U. S. Open
Well the U. S. Open starts today at Torrey Pines and watching a little about the course it is as tough as usual. I have never experience playing in a U. S. Open yet but they do make the courses very tough. It is the ultimate test of patience and will as most of these guys playing are use to shooting under par and there won’t be many scores there this week. Tiger Woods won the regular PGA event there earlier this year shooting 19 under par. Watch as see what the winning score is this week.
I looked through the draw and we have 7 Canadians in the field. That is most impressive and it bugs me when I often hear of what is wrong with Canadian golf. I think it is fine and having 7 players in the field is very strong. The seven players are David Hearn, Yohann Benson, Jonathan Mills, Nick Taylor, Mike Weir, Stephen Ames and Ian Leggatt. Just playing in the U.S. Open is quite an accomplishment as this year there were over 8300 applicants who tried to qualify. If you haven’t heard of all the players I mentioned then join the club. I had to Google two of them to find out about them.
David Hearn is a fine young player out of the Brantford area and has enjoyed success on the Nationwide Tour and a brief stint on the PGA Tour. I think he will be back on the big tour as is a fine young player. Next we have Yohann Benson. This was one of the googles and what I found was he was born in Montreal, Quebec. As I said just to qualify means he must have game. Jonathan Mills is another star on the rise as he is on the PGA tour for the second time and I believe he will be there to stay. He is having a fairly good year and has tremendous talent. His father is the head of the Golf Association of Ontario, David Mills and his commitment to golf is a reflection of his son’s success. Nick Taylor was the other googled one and after doing that I realized that he is had a great career so far. He is an amateur and presently attending the University of Washington. He won the Canadian Junior in 2006 and the Canadian Amateur in 2007. Both of those show he has what it take to compete at the highest level.
Mike Weir is next and should need no introduction. He is basically the face of Canadian golf and I believe a superstar. It bugs me when I hear what is wrong with Mike Weir but anybody that knows golf should realize how difficult it is to keep winning. He won again at the end of last year and is having a solid season so far. It wouldn’t surprise me to see him win more majors. Stephen Ames is next and I respect his game but not him. Anyone who calls Hamilton or any city for that matter a sh#t town has some how gotten his perspective off to say the least. Last we have Ian Leggatt and another great Canadian golfer. Anyone who has won on the PGA tour in my mind is a great player. I still think he has it in him to compete at a world class level. I have a personal interest as every year when I take my juniors to compete provincially I work with his mother Joyce who is a wonderful lady. She runs the Ian Leggatt junior tour in the Cambridge area. It is no wonder he has had success based on her support and dedication to junior golf as well as his support of junior golf.
Hats off to all the Canadians in the field and go get them boys!
