In 1904, the English golf pro at the Royal Ottawa Golf Club won the inaugural Canadian Open and claimed a $60 purse. He played a round of 36 and shot 156.
In 2010 and again this year, the prize money surpasses $5.1 million. Carl Pettersson banked $918,000 for his victory last summer.
The sport has changed as much as it hasn't. At Shaughnessy Golf and Country Club, the host of the 2011 RBC Canadian Open July 18 to 24, the par 73 course is celebrated for its beauty and timeless quality. Although relatively recently built in 1960 after the private club relocated from Granville Street, Shaughnessy has an ancient feel drawn from the early days of the game.
"It's basically an oldworld course, meaning the greens are quite small and well-bunkered, the fairways are quite narrow and treelined," said Scott Dickson, Shaughnessy's director of golf for the past decade.
He said PGA professionals will be challenged on the 14th tee, which feels long based on its difficulty. A drivable, 315-yard par four, the "risk-reward" hole is known to scorch a golfer or deliver scorecard sweetness. "A player can make a two on a par four or they can walk away with a five."
Â鶹´«Ã½Ó³»golf writer and historian Ted Hunt describes the tee as a temptation that can deliver everything or take it all away. "The short par four 14th. tempts the player with the perfect drive to a birdie opportunity or to a broken dream."
The parkland course, Hunt says, "has that feel of playing through a forest with the hills and gullies so often missing on ordinary courses." Missing elsewhere is the nudity.
Hole No. 10, he explains, "the 470-yard par 4 with a cliff on the left where a hooked drive could land the golfer near Wreck Beach."
Like the 14th, that proposition is high risk with a potential for reward.
