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34 economist sunltribine sports thursday aug 8 2002 bevy of past champs coming to angus glen for bell canadian open tiger woods not expected to make a decision until registration deadline by mike hayakawa staff writer when scott verplank visits unionvilles angus glen golf club to defend his bell canadian open title sept 28 he wont be the onlyformer champ on thursday several past canadian open winners ann ounced their intention to play in this years event which has a total prize purse of 4 million us in fact seven of the last eight canadian open champions including david frost 1993 nick price 91 and 94 mark omeara 95 dudley hart 96 steve jones 97 and 89 billy andrade 98 and hal sutton 99 will tackle the clubs south course in an attempt to dethrone verplank while the cast of exchamps is an impressive array of talent the one name who has yet to make a commitment is 2000 canadian open winner tiger woods kevin thisde angus glen gen eral manager and director of golf operations speculated woods will not decide until the registration deadline which is one week before the start this he noted has been woods pattern prior to entering most events thistle remains optimistic the worlds topranked player will be on the angus glen fairways should woods show up thistle said it would add icing to the cake sincerely i think theres a good chance tiger will come he loves canada and the hospitality scott verplank last years bell canadian open champion is coming to angus glen golf club to defend the title he won in montreal this years tournament is from sept 2 to 8 having tiger here would put us over the top but regardless if tiger comes or not this will be one of the best bell canadian open fields thistles comment is based on confirmations from such top per formers as phil mickelson the secondranked player in the world vijay singh last years telus skins game champion at angus glen jesper parnevik and mike weir unable to attend a thursday media conference at angus glen but speaking via teleconference verplank believes the canadian open ranks with some of the top professional golf association tournaments im proud to be the defending canadian open champion and i hold the tournament in high regard said the 38yearold dallas texas native in years past the canadian open was like a fifth major ive always recognized that this is my 17th year on the tour and while the economy and landscape of golf has changed the canadian open has been held in high regard i was thrilled to win it last year it may not be one of the four majors but its just a notch below it the canadian open has a lot of history behind it its a world- class event ive had success with this event in the past and to win last year was my dream come true verplanks trip to angus glen will mark his first visit to the course acknowledging his fondness for obvious reasons with last years site the royal montreal golf club verplank has heard nothing but good things about angus glen i guess ill have to take mike weir who has played angus glen out to dinner to find out what the course is like he said but i expect angus glen to be at a level like royal montreal and glen abbey another former bell canadian open site i expect to go out and play well although the canadian open marks verplanks last victory on the pga tour he believes the tim ing is right for his game to get back into high gear as he prepares to join the united states entry for the ryder cup the ryder cup is in england after the bell canadian open from sept 27 to 29 although i havent achieved the results like i should have physically im hitting the ball well i feel like im doing all right and am going in the right direction stouffvilles taws relieved to find missing vehicle what began as a nighmare for ashley taws and her aim autosport racing team on monday turned into a happy ending on tuesday after taking part in a canadian formula ford series race at trois rivieres quebec and finishing fifth in one of two races the 18-year- old stouffville resident and her team spent sunday evening in a motel near trois rivieres waking up early monday to return home taws and her crew discovered their truck and 3 trailer were gone they contained tools and equipment in addition to her be anything with barbie at walmart car and the vehicle of teammate louisphilippe dumoulin after a frantic search taws trailer was found tuesday afternoon in saint aimd quebec while the tow vehicle a white ford f- 350 truck was found near cornwall inside the trailer was dumoulins car but the barbie car a barbie scooter and assorted parts and equipment were not at either scene taws car was found that same day by police in a corn field in yamaska quebec it sounds like the car is okay and im so happy that ill be able to finish out the season with my barbie car said a relieved taws im very grateful to the police in quebec as i understand there was a big hunt for the car and they even used a helicopter its amazing how fast they tracked everything down the barbie car is currently impounded by police while they collect evidence but taws hopes to travel to quebec in a few days and be reunited with it stouffville storms off with five softball victories the stouffville storm squirt boys have played some impressive ball recently winning five of their last six softball outings buoyed by a threehit effort from erick espirutosanto the storm began its sixgame foray with a 169 win over newmarket brian hector kohl mcvicar robert kay and nolan benoit added two hits each bruce cringan alex mangotich derek eickmeier ryan gregory each had one espirutosanto was the winning pitcher stouffville then played a doubleheader against host port perry and came away with a split winning the first game 85 and dropping the second 91 in the victory espirutosanto collected four hits while mcvicar hector kay alex mangotich and gregory also added one apiece tyler heffenan executed a great sacrifice bunt in the top of the seventh to score the go- ahead run cringan was the winning pitcher in the loss hector and gregory had the only hits for the storm stouffville then played another road game in vaughan and defeated the host vipers 127 espirutosanto and mangotich ignited the offense with three hits each others were added by kevin mackay gregory benoit kay mcvicar and hector espirutosanto picked up the win facing the markham meteors in its next game the storm received threehit efforts from hector and mangotich en route to an 1 19 win hits were also added by espirutosanto mcvicar kay and kevin mackay cringan was the winning pitcher the storm rounded out its sixgame slate with a 30 win over the bramalea indians hector had stouffvilles only two hits but good bunting by mcvicar and eickmeier led to the runs eickmeier was the winning pitcher macri has a short stay at troisrivieres jonathan macris day at the cart toyota atlantic race at troisrivieres quebec was one that was cut short beginning mondays feature race in the seventh position in his pl racing- ntn bearingsmiller genuine draftbattlefield equipment rental swift 014a racing machine the 20- yearold gormley resident manoeu vred his way into fifth position before adversity struck while approaching corner eight on tduring the seventh lap macris vehicle was clipped when luis diaz attempted to pass him from the outside unfortunately diazs front wheel clipped macris rear wheel sending macri spinning into the wall after a successful run up through the field and a potential podium position macris race came to an abrupt and early end fortunately for macri he was all right the weekend hasnt ended well at all he said the team managed to make all the right changes after the warmup the car was quick so i was able to work my way through the field its upset ting we started the weekend well but didnt qualify high enough that be comes a real problem because you usually find yourself in more trouble the deep er you are in the field this race though was going really well i knew i had the car to really challenge for at least a podium finish once i settled into fifth spot michael valiante took the check ered flag for macri he currently sits in sev enth place in the overall standings and is 30 points away from thirdplace dri ver ryan hunterreay herder karts off with series title kyle herder might have finished second to rob oakman in the sev enth round of the canada senior series at shannonville motorsports park on aug 3 but it was enough to propel the stouffville resident to the sunoco ron fellows karting title the first of four available class championships in the series with two rounds remaining herder did gain a measure of revenge in the eighth round as he took the checkered flag over shawn gardner and oakman in other categories pearce herder younger brother of kyle took the checkered flag in round seven of the canada junior division jonathan macri was bumped out of the race by luis diaz