said when asked if hero worship as a local looms as an unwelcome burden.
"All Canadians should be out there rooting for their countrymen. It'd be wrong not to."
DeLaet has made nine of 19 cuts this season. Last week, he had a mercurial Reno-Tahoe tournament - an ordinary first round of 70 was followed by a second round 76 that almost caused him to be cut. Then a third-round 62 put him on the leaderboard before he blew up in the fourth round with a 78 to finish 31st. The payday of $18,888 (all figures U.S.) put him at $578,288 for the year and, he figures, one good paycheque away from retaining his Tour card.
"I take a lot of positives out of it," he said. "I was in the hunt and had my first low score of the year. I feel bad about Sunday but good about my game.
"I go into every tournament trying to win, but this is a bit more of an exciting week. I've been looking forward to this all year. I'm somewhat familiar with St. George's. I never played it set up with rough and slick greens like it will be for this week, but every time I've been in Toronto in past four or five years, I've made a point of playing it. As a rookie on tour, every course is new to me this year, so this is one I've actually played."
He says the draw for playing partners won't affect him.
"You go with whomever you get, although it would be nice with another Canadian," DeLaet said. "But when it comes down to it, all that really matters is that you want to play late Saturday and Sunday.
"I'm still looking for a win, so any win would be important, but to win here, in the national championship, is as special as it could be. If it's not a major, this is right up there."
Weir has felt the pressure trying to win at home. Four years ago, he had an eight-foot putt on the 18th green at Glen Abbey that might have made him the first homebrew winner in more than 50 years. He missed and eventually lost a three-hole playoff to Fiji's Vijay Singh.
Weir, of Bright's Grove, Ont., and Calgary's Stephen Ames lead a field of almost 30 Canadians into the Open.