Watch for my interview at 740am Wednesday on www.NextSportsStar.com with RBC Canadian Open Tournament Director Bill Paul..
RBC CANADIAN OPEN TO BOAST STAR POWER OF 2012 US OPEN CHAMPION AND PLAYERS CHAMPION
AMONG HIGH PROFILE FIELD COMPETING AT HAMILTON GOLF & COUNTRY CLUB, JULY 26 - 29, 2012
US Open Champion Webb Simpson and Top Finishers Jim Furyk, Michael Thompson, Ernie Els, Fredrik Jacobsen and Retief Goosen Commit to Play
2012 PLAYERS Champion Matt Kuchar and World #10 Hunter Mahan Join Strong Field for National Open Championship
Oakville, Ont. (Golf Canada) – The forthcoming RBC Canadian Open is building momentum. This year’s field will boast some of the best players in the world, bolstered by freshly minted US Open Champion Webb Simpson among other high profile players who challenged this past weekend at Olympic Club in San Francisco. In addition to Simpson, who is currently the 5th ranked player in the world on the heels of his Major Championship win, Golf Canada and RBC are pleased to report that a number of great names have indicated their intent to play the 2012 RBC Canadian Open.
RBC Canadian Open Tournament Director Bill Paul today released an interim list that currently boasts names featured within the top echelon of the Official World Golf Rankings and the season long FedEx Cup point race. While this year’s host venue has many players excited about playing in Canada, Paul credits the strength of this year’s venue and the support of title sponsor RBC as major factors in the interest being shown for Canada’s National Open Championship. In addition to today’s announcement, Golf Canada is very pleased with the dialogue among high profile players and promises additional names will be released over the next few weeks.
“Five weeks out from the RBC Canadian Open, we are very pleased with how the field is coming together,” said Paul. “Hamilton Golf and Country Club has been one of the most talked about venues on Tour this year and has been a drawing feature for many of the players announced today. The strength of our field is also a testament to the commitment of our partners at RBC in delivering a world-class event experience to Canadian golf fans.”
In addition to the names released today, defending champion Sean O’Hair will be in Hamilton, joined by Canadians Mike Weir, Stephen Ames, Graham DeLaet and David Hearn when the 103rd playing of Canada’s National Open championship kicks off July 23-29. Confirmed players include:
Webb Simpson
- 3-time PGA Tour winner, 1-time major winner (2012 U.S. Open)
- Currently ranked No. 5 in the world and No. 9 on the FedEx Cup points chase
Matt Kuchar
- 4-time PGA Tour winner including 2012 The Players Championship
- Currently ranked No. 7 in the world and No. 7 on the FedEx Cup points chase
Hunter Mahan
- 5-time PGA Tour winner including the 2012 World Golf Championships - Accenture Match Play Championship
- Currently ranked No. 10 in the world and No. 2 on the FedEx Cup points chase
Jim Furyk
- 16-time PGA TOUR winner, and 1-time major winner (2003 U.S. Open)
- 2-time Canadian Open champion (2006 and 2007)
Ernie Els
- 18-time PGA Tour winner and 3-time major winner (1994 and 1997 U.S. Open, 2002 Open Championship)
- Currently ranked No. 39 in the world and No. 27 on the FedEx Cup points chase
Michael Thompson
- Finished T2 at the 2012 U.S. Open
- Currently ranked No. 52 in the world and No. 39 on the FedEx Cup points chase
Fredrik Jacobsen
- 1-time PGA Tour winner (2011 Travelers Championship)
- Currently ranked No. 44 in the world and No. 94 on the FedEx Cup points chase
Retief Goosen
- 7-time PGA Tour winner, and 2-time major winner (2001 and 2004 U.S. Open)
- Currently ranked No. 61 in the world and No. 137 on the FedEx Cup points chase
Canadians Earn Their Way to Hamilton
In addition to those qualifying regionally and players ranked at the top of the Canadian TOUR Order of Merit and Nationwide Tour, a number Canadian hopefuls will look to challenge for the 2012 Championship. Two Canadian amateur golfers have qualified for the field – Team Canada National Squad member Mackenzie Hughes of Dundas, Ont. who earned a spot by winning the 2011 Canadian Men’s Amateur Championship and Rob Couture of Trenton, Ont., who secured a spot thanks to his win at the 2011 Canadian Men’s Mid-Amateur Championship. Look for a complete overview of Canadians in the Field in forthcoming Golf Canada announcements
CHAMPIONS TOUR
The Montreal Championship, in its third year, will have a new venue in 2012. After two years at Club de Golf Fontainebleau, the tournament will be played at La Vallee du Richelieu Golf Club (Vercheres Course), June 18-24. The Champions Tour played the 1999 AT&T Canada Senior Open Championship at the site, but it was contested on the Rouville Course. Jim Ahern won that tournament in a two-hole playoff with Hale Irwin.
Defending champion John Cook is no stranger to defending a title on the Champions Tour. Cook has done it twice, defending his 2007 AT&T Championship in San Antonio a year later and then claiming a second consecutive Charles Schwab Cup Championship in 2010. In addition to his Montreal Championship title in 2011, he was also second to Larry Mize in 2010 and has posted six straight rounds in the 60s.
The Champions Tour currently has two full-time native Canadians on Tour—Rod Spittle and Jim Rutledge. Spittle has a pair of T9 finishes to his credit this year (The ACE Group Classic and the Insperity Championship). Rutledge is currently 50th on the money list, with $105,558. His best showing to date is a T13 at the Insperity Championship. Spittle was T7 in this tournament last year, while Rutledge finished T35 in 2011 and T38 in 2010.
Brad Bryant comes into the Montreal Championship with five top-10 finishes in his last six starts on the Champions Tour, despite battling recent foot problems. Bryant has already earned $472,043 and is likely to surpass his 2011 total ($590,087) sometime this summer.
The PGA TOUR’s Canadian Open has been played at Royal Montreal Golf Club several times over the years, and its list of winners includes some current members of the Champions Tour: Jerry Pate (1976), Bob Gilder (1980) and Steve Jones (1997). In addition to Pate, Gilder and Jones, other former champions in the field include John Cook (1983), Wayne Levi (1990), David Frost (1993), Mark O’Meara (1995), Hal Sutton 1999), Bob Tway (2003) and Mark Calcavecchia (2005).
LPGA
Yani Tseng has decided to skip the Manulife Financial LPGA Classic in Waterloo, Ont., leaving the inaugural tournament without the top player in the women's game.
The Taiwanese star's agent, Ernie Huang, and tournament director Richard Kuypers confirmed Friday that she will not be in the field at Grey Silo Golf Club. The tournament begins June 21.
Huang said Tseng will play in the CVS Caremark Charity Classic on June 18 and 19, then take the rest of the week off. Organized by PGA Tour veterans Brad Faxon and Billy Andrade, the CVS is an exhibition event in Rhode Island that features competitors from the PGA, LPGA and Champions tours.
The 23-year-old Tseng will then begin preparations for the U.S. Women's Open, which begins July 5.
Despite Tseng's absence at the new LPGA tournament in Waterloo, the field is expected to be strong. Six women inside the top 25 of the world ranking -- Ai Miyazato, Suzann Pettersen, Cristie Kerr, Azahara Munoz, Lexi Thompson and Karrie Webb -- committed to play this week, adding to the list of stars that already included Stacy Lewis, Paula Creamer, Michelle Wie and Canadian veteran Lorie Kane. Canada's top-ranked female amateur, Jennifer Kirby of Paris, Ont., said this week she's been invited to play, too.
World No. 2 Na Yeon Choi has not said whether she'll be in Waterloo. Kuypers said the field will be finalized next Tuesday afternoon.
Tseng is a 15-time LPGA Tour winner who has held the world No. 1 ranking for more than a year. She's won three times this year and posted five other top-10 finishes, amassing just shy of a tour-leading $1-million (U.S.).
But her performance of late has been below her lofty standards. She finished outside the top 10 for the first time in 2012 at the ShopRite LPGA Classic last Sunday and opened the Wegmans LPGA Championship, a major, with a four-over-par 76 on Thursday and a 75 Friday to just barely make the cut.
Bryan Angus also on twitter@mummmbles and at www.isr1050.com
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