For a few years recently, Canada’s national golf championship was looking like it was going to slip out of bounds and into obscurity.
It was menaced by irrelevancy on one side and indifference on the other. But there is a different vibe around the RBC Canadian Open now. It was palpable Monday at Glen Abbey. Monday at a PGA Tour event is usually quieter than a Lucas Glover press conference. Many of the big-name players are off doing corporate outings, others are grabbing a few hours at home and others are complaining about the colour of their courtesy car. But Glen Abbey had a decent-sized crowd out Monday to check out the players and celebrities in the Mike Weir Charity Classic. Having Canada’s golfing icon have his event on Monday of Canadian Open week is a brilliant strategic move. There were a lot of cameras on the practice tee and not just from the mainstream sports media. The infotainment outlets were there to get sound bites from Oscar-winner Kevin Costner, his Airness, Michael Jordan, and Thomas Gibson of the TV show Criminal Minds. The presence of those personalities could serve to raise awareness among casual and non-sports fans about the presence of the Open.
Hockey was represented by Martin Brodeur of the New Jersey Devils, Luke Schenn of the Toronto Maple Leafs and Joe Thornton of the San Jose Sharks.