By Dave Shedloski
PGATOUR.COM Senior Correspondent
The third oldest stop on the PGA TOUR and the third oldest national championship in golf, the Bell Canadian Open celebrates its 100th anniversary this week with a return to familiar (sort of) stomping grounds, the Jack Nicklaus-designed Glen Abbey Golf Club.
Nicklaus designed Glen Abbey, located in Oakville, Ontario, in 1976. It hosts its 23rd Canadian Open, but it isn't the same course that Tiger Woods blistered for a 22-under-par 266 total in 2000. It's not going to be the same course where that same year 68 players shot par or better. A national open of such tradition and prestige should be more resistant to scoring, like it was in 1978 when only two players were able to at least equal par.
With that in mind, the Royal Canadian Golf Association was only too happy to see Glen Abbey given a significant facelift. The layout is about 100 yards longer, playing 7,222 yards, and it has been knocked down to a par-71 configuration with the 16th hole converted from a par-5 to a par-4.
"Glen Abbey was an antique," Peter Kinch, the course superintendent, said not long ago. "It was overdue for a facelift."
Just three holes were left unchanged in the renovation. Some of the alterations are cosmetic and related strictly to course setup. Nearly every landing area has been narrowed to an average width of 26 yards and the rough has been allowed to grow to 5 inches, an inch more than four years ago.
Most of the extra yardage was added on the back nine. The par-5 13th is 30 yards longer and a nasty collection area has been restored behind the green. The 16th, in addition to being changed to a 485-yard par-4, features a new and penal pot bunker protecting the right side of the green. The home hole is 9 yards longer with a new fairway bunker beyond the existing two on the right side.
A hard-to-come-by combination of power, patience and precision should be rewarded. A complete test awaits a stellar field.
The TOUR Insider's top five selections for the Bell Canadian Open:
• Vijay Singh: Obviously more than capable of embellishing his glossy season record and moving closer to adding a third straight win in the Fall Finish presented by PricewaterhouseCoopers. To not pick the stingingly hot Singh, who was sixth the last two years in Canada, is like not picking a cat to load up at a mouse buffet.
• Stewart Cink: The PGA TOUR putting leader played just fine in his last outing on a par-70 layout with thick rough (Firestone Country Club). Cink is playing in just his third Bell Canadian Open, and he has never played Glen Abbey.
• Robert Allenby: Consistent Aussie tends to go unnoticed, but he has navigated difficult courses quite well (including joint ninth in his last two events, the PGA Championship at the World Golf Championships-NEC Invitational). Like Cink, Allenby has only two previous starts in Canada and neither was Glen Abbey.
• Greg Chalmers: Another Aussie, who has a pair of fourth-place finishes at the Bell Canadian Open, including the 2000 edition at Glen Abbey. Three of his four starts north of the border have been in the top 15. Chalmers ranks second in putts per round, but has to hit better than 60 percent of his fairways (he's finding 59.4 percent, 149th on TOUR in driving accuracy) to make a well-needed big check.
• Justin Leonard: His three top-six finishes in Canada includes joint third at Glen Abbey in 1999. Texan's level of play has improved in recent months (see joint second at the PGA Championship), and long narrow courses don't seem to bother him.
