w w w .in s id e h a lto n .c o m | OAKVILLE BEAVER | Friday, June 3 0 , 2 0 1 7 | 1 8 Oakville's Glen Abbey Golf Club has hosted 113-year old Canadian Open a record 29 tim es C anada's biggest and oldest golf tou rn am en t, the RBC Canadian O pen, has used Oakville's Glen A bbey Golf C ourse as its h om e base since it opened in 1 9 7 6 . The cou rse w as the first solo design of PG A Tour legend Jack N icklaus and was built by G reat N orthern Capital Corp. devel oper Rod M cIsaac and the Royal Canadian Golf A ssociation (R C G A ) in 1 9 7 6 to be a p erm an en t h om e for the Canadian Open. Though the RCGA (n ow Golf Canada) chose in the m id -1990s to m ove the PGA Tour event around the country, the 2 0 1 7 Open July 2 4 -3 0 will m ark the sixth time in the past 10 years Glen Abbey has been the host. Glen A bbey has been the venue for the event a record 2 9 tim es -- including all but tw o of the O pens from 1 9 7 7 -2 0 0 0 , in an event held annually since 1 9 0 4 (e x c e p t for tw o cancelled during the Second W orld W ar and four during the F irst W orld W ar). Golf C anada's head office has been located on Glen A bbey Golf Club grounds since the cou rse w as con stru cted . The golf cou rse is also h om e to the C anadian G olf Hall of F am e and M useum . m an y C anadian golfers attem p ting to be the first hom egrow n w inner of the O pen since P at F letch er in 1 9 5 4 . A m on g those are tw o w h o earned their first PGA Tour victories this season, w ith A dam H adw in w inning the Valspar C h am pionship in M arch and M ackenzie H ughes taking The RSM Classic last Novem ber. G raham D eLaet is h un gry for his first PGA Tour victory, recen tly recordin g his fifth Top 10 of the season at The M em orial. N ick Taylor, the Sanderson F arm s C h am pionship w in ner in 2 0 1 4 , has three T op -10 finishes this year. David H earn nearly tasted v icto ry at the 2 0 1 5 Open. He held the lead heading into the final roun d at Glen Abbey b u t finished third behind Jaso n Day. Perennial fan favourite and M asters ch am pion M ike W eir is an oth er Canadian w ho will be teeing it up in Oakville before debuting as assistant captain at The Presidents Cup. ClubLink, w h ich owns the Glen Abbey G olf C ourse, sent sh o ck w aves through the golf com m u n ity w h en it an noun ced in 2 0 1 5 th at it w ould be applying for rezoning of the cou rse land to allow redevelopm ent. Last w eek the O ntario M unicipal Board ruled in favour of C lubLink' s developm ent applica tion, giving the Town of Oakville 1 2 0 days to consider and decide on the m erits of the application for rezoning and 1 8 0 days to de cide on the m erits of the application for an Official Plan A m en dm ent to p erm it the co m plete redevelopm ent of the golf course. Oakville resident Lars M elander played in the 1 9 7 9 C anadian O pen at Glen Abbey. "It' s a trem endous cou rse, and it's early in its stage. It only opened in 1 9 7 6 , it' s a rela tively yo u n g cou rse. In 2 5 -3 0 years, the top of the cou rse w h en the trees fully m atu re..., m y go od n ess." B urlington' s Blair H am ilton, a profession al golfer ou t of the U niversity of H ou ston , m ade the cu t in his Canadian Open debut in 2 0 1 5 . David Hearn plays the ball out of the 18th green bunker at the 2015 RBC Canadian Open at Glen Abbey Golf Club. Hearn was at tempting to become the first Canadian to win the tournament since 1954, but had to settle for third as Jason Day went on to win the Open.| Toronto Star file photo by Lucas Oleniuk "T h ere's so m u ch history there. One of (Tiger W oo d s') best shots of all tim e cam e on the 18th hole at Glen A bbey (a 216-y ard six-iron ou t of a bunker and over a pond to all but clin ch the tou rn am en t title). I know the tou r pros w ere raving about i t . .. I love it there. It' s a great golf cou rse, obviously, and it holds great m em ories for m e ." A ccord in g to the Fairw ay Hills C o m m u nity A ssociation, the grounds of Glen Abbey Golf club w ere initially a 3 5 0 -a c re cou n try estate ow ned by Toronto m in in g executive Andre D orfm an, w h o built a stone m ansion th at b ecam e know n as Golf H ouse. T h e To ro n to and H am ilton D iocese of the Society of Jesu s (Jesuits) p urchased the estate from D orfm an in 1 9 5 3 and used it as a m o n as tery and retreat for 10 years, then sold it to Clearstream D evelopm ents. Clearstream p urchased the p rop erty in order to build a golf cou rse, w h ich w as n am ed U pper C ana da C o u n try Club. Melander, w ho m oved from Copenhagen to Oakville in 1 9 5 9 at the age of seven, recalled playing golf on Glen Abbey' s grounds before the current course was even developed. "T h ey absolutely leveled it," he said. "I w ould say the closest thing (betw een the two cou rses) is th at the 16th green now is where the 17th green w as on the old course. "(U pp er C anada C o u n try Club) had four holes dow n in the valley. T h e 10th hole, yo u teed off the hill for a sh o rt par 4 , then there w as a par 5, then you didn't go any further. You cam e b ack on a par 4 and then w en t b ack up the hill," he added, n otin g the old cou rse did n o t exten d n o rth to U pper M iddle Road. M elander said the Canadian Open is one of C anada' s greatest sportin g events and m ean s a lot to the tow n of Oakville. "The C anadian O pen is a huge econ om ic b oost to this tow n, all the restau ran ts and the hotels and the recog n itio n ," he said. "I've travelled all over the w orld playing golf and everyone know s Glen Abbey. It's very fam ous w orldw id e." Celebrating Canada's 150th birthday To help celebrate C anada's 1 5 0 th birth day during cham pionship w eek, the p ar-3, seventh hole at Glen A bbey is being trans form ed into a rink-styled fan exp erien ce, com p lete w ith h ock ey boards, a Zam boni and new rink-side b leachers and view ing decks. V olunteer m arshals on the hole will be ou t fitted in referee u niform s, w hile rin k boards will outline the hole from tee to green, re placing traditional roping. A nd for the second straight year, tou rn a m en t w eek will be officially kicked off w ith the cou rse hosting the RBC C anadian Open 5K G olf Run on Saturday, Ju ly 2 2 , giving par ticipants the op p ortu n ity to com bine their love of ru n nin g and golf. A s for the tou rn am en t itself, there are · This is an updated version o f a story w rit ten by Jon K uiperij in 2015, with files from B eaver reporter N athan Howes. K ID S PLAY jGrgtLF For Free July 1st - 31st E ntire Month Kids under 16 play fo r fr e e when an adult pays a regular priced fe e Good Monday--Friday And a fte r 2:00pm weekends A Holidays K ID S P LAY G ^ > L F YOUTH SOCCER0®®2 Ik OUTDOOR HOUSE LEAGUES AT APPLEBY COLLEGE fr ST. 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