Oakville Newspapers

Oakville Beaver, 15 Jul 2016, p. 26

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www.insideHALTON.com | OAKVILLE BEAVER | Friday, July 15, 2016 | 26 Inaugural RBC Canadian Open 5K set for tomorrow at Glen Abbey Golf Club The inaugural RBC Canadian Open 5K will be held tomorrow (Saturday) at the Glen Abbey Golf Club. Hundreds of runners are expected to take part in the event. Online registration closed Wednesday. Race-kit pickup is scheduled for today (Friday) from 2-8 p.m. at Sixteen Mile Sports Complex's upper level concourse at 3070 Neyagawa Blvd. In person registration is open until 8 p.m. Participants must attend to pick up their event T-shirt and runner's bib, which is needed for the actual race. CLIF Bar and Running Room vendors will offer their latest products. In-person registration is also available until race day on Saturday at 9 a.m. providing the event has not sold out. The race is scheduled to start at 9 a.m. Free parking for participants and spectators is available at the Oakville GO Station at 214 Cross Ave. There is no parking available at Glen Abbey Golf Club. For ease of access to the shuttle buses, participants and spectators are asked to enter the Oakville GO parking lot via Cross Avenue and park on the north side of the train tracks. Shuttles will be running from Oakville GO to Glen Abbey Golf Club from 7 a.m. on a fill-and-go basis. The last shuttle bus will be leaving for Glen Abbey Golf Club at 8:15 a.m. and the last shuttle bus returning from Glen Abbey to the GO station will leave at noon. A free bike corral will be at the corner of Dorval Drive and Old Abbey Lane. It will be open and staffed for the 5K beginning at 7 a.m. Runners and walkers will travel approximately 5.2 kilometres from start to finish, experiencing a PGA Tour Championship-ready golf course, before finishing alongside the 18th green. The route is flat and is run 100 per cent along the cart paths. After participants cross the finish line and receive their medals, they will also enter into the post-race refreshments line, featuring water, CLIF Bars, PitaBreak pitas and bananas courtesy of Organic Garage. Participants and spectators are welcome to attend the post-race party at the Molson Canadian 67 19th Hole Beer Garden about 300 metres from the finish line. The third round of the British Open will be on big-screen TVs. Canadian Olympic golfers to be honoured at Glen Abbey It's been a 112-year wait for Canada to defend its Olympic title, and on Tuesday Golf Canada will celebrate the golfers charged with the task. As part of the opening ceremony for the RBC Canadian Open, the Canadian Olympic golf team will be introduced. David Hearn and Graham DeLaet of the men's team and Alena Sharp of the women's team will be at Glen Abbey while Brooke Henderson will join by satellite from Calgary. Canadian chef-de-mission Curt Harnett will present the players with their Canadian Olympic jackets. Scott Russell of the CBC will host a question-and-answer session with the four Olympic golfers. There will also be a flyover of a military H13 Hercules Transport. Canada has held the Olympic golf title since George S. Lyon won in 1904 in St. Louis. That was the last time golf was part of the Olympics, which welcomed the sport back for this summer's Games in Rio. The opening ceremonies and Olympic team celebration begin at 11 a.m. in the ZTE Spectator Village. Spectators are invited to join the celebration. Admission is free. Directions and parking for spectators can be found at bit.ly/29Bbgfv. Jason Day defending RBC Canadian Open title in a strong field Jason Day will be back to defend his title at the RBC Canadian Open next week, but he'll have to contend with the hottest golfer on the planet if he's to become the first back-to-back winner at Glen Abbey. Day is the No. 1 ranked golfer in the world but Dustin Johnson has closed the gap with two victories in the last two months, including his first major title at the U.S. Open. Johnson also won at the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational earlier this month, propelling him to No. 2 in the world rankings. The last back-to-back winner of the Canadian Open will also be in Oakville next week looking for his third title. Jim Furyk won in 2006 and 2007, but neither of those triumphs came at Glen Abbey. Furyk posted one-stroke victories at the Hamilton Golf and Country Club and a year later at Angus Glen. Brandt Snedeker, who won the 2013 tournament at Glen Abbey, is back in the field. Matt Kuchar, who will represent the U.S. at the Olympics, will also be at Glen Abbey. The seven-time winner on the PGA Tour is currently ranked 15th in the world. Others in the field include World Golf Hall of Famer and four-time major champ Ernie Els, Ryan Palmer, Graeme McDowell and Masters low amateur Bryson DeChambeau. Leading the contingent of Canadian golfers is David Hearn, who led going into the round of last year's tournament. He was looking to become the first Canadian Jason Day hopes to replay this scene as he returns to defend his Canadian Open title in a field that includes Dustin Johnson, Matt Kuchar and Canadian David Hearn, who finished third last year. | Beaver file photo Canadian David Hearn high-fives fans on the 17th fairway during last year's RBC Canadian Open. The Canadian Olympic golfing team, including Hearn, will be honoured Tuesday. | Beaver file photo champion since Pat Fletcher in 1954. However, he had to settle for third after a late run of birdies by Day and Bubba Watson. Hearn is enjoying a strong season with six top-20 finishes so far. Hearn's Canadian Olympic teammate Graham DeLaet will also be looking to end the drought of Canadian champions. Mike Weir, the runner-up in 2004, will be playing in his 25th Canadian Open. Burlington's Blair Hamilton, the second-ranked amateur in Canada, is back for the second year in a row. Hamilton finished tied for the low amateur in his PGA Tour debut last year. Other Canadians in field include Adam Hadwin, Nick Taylor, Brad Fritsch, Jared du Toit, Hugo Bernard, Garrett Rank, Dave Levesque and Branson Ferrier. Admission is free all week for anyone 17 and under. Hinchcliffe knows impact drivers can have on fans continued from p. 25 As a young go-kart racer, he came to the Toronto Indy in awe of Greg Moore. "He embodied everything you would want," Hinchcliffe said of the driver who was killed in a race in 1999. "He was the stereotypical Canadian, polite, respectful, but when he put his helmet on, he was a bad (in a good way), fast racing driver." Riding the train with Hinchcliffe Wednesday afternoon was 12-year-old Myles Morgan, who was heading down to Toronto with his mom, Melanie, to check out their seats for Sunday's race. Morgan, who has been racing go-karts for five years and has built up an eight-driver team -- the Fast Myles Racing Team -- has been watching Formula 1 and IndyCar races since he was four years old. And his favourite driver? "He is," he says, nodding toward Hinchcliffe, standing just a few feet away. Hinchcliffe is proud of the way things have come full circle, and having been that kid having his hat autographed by his hero, it's a responsibility he doesn't take lightly. "It's a huge honour," he said. "Just knowing the impact of what you say and do can have, it's kind of surreal, because that used to be me with the Sharpie."

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