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www.insideHALTON.com | OAKVILLE BEAVER | Thursday, June 4, 2015 | 46 Jon Kuiperij Sports Editor sports@oakvillebeaver.com Sports "Connected to your Community" During a press conference Monday at Glen Abbey Golf Club, Golf Canada CEO Scott Simmons announced that the local ClubLink-owned facility will host next year's RBC Canadian Open. Glen Abbey is already the site for this year's Canadian Open and also hosted the 2013 tournament, leading to speculation that the course might once again become the permanent home of Canada's national open championship. | photo by Graham Paine -- Oakville Beaver -- @Halton_Photog Canadian Open in Oakville next month, next year, maybe longer by Jon Kuiperij Beaver Sports Editor The Canadian Open is back in Oakville next month, and it might be sticking around for a very long time. At a media event Monday to promote this year's RBC Canadian Open at Glen Abbey Golf Club, Golf Canada announced that the local ClubLink-owned facility will also host the 2016 tournament -- and left the door completely open for 2017 as well. "There really is no black and white answer to (whether Glen Abbey will once again be the permanent home for the tournament)," said Golf Canada CEO Scott Simmons. "The way this facility was built and envisioned, it was built as a permanent home for the Open. With that comes a lot of benefits." The Jack Nicklaus-designed Glen Abbey course was the site for the Canadian Open all but two years from 1977-2000 (Royal Montreal hosted the tournament in 1980 and 1997) before organizers decided to make an effort to move Canada's open championship around the country. The tournament has since been held in British Columbia (Shaughnessy in 2005 and 2011), Quebec (Royal Montreal in 2001 and 2014), Markham (Angus Glen in 2002 and 2007), Toronto (St. George's in 2010) and Hamilton (2003, 2006 and 2012). However, it was also contested at Glen Abbey in 2004, 2008, 2009 and 2013. Monday's announcement means the Canadian Open will be played in Oakville three times in a four-year span. "I personally think this is the best golf course on the planet from a hosting point of view. Jack Nicklaus designed it so that 10 holes can be viewed from the clubhouse. Our corporate clients are very happy when they come out here to Glen Abbey, as are our spectators," Simmons said. Having the tournament at Glen Abbey for two straight years will also help incoming tournament director Brent McLaughlin implement a few of his fan engagement initiatives. McLaughlin envisions turning the Canadian Open into T.A. Blakelock's Taja McLean (centre, pictured competing in the junior girls' 200-metre run at last week's south regionals) qualified for the OFSAA track and field championships in two individual events and also helped a Blakelock relay team advance to provincials. | photo by Graham Paine -- Oakville Beaver -- @Halton_Photog a festival, similar to the Waste Management Phoenix Open that holds several PGA Tour attendance records. At this year's Canadian Open (scheduled for July 20-26), fan-friendly tweaks will include moving a beer garden closer to the first hole so patrons can get a close look at players walking by, food trucks, social media campaigns and stadium seats around the 18th green. McLaughlin is also in discussions with the Town of Oakville to allow outside spectators to congregate on the Upper Middle Road bridge over Sixteen Mile Creek, where they can get a limited view of the 14th and 15th holes. He would like to bring back the concert series that featured live performances after the conclusion of play each night during the tournament, and even talks about the possibility of a community road race through the course every year before the tournament begins. "We want to embrace Oakville and make it a massive festival, where golf almost becomes secondary. Where people say `I don't want to go to the cottage the third week of July, I want to be here,'" said McLaughlin, who inherited the tournament director role this year from Sheridan College grad Bill Paul. "All of these ideas take time to build. Whether it's Glen Abbey or anywhere else, a permanent home makes a lot of sense." Monday's announcement that the Canadian Open will be held in Oakville once again next year was a pleasant surprise for Oakville mayor Rob Burton, who attended the press conference at Glen Abbey. "I'm very excited, very thrilled. My only message to the RBC Canadian Open is that you're welcome to stay longer," Burton said. "In fact, if they were here permanently, the Town could support them better. When they come and go, we have to take down and put up and it's not quite so easy. I understand their position -- permanent if necessary, but not necessarily permanent -- but we're always happy to see them. "I think our wandering golf tournament should come on home," Burton added. Whether that's a strong possibility or not, Simmons wasn't showing all of his cards on Monday. "I would like to look at the possibility of going back to a permanent or semi-permanent home to the Open. But that would not preclude the Open moving," Simmons said. "I'd like to see this event move around the country, and I'd also like to embrace the benefits of continuity. We've had conversations with ClubLink about that, but it's premature to comment further." Local athletes qualify for OFSAA track Nicole Parsons and Kristin O'Neill appear to be Oakville's best medal hopes at this week's Ontario Federation of School Athletic Associations track and field championships in Toronto. Parsons and O'Neill both won running events at last week's south regional meet in Brampton while also qualifying for OFSAA in other distances. Parsons, an Abbey Park student, won the midget girls' 400-metre run and placed third in the 800m. O'Neill, who attends Loyola, was victorious in the senior girls' 800m and added a second-place finish in the 400m. The top four finishers in each event at regionals advanced to the OFSAA championships. Taja McLean of T.A. Blakelock qualified for OFSAA in three different events. She placed second in both the junior girls' 200m and 400m, and helped the Tigers senior girls' 4x100m relay team to a second-place showing -- 0.06 seconds out of first. Julia Scott, Kaleigh Jeffrey, Abegale Rodriguez and Anna Nero round out Blakelock's relay team. Also finishing second at regionals were Loyola's Tamia Noel (midget girls' shot put) see OFSAA on p.47