2007 Bell Canadian Open - Date Change

[TpBoomer]

Yep, it's official. July 26-29. Angus Glen. I'm liking the new date myself.

[noback]

Yep, it's official. July 26-29. Angus Glen. I'm liking the new date myself.Not liking it all. The week following the British Open:mad: Gonna be lots of no shows for sure. Too bad because this used to be the fifth Major, and now it's a "fill in" tournament:(

[TpBoomer]

We get a lot of no-shows now. What's the diff? At least we know the weather will be better.

[sharkhark]

It is not a great date being after the british, and just before world match play. But it is better.

All the pros avoided it in sept as season winded down and we are not a big fish with any say. So is it worse or better. ITs better.

Middle of summer, in the middle of all this new points system crap, at least some will come.
Last yr only 4 of top 20 came. Not top 10 but top 20!!
IT can only improve.

Better also for getting volunteer, some are students who cant commit in sept.

I'm a glass half full kinda guy.

Cheers, Shark:$

[EDSGolf]

I like the new date, can't get worse than previous years!!!

[Golfbum]

The 2007 date for the BCO is better. That is the first of 10 tournaments that will count towards the Nascar style finish the PGA has proposed.

Hopefully it will draw some of the bigger names. Everyone agrees it can not be any worse than the old date.

[going4broke]

one huge change... CBS will be carrying it. That will increase the TV audience big time.


G4B

[Section ThirtyOne]

one huge change... CBS will be carrying it. That will increase the TV audience big time.


G4BNo more Rod Black, yessssssss! :rofl:

[fireice]

CBS covering it will be better. Having it in July your probably going to get better weather a definite plus. It will be interesting to see who will play it considering they only had 4 of the top 20 on the money list last year. We can only wait.

[SnoopyGolf]

While I think the date is not the best, it could be after the FedEx Cup, which would be worse. These are the tournaments that the bottom players will be playing to try and get their PGA Tour cards and which none of the top 20 players will probably play. Here's todays Toronto Star article from Dave Perkins.



PGA disses Canadian Open once again
Tough to get decent field with this date
Jan. 14, 2006. 12:00 AM
DAVE PERKINS (http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Render&c=Page&cid=968867503640&ce=Columnist&colid=980457778208)


Well, it could be worse. Somehow.

The 2007 Canadian Open golf tournament has about the ugliest summer date possible, four days after the British Open, the week before the World Golf Championships Bridgestone event and two weeks out from the PGA Championship.

That is three must-play events for the world's top players and how many of them are going to play four weeks in a row, with a major in that fourth week? Very few of them, that's how many.

The saddest part of this latest slug in the jaw to our national open championship — which is more than 100 years old, if that matters — is that the Royal Canadian Golf Association, its proprietor, apparently stood there cap in hand and accepted what was handed out by the PGA Tour. Didn't even get to ask for the Canada Day weekend.

"I'd like to say there was a negotiation, but there wasn't," Stephen Ross, executive director of the RCGA, said yesterday, while lauding the Open's return to a summer date.

At least it avoided being lumped among the end-of-season filler events that the PGA Tour, bowing to Tiger Woods and other overprivileged stars, has sliced itself into. The way it will stand, 37 tournaments will lead to something called the FedEx Cup. (This, by the way, is a NASCAR knockoff from an organization that clearly has NASCAR on the brain as a marketing inspiration.)

After the FedEx Cup, of which the top players will speak nicely but won't really give a hoot, will come the Tour Championship in September, then six or seven no-star events for the bottom-feeders trying to keep their playing cards for next year.

So, again, at least the Canadian Open didn't get pygmied to that level. But it has been reduced again and we should be getting used to it by now. The PGA Tour clearly still doesn't give a damn about the Canadian Open. The past few years, it slid the Deutsche Bank tournament in front of it, then let that Boston-based event finish on the Labour Day Monday. Why? Chiefly because it was Tiger's tournament and the Tour would never, ever cross its biggest star.

PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem, playing along with Ross on the telephone, said, "This is what was available," when speaking of dates and said, "We're comfortable we'll have a credible field."

Both he and Ross said all the top stars might play a bunch of tournaments in a row — yeah, sure — and that, "I don't think you can properly conclude what player behaviour will be until after the fact."

Then, of course, they do exactly that by suggesting top golfers will be so hopped-up about the FedEx Cup that they'll be panting to play every single week "to seed themselves" for the end-of-season championships.

There are other points to consider in assessing this damage. For starters, this may well chase Bell Canada out of the title sponsor's role and who could blame it? Ross said there have been no discussions yet about retaining title sponsorship; rumbles suggest Bell would prefer a minor position.

The Open is scheduled for Angus Glen North in 2007, a course that wrongly or rightly received such poor word of mouth that Angus Glen's people hired Davis Love III to make some strengthening changes. He will do a good job, but the damage has already been done. The back-burner alternative is Glen Abbey, but both Ross and Finchem reaffirmed Angus Glen's intentions to play host, based on extensive renovations.

The post-British Open date, which is as permanent as these things get — the new TV contract is six years long — would seem to preclude going west with the tournament. Ross and Finchem apparently blithely expect players to fly 4,000 miles back from Britain, so it's no surprise they figure there's no problem going those extra few thousand miles out to Western Canada.

None of it is really new, this minimizing of the Canadian Open by the PGA Tour. But it's sure getting old.

[Greywolf]

I like the change back to July, it was in early July for many years. September was not good since many players seem to be winding down their seasons at that time. The week after the Open championship will mean some no shows but that happens!