My new National Post column, from Monday at the Canadian Open, is in the paper this morning.
It can be found here.
Here’s a taste:
MARKHAM -David Hearn remembers the days when the Canadian Open was a standout tournament on the PGA Tour. As a teenager growing up in Brantford in the mid-1990s, Hearn would regularly head to Glen Abbey Golf Club to watch the likes of Greg Norman and Nick Price compete for the then-prestigious title.
“I think we got spoiled watching Norman and [Jack] Nicklaus,” says Hearn, now competing on the Nationwide Tour but playing in this week’s Canadian Open at Angus Glen Golf Club in Markham.
There is no modern equivalent of Norman or Nicklaus in this year’s field. The best players teeing it up at the Canadian Open — defending champion Jim Furyk, ranked third in the world, and the seventh-ranked Vijay Singh — are great golfers who have won major championships. But they are not Phil Mickelson and Tiger Woods, the type of player that draws the casual golf fan.