The Starter, Round 1: RBC Canadian Open

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The first round of the RBC Canadian Open is set to begin Thursday. Here's a preview:

Groups We're Watching

Tee time Players   7:40 a.m. ET No. 9 Camilo Villegas, Retief Goosen, Carl Pettersson Goosen lost this event in a playoff last year. Villegas has concecutive top-25s in Canada. Pettersson has four top-35s in five starts. 12:55 p.m. ET, No. 9 Matt Bettencourt, Pat Perez, Stuart Appleby See how Bettencourt reacts after notching his first TOUR win. Also see how this group reacts to teeing off on No. 9 for a change. 1:15 p.m. ET, No. 1 Sean OHair, Mike Weir, Fred Couples Weir lost a 2004 playoff but has never won his country's open. O'Hair is one of the TOUR's hottest players with four-consecutive top-12 finishes.

MORE ROUND 1: Tee times | Inside the field | Inside the course

1 AND 9: While the majority of TOUR events feature players starting on two different tees for Thursday and Friday rounds, this year's Canadian Open provides us with a twist. Instead of teeing off on holes Nos. 1 and 10, players will start rounds on No. 1 and No. 9.

The ninth tee is close to the clubhouse at St. George's while No. 10's teebox is nearly 600 yards away (behind the green of the par-5 9th).

LUCKY 13 LOOK TO BREAK THROUGH: This week's field features 13 Canadians, all hoping to end their nation's 56-year drought in its national open.

The last Canadian winner of the RBC Canadian Open was Pat Fletcher, who won the event in 1954 at age 38. His victory broke a 40-year drought without a Canadian winning this Open.

Stephen Ames (67th in the FedExCup standings), Graham DeLaet (108th) and Mike Weir (115th) are the three Canadian TOUR players in this week's field. A win for any of them would be important, not just historically, but personally as well.

"This is like probably the fifth or sixth major for us, the Canadians," Ames said. "We take pride in our national open and pride to the aspect of we want to be playing great golf courses and making it feel like a national open."

EXPERT PREVIEW: PGA TOUR NETWORK on-site correspondent Bob Stevens previews Round 1:

Before you go thinking the players are going to shoot the grass off a course just barely over 7,000 yards long with two of its three par-5s in the 530-yard range, remember that four of the par-4s are in the 480-yard range and four of the five par-3s are well over 200 yards. And rough? The players I talked to almost universally called it the thickest rough they've played all year. St. George's is your area's best old country club, with the roughs at Open length (4-1/2 inches). The fairways are generous, just don't miss them.

Thursday's forecast

Partly Cloudy Temp: 82 high/67 low Chance of precipitation: 20 percent. Winds from W at around 10 mph.

Stephen Ames might be even more excited to play THIS Canadian Open than any other. He loves St. George's and has played it enough times that he even forgot (until reminded this week) that he'd played it as a 16-year-old when his club-member uncle set him to play here. Ames thinks St. George's, 2005 and 2011 site Shaughnessy in Vancouver and 2006 and 2012 site Hamilton are three of the five best courses in Canada-- old-style traditional layouts that make the players think their way around. He predicts a winning score in single-digits under par.

One of his reasons for that prediction is the steeply sloped greens that have actually been slowed down a little so as not to see too many putts from above the holes roll back off down the fairways. A great putter is very likely to win this week, as it did when Bob Charles won the last Canadian Open played here, beating Jack Nicklaus in 1968. Brandt Snedeker leads the TOUR in putts-per-green-in-regulation this year, but another lefthander (a la Bob Charles) is in the top-15. Some Canadian guy named Weir.

The Film Room

PGA TOUR Today: July 22, 2010 Nathan Green is looking to make it two in a row at the 2010 RBC Canadian Open, but he'll be facing some pretty tough competition. Casey Black previews the week, tee times, and the field. Watch it Fantasy Insider: RBC Canadian Open Need help with your fantasy picks for the 2010 RBC Canadian Open? John Swantek and the Fantasy Insider can help. Watch it Interview: Mike Weir Mike Weir spoke about an injury he has to deal with before the 2010 RBC Canadian Open. The native Canadian also spoke about "the feel" of his national open. Watch it

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