In the lead up to the Canadian Open this weekend in Toronto, there were distinct things that the tournament organizers could boast about and distinct things that really need to be changed in order for it to become a premier event on the PGA Tour.
After the first couple of days, it’s clear that no matter what they do well, if they can’t change the date on the calendar or bring in the kind of money that attracts better players, the tournament will be looked upon much closer with the likes of the Fry’s.com Open as opposed to the British Open.
First off, I’ll give them credit for getting as good of a field as they did as the organizers did everything possible to get British Open players to add the Canadian Open right after. Having a private charter from St. Andrews to St. George’s in Toronto certainly helps and I’m sure they’ve done a bunch of other things that haven’t been talked about publicly or haven’t got a lot of attention.
The problem is that the players they’re getting from the British Open have struggled in the first two days, which leads me to believe that they’re either mentally or physically fatigued. Tim Clark is the leader after Friday’s 2nd round and he played at the British Open, but he missed the cut and hadn’t played a competitive round since last Friday.
On my count, of the top 30 players after Round 2 of the Canadian Open, only 7 of those players played last week at the British Open. Out of those 7 players, only 4 made the cut this week and last week. So, it’s great that the organizers of the Canadian Open were able to get those guys to come across the pond to play a week later, but it’s doing the organizers no good when the big names can’t get in a position to be in contention.
Having a top name on the leader-board would go a long way into giving the tournament some legitimacy on tour. Yes, I know that the tournament has been contested for a century or so and has a lot of history, but players that are setting their schedule for the upcoming PGA season aren’t picking their tournaments based on history. They want to be in tournaments that give them a good payday and some legitimacy if they win.
The payday isn’t even very good compared to most tournaments on the tour, but that problem can be solved if they can build up the prestige and importance of the tournament. Build it up and sponsors will be more likely to be knocking on the door looking for a way to affiliate with the tournament, which will lead to a bigger payday.
But with the way things are going, it’s just going to stay at the plateau that it’s at now because it’s looked upon as a tournament that is important to Canadians, but a blip on the radar of the rest of the world.