Mike Weir
21 YEARS AND COUNTING: For much of the last decade, Mike Weir has been the face of Canadian golf. Every time the Canadian Open would roll around, Weir would be asked if this was the year Pat Fletcher's name would be replaced in the record books as the most recent Canadian to win his national championship. This year, however, it's a different story. Weir comes into the tournament (his 21st career appearance at the event) struggling just to make the weekend cut these days and there are a handful of other Canadian players drawing attention away from the 2003 Masters champion. Weir says even if the spotlight has shifted away from him somewhat, he still comes with the same expectations.
"I'm excited to see some of the younger guys playing better, and have a few more guys get in there with a chance to win," he said following his pro-am on Wednesday. "For myself, I haven't had great success on the golf course, but at the same time, you get here and I kind of prepare that if I can get some momentum and have great crowd support behind me, hopefully it will turn into something good."
"I have great memories here in this city. I won my first Canadian Tour event right up the road in Richmond, and my first PGA Tour event was in Surrey. So I love the city, love the area, great golf fans here. It's a great golfing province."
"It's a great golf course as well. Probably the toughest set-up we've seen so far this year of any Tour event. So it's a real championship feel, national championship feel."
While results of the pro-am should be taken with a grain of salt, it should be noted that Weir hit just 5 of 14 fairways on Wednesday. He'll have to improve on that if he hopes to make just his third cut of the year. -- Golf Canada
---
THE DONALD: Luke Donald is making his third straight appearance at the RBC Canadian Open this year (he actually made his first professional cut at the 2001 Canadian Open in Montreal). Part of the reason is his deal with title sponsor RBC but Donald also insisted Wednesday that Shaughnessy also played a part in his - and many other players decision - to play this year.
"It's a very good classic golf course," said Donald. "I think there are a lot of these in Canada. Played one last year (St. George's in Toronto) and I believe next year's at Hamilton which is another one."
Donald is also the first number one ranked player in the world to play at the Canadian Open since Vijay Singh held the honour back in 2004. The Englishman says he pressure of holding on to the top spot in the world rankings is not something he focuses on week-in and week-out.
"Since being number one, I've been able to hold on to it for a number of weeks now," said Donald. "It's nice to be world ranked number one but the focus for me is always the same - to continually try to improve every aspect of my game a little bit each day and continue to get better and continue to put myself in position to win tournaments." -- Golf Canada
---
LORNE RUBENSTEIN: David Hearn was working with his coach Ralph Bauer on the putting green Wednesday morning when he stopped for a brief chat. The 32-year-old Canadian has been "there or thereabouts" as British pundits might say. He's made 12 of 17 cuts this year and has put himself into good position heading into the weekend on numerous occasions. His best finish is a T-6 at the Shell Houston Open in early April, which earned him nearly half of the $417,594 (USD) that he's made this year. But for the most part, he's slipped on the weekends.
"I feel like I'm playing well," Hearn said, "but I haven't had those good weekends yet."
Hearn has made the last five cuts in a row, but has finished between 38th and 64th place. His last three weekends show the following scores: 69-73 last weekend at the Viking Classic, 71-75 at the John Deere Classic, and 73-72 at the AT&T National. Hearn expects better of himself, and because he's usually an accurate driver, this could be a good week for him. The golfer who keeps the ball out of the rough will have a much bigger advantage over golfers who don't at Vancouver's Shaughnessy Golf and Country Club. The rough is so dense and wet - even though it was cut before Wednesday's pro-am - that players who stray from the fairway will often have to wedge out back to the fairway, or take a mighty slash with another club. They still won't be able to reach the greens for the most part.
"I'll keep playing," Hearn said of his schedule. "I'm on the bubble with the FedEx."
He's 131st on the FedEx Cup points list. The top 125 get into the lucrative fall playoff series.
---