2015 Quicken Loans National Picks

This week the PGA Tour stops off in Gainesville, Virginia for the Quicken Loans National. The tournament is being held at Robert Trent Jones Golf Club for the first time this year and is hosted by Tiger Woods, with benefits going to his charity, the Tiger Woods Foundation. This is a relatively new tournament on the PGA Tour schedule, having first been played in 2007 (when it was known as the AT&T National).

The Quicken Loans National is one of the more unique tournaments played by the pros, due to it's "invitational" status; a designation given to only five tournaments on tour. What this means is that the field is usually smaller and a greater variety of players usually participate in it; it doesn't follow the normal PGA Tour Priority Ranking System that designates who can play in a tournament.

Robert Trent Jones Golf Club was designed by course namesake and iconic golf course architect Robert Trent Jones and opened in 1991. It's said that the famous architect often refered to this course as "my masterpiece" which really speaks for itself, given the numerous courses Jones has designed/redesigned over the years (Spyglass Hill, Augusta National, Olympic Club, Firestone (which will host the WGC Bridgestone Invitational next week)). It's also been a Presidents Cup favourite; having hosted the event in 1994 (it's inaugural year), 1996, 2000, and 2005. As of today, it stretches to about 7,425 yards and plays as a par 72.

Given the invitational status of a tournament, the field this week is unique and so are our picks:

1) Jimmy Walker
2) Cameron Tringale
3) Tony Finau

Walker's been a bit quiet since his T2 finish at the HP Byron Nelson in May, but he may make some noise this week. Tringale has also been pretty quiet. And Finau is our dark horse pick, who could do damage with his colossal distance. Also, since this is the first time the tournament has been played at Robert Trent Jones' course, the field should be pretty even this year I think.

Stay tuned for our weekend post on Friday to see who's leading halfway through.


-Nick
Toronto Golf Reviews

 Jimmie Walker is our top pick this week

Woodington Lake Golf Club - The Legacy Course Review #1

Name: Woodington Lake Golf Club - The Legacy Course
Location: Tottenham, Ontario (~1 hour northwest of Toronto)
Type: Public with membership options
Holes: 18 (36 including Woodington Lake's Legend Course)
Length and Par: 5173-7606 yards / 72
Tees: (Shortest to Longest): Red, White, Blue, Green, Gold
Website: www.woodingtonlake.com/golf

"The newest addition to Woodington Lake is the Legacy Course. Dramatically different from the Legend, it is bound for greatness and will leave a lasting impression. The wide open course is a true mix of Links and Stadium styles. However, it's the course's water hazards that make it truly challenging. Complimented by huge, fast and undulating greens, the Legacy offers five sets of tee decks measuring from 5140 yards from the front tees to an eye opening 7606 yards from the championship tees. With a maximum course rating of 76.9 and a slope of 146, it's the Legacy's boldness that keeps golfers of every skill coming back for more." -www.woodingtonlake.com

Course Layout:
Pace of Play:
Staff:
Value:
Course Conditions:

Price:
Difficulty: << Based on play from Gold Tees

Overall Rating: 4.8 out of 5

Woodington Lake Golf Club is an excellent golf facility designed for higher-end yet affordable golf and is one of the hidden gems of the GTA golf scene. Located on the rolling hills west of Tottenham, Woodington Lake offers all you'd ever want from a golf course, including a large clubhouse, excellent food services, a driving range and practice facilities, and a great 19th hole lounge. The staff is also some of the friendliest I've ever seen on a golf course and always accommodating to the player. It's also worth noting that the atmosphere around the clubhouse is relaxed and low-key, even during busy times. These are all things that put you in the right frame of mind needed before a round of golf.

The Legacy course at Woodington Lake is best described as an inland links course that will challenge any golfer. It has many aspects of your traditional links course such as wide open yet sloping fairways, large undulating greens, patches of fescue and gorse that will make your day tough if you find them, and few trees in play.  The wind also blows pretty fast at times, due to the openness and elevation changes throughout the Legacy, and should be taken into account more often than not when playing the course.

Despite being a challenging course, it's five sets of tees ensure that golfers of all skill level can get around it. The holes of the Legacy course are laid out very well and despite it's openness, you rarely get the feeling that a bad tee shot will end up on another hole. Although the course is not located near any coast as per normal links courses, many small ponds and lakes are well placed to influence many of the holes. Putting golf aside for a moment, the shear vastness and openness of the course is shocking at times; I wouldn't be surprised if you dropped your club for a minute to take a picture of it. I know I did. A hole of note, both visually and golfwise, is the Legacy's signature hole, #8 (see image below). This is a 90-180 yard par 3 where players tee off from elevated tees and must carry water to a green protected by five greenside bunkers. It requires confidence in distance and shot path as a mis-hit ball can easily find water or land in the thick rough around the greens and bunkers. Par is a great score here nine times out of ten here.

The true toughness of the Legacy course is fully revealed when it's played from the gold (back) tees, which I recommend decent players try at least once. 800 yards separates the gold tees from the set of tees below and more parts of the course are brought into play from them, such as more trees and water. Tee shots are now required to be tighter and more accurate and second shots will often be hit with longer clubs, but require more precision. Throw in some gusts of wind and I'd say that from these tees, the Legacy is one of the toughest and most demanding courses in all of Ontario.

Course conditions are what you'd expect from a quality course like this, nothing short of excellent; bunkers are not too soggy or dry and the rough height is consistent. Pace of play has never been an issue in the times I've played and the course is especially empty during the week. Power carts are also mandatory on the Legacy, which helps with the pace. Pricewise, 18 holes with a cart costs in the mid $70's depending on the time and day of the week. Not bad considering the quality of the course!

Overall, the Legacy course at Woodington Lake is a challenging links-esque course for golfers of all skill levels, but mid to low handicappers will probably get the most out of it. It really is a hidden gem in this part of the GTA and I'd recommend every golfer play it at least once, just for the experience. For the price that's posted as of now, it's really worth the trip to it. To the player looking for an extreme challenge, I'd try playing from back tees on a real breezy day.

Have you played the Legacy course at Woodington Lake? If so, post a comment below and let us know what you though of it...


-Nick
Toronto Golf Reviews

 **UPDATE** 09/19/19: Course conditions have improved, compared to when I wrote the above review. This may be due to the fact that Woodington Lake hosted the 2019 Ontario Open (things were most likely spruced up a bit in preparation for it). In fact, I found the greens to be slightly tougher than I remember, in particular faster and more undulating.The pricing has also stayed relatively the same, with flex-pricing being introduced.

The Legacy Course at Woodington Lake Golf Club

Jason Day Wins the 2015 RBC Canadian Open

We seem to be on a bit of a roll with our picks this season...

It was only a matter of time before our pick Jason Day won again on Tour and this week he did just that up here in Canada. That's right, Jason Day has won the 2015 RBC Canadian Open at Glen Abbey Golf Course in Oakville, Canada. He shot a final round 68 and birdied the final three holes of the Jack Nicklaus designed course to get to that number. This proved just enough, as he finished with a one shot lead over Bubba Watson and a two shot lead over Canadian David Hearn. Though he's struggled recently with vertigo, Day has some how managed to maintain his world class golf game and it's paid off this week. This is Day's 4th PGA Tour win and second this year (Farmers Insurance Open).

The more prominent story of the weekend though was that of David Hearn, who was leading the tournament for most of the weekend. Unfortunately, he parred most of the holes on the back nine today at Glen Abbey while other players took advantage of a vulnerable back nine. David Hearn would have been the first Canadian since Pat Fletcher in 1954 to win the Canadian Open if he held on to his lead. Bubba Watson also went on a birdie streak on the back nine, birdieing five of the six last holes.

Glen Abbey once again showed us why it's been the host of the Canadian Open so many times. It played as great as a course could play in a tournament setting; being vulnerable at times yet also playing tough at times. Today's scoring average was in the high 60's, which resulted in some exciting shots and scores alike.

To finish off, here's how our picks placed:

1) Jason Day: WINNER
2) Luke Donald: T74 at even par
3) Brenden De Jonge: T76 at 1-over

That's another pick win for us and our second in two weeks. Given his recent performances in majors and other tournaments and the fact that he's struggled health-wise, the whole golfing world has been rooting for Jason Day. He was most deserving of his win this week without question. Better luck to Luke and Brenden, who didn't seem on point this week.

That wraps up our coverage of the Canadian Open. Be sure to join us next week for the Quicken Loans National. Stay tuned for our picks...


-Nick
Toronto Golf Reviews

Jason Day Wins the 2015 RBC Canadian Open

2015 RBC Canadian Open Picks

It's that time of the season, where the PGA Tour heads north for one week to play the Canadian Open (formally RBC Canadian Open but also referred to as "The Open" by Canadians). Like many national opens, the Canadian Open venue changes from year to year. This year, the iconic Glen Abbey Golf Course in Oakville, Ontario will play host. Since RBC started sponsoring this event, the quality of players in the field has increased dramatically and today the tournament boasts world class players and a nearly $6 million purse.

The Canadian Open is the oldest non-major tournament played on the PGA Tour. It was first contested in 1904 and since then has been played and won by some of the biggest names in golf. In 1955, a young Arnold Palmer won his first PGA Tour event at the Canadian Open. In 2000, the Open was won by Tiger Woods (also at Glen Abbey) who was in the midst of completing his Triple Crown of Golf (three consecutive majors) at the time. Lee Trevino also won it three times ('71, '77, '79).

Glen Abbey is one of the most famous courses in all of Canada and has hosted the Canadian Open a record 25 times. The Jack Nicklaus-designed course measures 7,273 yards today and plays as a par 72. One of the more unique features of Glen Abbey is it's "Valley Holes", holes 11 to 15, which feature prominent elevation changes and water hazards. For example, on the par 4 11th, players tee off on top of a cliff and must hit their tee shot to the fairway below. Next, players must clear a creek separating the fairway from a tough green. The course was also the site of a PGA Tour record, when Mark Calcavecchia birdied nine consecutive holes in 2009. The record still holds today.

The field this week will feature a few players who played last week's Open Championship, as RBC charters a flight for players willing to play the Canadian Open. Given that, here's our picks for the week:

1) Jason Day
2) Luke Donald
3) Brenden De Jonge

Jason Day is coming off a great week at the Open and is really on top of his game at the moment. So is Luke Donald, who's also been playing well this past month. And Brenden De Jonge is our dark horse pick, who could have his first win this week.

Play starts tomorrow morning, but be sure to check out our Weekend Update post come Friday evening.


-Nick
Toronto Golf Reviews

 Coming off a great week at the Open Championship last week, Jason Day is our top pick this week

Zach Johnson Wins the 2015 Open Championship

After delays on top of delays and a four hole playoff in what has been the longest Open Championship in history, we finally have a winner of the 144th Open Championship at the Old Course at St. Andrews. That's right, Zach Johnson defeated Louis Oosthuizen and Marc Leishman in a four hole playoff to win the second major of his career, his first being the 2007 Masters. This is also the Iowa native's 12th PGA Tour victory and first win since last year's Hyundai Tournament of Champions.

Things got a bit hectic towards the end of today's final round. Zach Johnson and Marc Leishman set the playoff bar high, both shooting 66 today to get to 15-under. Johnson birdied the 18th hole to set that score and had a feeling it would be just enough if a playoff was to happen. He was right as shortly after Marc Leishman posted the same score. Johnson played an excellent round today that consisted of eight birdies and two bogeys. He definitely deserved this win.

Chasing them (a few groups back) were Jordan Spieth, who was looking for his third straight major win, Jason Day, who was looking for his first major win, and 2010 Open Champion Louis Oosthuizen, who was looking for a repeat win at the Old Course. Spieth needed a birdie on the par 4 18th to get into the playoff, but hit his second shot short and off the green. He missed the putt and the playoff chance to make history. Day hit his second shot to the middle of the green and had a long putt to make the playoff. His putt was just a couple of feet short and he too failed to get into the playoff. Day and Spieth were in the second to last group, ahead of Oosthuizen. So it all came down to Louis, who was in the same scenario as Spieth, except he hit an excellent second shot wedge to a couple of feet. He made the birdie putt and off to the playoff he went.

The playoff was a four hole aggregate, where Louis, Marc, and Zach played the 1st, 2nd, 17th and 18th. Whoever had the best combined score after the four holes won. Oosthuizen and Johnson birdied the first while Leishman bogeyed. Johnson took the lead after another birdie on the second while Oosthuizen and Leishman parred. But on the third hole, Johnson's chances of winning became slim, after hitting his second shot on the 17th way left of the green, just behind a deep greenside bunker. Oosthuizen and Leishman both were short of the green and Johnson bogeyed, as did Leishman. Oosthuizen putted for birdie but came up short, and unfortunately missed his par putt. On the final 18th hole, Oosthuizen needed a birdie to force a sudden death playoff, but missed his putt by inches. Johnson won the playoff and the Open Championship by a single shot.


As I mentioned before, this was the longest Open Championship in it's entire history, taking 5 days to complete. Regulation play ended at about 7pm local time and the playoff finished about an hour and a half later. Of course this felt even longer due to the weather delays. Today's round did have a bit of rain as predicted and it fell pretty hard on a few holes, while others remained dry. We still saw a few low scores but the scoring average was probably around 69 or 70.

The low amateur of the tournament was not Paul Dunne, who led the tournament as of yesterday. Instead, American Jordan Niebrugge (T6) was. Despite great play all weak, Dunne unfortunately shot a 78 today and finished the tournament T30.

Finally, here's how our picks finished up:

1) Dustin Johnson: T49 at 4-under
2) Rickie Fowler: T30 at 6-under

Dustin shot another 75 today and quickly fell out of contention yet again in a major. Fowler shot a 73 today and finished okay.

And just like that, this season's third major has come and gone. This concludes our coverage in Europe for now as this week we'll be covering our national open, the Canadian Open. Stay tuned for our picks on Wednesday.


-Nick
Toronto Golf Reviews

Zach Johnson: The 2015 Open Champion