Canadian Open

Fantasy Fix

We discuss a small country's big production, the Hanson brothers, America's strong showing abroad, and of course, this week's PGA Tour event

The stretching didn't work for Matt Kuchar in England, but hopefully he'll be loose in Canada.

Canadian Open

Where: Vancouver, B.C., Canada

Course: Shaughnessy Golf & Country Club

Defending champion: Carried by a third-round 60, Carl Pettersson picked up his fourth PGA Tour title by a shot over Dean Wilson.

Purse: $5,200,000

This Week's Fix Six

1. Matt Kuchar
2. Rickie Fowler
3. Anthony Kim
4. Geoff Ogilvy
5. Ryan Moore
6. Charl Schwartzel

By Alex Myers

Follow on Twitter: @AlexMyers3

Photo by Getty Images

July 19, 2011

Welcome to another edition of Fantasy Fix, where we're contemplating moving to Northern Ireland in hopes of capturing our first major. It's amazing that a place so small could produce three people so good at something in such a short time. Then again, Tulsa did give the world of pop rock all three Hanson brothers. With the third major in the books, MMM-Bop we go to the next event, where hopefully, we'll find a little more success.

ON TAP

The PGA Tour heads north of the border for the RBC Canadian Open. For many years, this was considered a big-time event, but more recently it's known as the site where Tiger Woods hit one of the greatest fairway bunker shots of all-time in 2000 to win his third "Open" of the year. Also, for the last decade, the tournament has played a game of musical chairs with its venues, so be careful when looking at players' track records. This year, it will be played at Shaughnessy Golf & Country Club for a fourth time, the last of which was in 2005 when Mark Calcavecchia won.

Random tournament fact: Jack Nicklaus, AKA "O(fer) Canada", never won this event despite finishing runner-up a record seven times. How bad was it for the Golden Bear? He couldn't even win it after tournament officials let him design a course for it -- Glen Abbey -- which opened in 1976.

THE DEFENDER

Carl Pettersson. Last year, the Swede made the cut on the number, but boy was he glad he stuck around for the weekend. After firing a third-round 60, Pettersson shot a Sunday 67 to hold off Dean Wilson by a stroke. That victory, however, came at St. George's (not to be confused with Royal St. George's). This time he's back at a course he's never played, making him a total toss up.

STUD OF THE WEEK

Matt Kuchar. Sure, he's probably only here because RBC is a sponsor (In fact, as John Strege points out, that's a big reason for such a good field), but that doesn't mean Mr. Consistent -- until last week -- won't be trying to win. Speaking of which, how is it possible that he hasn't won yet in 2011? That can't continue much longer.

HOW ABOUT THOSE YANKS?

So much has been talked about the demise of American golf, but at the Open Championship, despite another foreign winner emerging, there were plenty of strong showings by U.S. players. Here are three we like to continue the momentum into this week:

Anthony Kim. It's about time, AK! Kim, everybody's favorite young gun early in 2010, played his best golf since having thumb surgery last year. Another RBC guy, he has played well in Canada with top 10s in his only two trips, including a T-3 in 2009.

Rickie Fowler. While we're still waiting for that first PGA Tour title, the 22-year old appears to be getting closer. He played in the final group at the AT&T National and then contended for the first time in a major at the Open, finishing T-5.

Lucas Glover. The Beard struggled to scores of 73 and 74 over the weekend at the Open. But his T-12 to go with his win at Wachovia shows that more titles should be in his future -- even if a razor isn't.

THANKS FOR NOTHING AWARD

The L&L Boys. Last week's British Open was supposed to be the site of either Luke Donald or Lee Westwood's first major championship. We were duped. Instead, neither of the top two players in the world even made it to the weekend playing in front of their home fans. This week, Donald, who is sponsored by RBC, is in the field. He finished third in this event last year, but more importantly, since it's not a major (unless you're Mike Weir), you can probably count on him contending.

FAN MAIL BREAK

"Hey, Alex. Hope all is well. I just wanted to hear your thoughts on my announcing performance during the Open. I thought you'd appreciate my honesty, especially when declaring Phil Mickelson might be the worst short putter that ends up in the Hall of Fame. Zing! Get it? Anyway, take care, Paul Azinger."

Paul, thanks for the email, and yes I did enjoy hearing your opinions during ESPN's coverage. One beef. Enough with talking about the 2008 Ryder Cup. We get it, you won as captain. It didn't help that J.B. Holmes and Boo Weekley morphed into Nicklaus and Palmer for a week or anything... No, Zinger didn't write me, but that doesn't mean you shouldn't. Please feel free to e-mail me with comments, questions or just to make fun of my picks. And of course, you can follow me on Twitter.