If patriotic passion rules the day, Canadians will have no shortage of favourite sons at next week’s Canadian Open. The Royal Canadian Golf Association was all smiles Wednesday when it confirmed 13 Canucks will join the field for the PGA Tour event at the Hamilton Golf and Country Club, September 4-10. While 2003 Master champion Mike Weir of Bright’s Grove and this year’s Players Championship winner Stephen Ames of Calgary are the national headliners, the balance of competing Canadians could surprise. Weir has banked $1.8 million this golfing... 

“I guess, `Hello, world.’ ” On Aug. 28, 1996, a somewhat uneasy Tiger Woods stepped to a microphone in Milwaukee and introduced himself with those words. It seemed a charmingly quaint way for golf’s most anticipated hotshot in generations to launch his pro career. It soon came to light that the phrase was a plant - the slogan for a huge advertising campaign. Even for someone of Tiger Woods’ vast promise, the world seemed an ambitious reach. Ten years later, the stripes across golf’s landscape are unmistakable. On the course:... 

JOHOR BARU: Two-time Asian number one Thongchai Jaidee has withdrawn from the US$300,000 Pulai Springs Malaysian Masters, which tee off today. As for his compatriot and current number one, Thaworn Wiratchant, it is time to make amends after missing the cut, only his second of the season, at the Brunei Open last week. Malaysia has been a happy hunting ground for the 40-year-old Thaworn, whose two of eight career victories in Asia were achieved here. “The course is very good but the big hitters will definitely benefit as some of the holes here are quite... 

· Mayor seeks compulsory purchase of elite courses · Capital needs 1m houses but opposition cries foul Che Guevara may have been famously photographed showing Fidel Castro how to play golf at the Country Club in Havana after the revolution in Cuba but the game has never been strongly associated with revolutionary politics. Now two of Latin America’s most prestigious golf clubs could find themselves part of a revolutionary experiment, with their land expropriated to make homes for the poor in a move by the radical mayor of Caracas.  Read More →

Nobody’s lodging any formal allegations about steroids in golf, but one big voice — THE big voice — welcomes testing. “I don’t know when we could get that implemented,” Tiger Woods said last week. “Tomorrow would be just fine with me.” But PGA Tour Commissioner Tim Finchem said because golf is a sport of honor — where players routinely penalize themselves for infractions nobody else saw — the PGA Tour doesn’t need it. “We don’t have a list of performance-enhancing drugs at this...