The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

Continued from page 25 Just how that worked, if it wasn‘t an RCGA official, is native son winner stretched _ also strange. _ native son winner stretched to 49 straight years. Based on a wide range of criteria, 1 felt it was safe to say that only Sarnia‘s Mike Weir, Cambridge native lan Leggatt, Manitoba‘s Glen Hnatiuk, BCs Dick Zokol and Aurora‘s Dave Morland could have hoped to be in the winner‘s spotlight Sunâ€" day night. Canadians still waiting for Open win Well, as all golf fans from the frozen north know, it didn‘t happen as a couple of veteran U.S. pros â€" Bob Tway and Brad Faxon â€" tied for first at eightâ€"underâ€"par and went into a dramatic and erratic playoff that lastâ€" ed three holes before Tway won with a bogey five on his third visit to the 18th hole that day. Lord knows, we were all rooting for Weir who played his heart out with the weight of the entire country on his shoulders but could only manage a 10thâ€"place finish. When Weir won the Masâ€" ters‘ major title inghpril in Augusta, he didn‘t have 20,000 plus fans cheering his every swing at the course and another 20 million watching on CTV/TSN for four days. I think Mike was trying so hard to live up to Canadian expectations that he didn‘t just go out and play his own game. And it showed in errant tee shots on a short but narrowâ€"fairways course that required accuracy off the tee. Still, Mike, I‘m sure all Canadians are proud of how you and our other compatriâ€" ots played and conducted yourselves in Hamilton and we‘jl be cheering you all on wherever your golf travels take you in the future. Skip‘s Chips â€" First things first. T‘ll confess that 1 was dead wrong about what number would win the Open, predicting to whoever would listen that the winâ€" ning score would be 16 under or better on a course that measured just under 7,000 yards off the back tees. Narrow fairways, extremely deep rough and firm, fastâ€"putting surfaces offset the advantage of highâ€" compression golf balls and oversized metal drivers that all the pros now use to crank out 300 yardsâ€"plus tee shots. When U.S. pro Paul Azinger was penalized two strokes for a rule infraction by his caddy on Friday, it set up a miniâ€"controversy that dragged on for three days. I won‘t debate the pros and cons of the Royal Canadian Golf Association‘s ruling on the flagstick flap because there are merits to both points of view, those being it was a bad call or it was a My problem is with the fact that the issue was apparently prompted when somebody saw what hapâ€" pened on television and phoned tourney officials. And even if it was an RCGA person, Canada‘s govâ€" erning body of golf would be wise to ignore phoneâ€"in gripes from some over zealâ€" Ppomnac} â€" | mewruet BUICK GmC Oidemotbile GET MORE. ous person who‘s going to dazzle us with his or her knowledge of some obscure If the players weren‘t aware of the rule, and no official saw it in person, it should come under that PB Mom o ie m mm mm m tS NSR O L s eR LE LTâ€"Â¥91/Sevana SLTâ€"Y91. Full size vansâ€"Cargo/Cutaway and 2004 Grand Prix Offers. apply to qualified retad customers in Canada Dealers are frse to set individuai prices. Dealer trade may be required LUimad time offer which may not be combined with ofher offars See your deaier for conditions and THE END IS NEAR. bags FORTUNATELY, SO IS YOUR GM DEALER. ~=~ great old golf expression: rub of the green. _ h Or as some of my old Niaâ€" gara Falls buddies would say: Forgetta ‘bout it. _ â€"Bill (Skip) Johns has been writing about golf for more than four decades. PURCHASE FINANCING FOR 60 MONTHS® WHEN YOU BUY, FINANCE, OR LEASE VIRTUALLY PLUS AN EXTRA ANY NEW 2003‘ ’Northdal Auto Bodv 4ss Complete Collision and Refinishing Service \| 430 Albert Street, Waterloo 88