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We go from Britain to a former British colony this week, as we celebrate the 100th playing of the Canadian Open.
For the second straight year, and for the 25th time overall, Glen Abbey Golf Course will host the event that features a pretty good field for being the week after a major and being on a completely different continent.
Your defending champion will be Chez Reavie, who isn't exactly playing his best golf in 2009 with just two top-25s in the first two events of the season and 11 missed cuts.
Glen Abbey, which is home to the Royal Canadian Golf Association and the Canadian Golf Hall of Fame, is a 7,222-yard, par-71, Jack Nicklaus-designed layout that opened in the year I was born, 1976. It features Bentgrass and Poa Annua fairways and greens, and ranked 33rd in difficulty out of 54 courses last season.
Looking back at the last five times Glen Abbey has hosted this event, dating back to 1998, hitting greens and putting have been key, but interestingly, three of the last four winners have finished in the top 15 in driving distance. The par-5s can also be had, with four of the last five winners finishing 7 under or better on the longer holes.
$200,000 and up
Anthony Kim ($293,500) -- Kim missed the cut last week at Turnberry, but he threw away victory here last year, shooting a final-round 75, and will be out for revenge this time around. He hits the ball plenty far, does very well on par-5s and is second in birdie average. If he can keep his ball in the fairway and avoid the bad score, I love AK's chances here.
Retief Goosen ($290,250) -- Goosen has been racking up the top-10s in Europe recently, and had two nice rounds here last year en route to a T30. Comes in with five straight top-30s on the PGA Tour, but he really needs to figure out what's going wrong on Sunday, as he's averaging 73 over those events.
Steve Marino ($248,000) -- I'm hoping he's over the jet lag and those poor final two rounds at Turnberry that took him out of contention. Marino finished T3 here last year and T15 in 2007 at a different course, so he apparently likes things north of the border. I'm hoping he can find that April/May form that saw him pick up four top-20s in six events. Oh, and he's sixth in par-5 performance.
$100,000-$199,999
Jason Day ($186,250) -- Seems like I'm always leaning towards the same guys in this category, but you have to go with the hot hands in this price range, otherwise it's too much of a crapshoot. Day has 12 of his last 18 rounds in the 60s and opened with a 65 last year before fading away. I think he knows what it takes to succeed on the PGA Tour now and I like his chances if he can capitalize a little more on the par-5s than he has been lately.
Bryce Molder ($183,000) -- Played some nice golf at Turnberry and has been sizzling hot since May. Hasn't played particularly well in three trips to Canada, but has yet to play in this event when it's been held at Glen Abbey. Like Day, just going with the hot hand here.
Graham DeLaet ($140,750) -- Who, you might ask? Well, DeLaet is currently the hottest player on the Canadian Tour with two wins in his past three starts, plus a runner-up and a third this season. OK, so the Canadian Tour isn't the PGA Tour, but when you're hot, you're hot. Oh, and it's fun to root for someone you've never heard of before.
$75,000-$99,999
Greg Chalmers ($88,750) -- Chalmers led for most of the U.S. Bank Championship last week before blowing it on Sunday with a final-round 71. His T15 last week isn't his first foray into the top-25 lately though, as he finished T19 at the Travelers and T16 at the Byron Nelson. Also had back-to-back top-15s at Glen Abbey back in 1999 and 2000.
Robert Garrigus ($75,000) -- He came through for me at the AT&T National with a top-25, and I like his chances here with his great distance off the tee and the fact he eats up par-5s. Oh, and he also has four top-25s in his last five starts. Great bargain at this price.
Spencer Levin ($75,000) -- His name sounds like he should be from Canada for some reason, but I'm picking him here because he finished T7 in Milwaukee last week and T15 at the John Deere. OK, so he did miss nine of his first 14 cuts this season, but it took him a while to get going on the Nationwide Tour last year before he put together 11 top-20s in his final 18 events.
My Fantasy Golf Challenge lineup
Kim, Goosen, Marino, Chalmers, Garrigus
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