Gordon on Golf

The Great RBC Canadian Open Quiz – front nine

RBC Canadian Open pin flag (Golf Canada Archive)

The RBC Canadian Open will be played at Glen Abbey Golf Club in Oakville, Ont., from July 20 to 26.

Our national Open, which has a pantheon of legendary champions, will once again feature some of the greatest players in the world.

Not only is the list of champions impressive, so is the championship’s history.

Here’s a chance to test your knowledge about the RBC Canadian Open.

This is the front nine. The second nine will follow.

If you ace all nine questions, you are halfway to the course record. Five out of nine is par. Anything less than that…well, take a mulligan and step up to the next set of tees.

Answers are at the end.

  1. The first RBC Canadian Open was played in …
    1. 1899
    2. 1904
    3. 1932
    4. 1956
    5. 1977
  2. Glen Abbey Golf Club played host to its first RBC Canadian Open in …
    1. 1977
    2. 1978
    3. 1983
    4. 1991
    5. 2000
  3. Lee Trevino was awarded the first Triple Crown (winning the U.S. Open, the Open Championship and the RBC Canadian Open in the same calendar year). Who is the only other man to accomplish that feat? (Bonus point: In what years, respectively, did they do that?)
    1. Greg Norman
    2. Curtis Strange
    3. Nick Price
    4. Mark Calcavecchia
    5. Tiger Woods
  4. Glen Abbey is home not only to one of the finest spectator golf courses in the world, but also to some other notables. Which ones?
    1. Golf Canada
    2. Canadian Golf Museum and Hall of Fame
    3. PGA TOUR Canada
    4. TaylorMade Performance Lab
    5. All of the above
  5. In the 2004 RBC Canadian Open, Mike Weir came oh so close to being the first Canadian in 50 years to win the title. Who was the last Canadian to win our national Open? (Bonus point: Who defeated Weir in the three-hole playoff?)
    1. George Knudson
    2. Moe Norman
    3. Gary Cowan
    4. Pat Fletcher
    5. Stan Leonard
  6. Some players have won more than two RBC Canadian Opens. Who are they?
    1. Leo Diegel
    2. Tommy Armour
    3. Sam Snead
    4. Lee Trevino
    5. All of the above
  7. Glen Abbey Golf Club was Jack Nicklaus’s first solo course design. Although he never won our Open, how many times did he finish as runner-up at Glen Abbey?
    1. One
    2. Two
    3. Three
    4. Five
    5. Seven
  8. In the 2013 RBC Canadian Open at Glen Abbey, Hunter Mahan was leading going into Saturday’s third round. He withdrew because …
    1. He injured his wrist hitting out of the rough
    2. He missed his tee time
    3. His wife was about to deliver their first child
    4. He wanted his friend Brandt Snedeker to win
    5. He was touring the Canadian Golf Museum and Hall of Fame
  9. Tiger Woods has made a couple of appearances at the RBC Canadian Open at Glen Abbey, winning once in a most dramatic fashion. How did he clinch the victory on Sunday? (Bonus point: Who did he edge by a single shot as a result?)
    1. Holed out on 17 for eagle
    2. Aced the par-3 15th
    3. Eagled the par-5 16th
    4. Hit a 216-yard 6-iron from a fairway bunker on 18 for birdie
    5. Won a two-hole playoff

 

Answers below (highlight to see)

  1. b) 1904
  2. a) 1977
  3. e) Tiger Woods won the Triple Crown in 2000. Trevino did it in 1971.
  4. e) All of the above
  5. d) Pat Fletcher. (Bonus point: Vijay Singh defeated Weir in the 2004 playoff.)
  6. e) All of the above. Thirteen other players have won two titles.
  7. e) Nicklaus was a seven-time runner-up in our Open, but only three times at the course he designed: 1981, 1984, 1985.
  8. c) Mahan’s wife gave birth to their daughter the following day in Texas.
  9. d) (Bonus point: Grant Waite)