From Mike Weir to the Canadian Open and Phil Mickelson, there is lots to talk about in the world of golf. Let's get started...

Canadian Open gets new title sponsor...

The Royal Canadian Golf Association announced on November 1 that Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) has agreed to a sponsorship agreement to become title sponsor of the PGA Tour's Canadian Open through 2012. RBC – Canada's largest financial institution and North America's sixth – basically saved the Open from eventual extinction by pouring millions into the event that was slowly dying. The tournament lost close to $3 million in 2007 without a title sponsor and a few more of those would certainly have pushed the event right off the PGA Tour schedule. The financial giant has spread its tentacles widely in America and will use its marketing savvy to restore what has become a tarnished tournament in recent years.

"On behalf of the PGA Tour, I would like to congratulate both RBC and the Royal Canadian Golf Association on today's exciting news regarding the Canadian Open. RBC is a highly respected global brand and world-class financial institution, and we look forward to supporting RBC as our newest partner on the PGA Tour," said PGA Tour Commissioner Tim Finchem. "The RCGA has been a valued partner of the PGA Tour for a number of years and the Canadian Open, as the fourth-oldest tournament on Tour, has been an integral part of our schedule. Through the RBC Canadian Open, we will continue to showcase the PGA Tour and golf at its highest level to millions of golf fans in Canada, across North America and throughout the world." Good old Tim Finchem always likes to put a positive spin on things. I remember him at the 2006 Canadian Open telling the assembled media that there is no such thing as a bad slot on the PGA Tour schedule.

"We are committed to working together with the RCGA to ensuring the RBC Canadian Open is a premier stop on the PGA Tour," said Jim Little, Chief Brand and Communications Officer, RBC at the afternoon press conference. He sure has his work cut out for him. With a date through 2012 the week after the British Open and the week before a WGC event, the Canadian Open is in the unenviable positions of trying to draw players that normally take the week off.

Is a Mike Weir statue next...

It's official in some Canadian media circles and among fans: With his win at the Fry's Electronics Open, Mike Weir is a god. The guy won a Fall Finish event against a second-tier field for crying out loud; he didn't cure cancer. Weir has eight PGA Tour wins, which tie him with George Knudson for most by a Canadian, but he's still outside the top-100 of all time. A win is a win yet Weir has done what so many have done before him; capped a hot streak with a victory. Only time will tell what this means to the rest of his career so let's turn down the propaganda to a more reasonable level.

"You know, when you're doing great, everybody jumps on the bandwagon, and when you're not you find out very quickly who's on your side and who's not," Weir said after his victory.

Sorry Mike, it's not a question of bandwagon jumping and taking sides; it's a question of objectivity and balanced reporting. While some may salivate at the mere mention of you, I refuse to. I don't because I'm not into hero worship and while I congratulate you on your victory, I prefer to keep my credibility intact.

Scheduling thoughts…

With the PGA Tour season over, many have complained that the season is too long. It starts in early January and plays until the end of October or early November depending on how the Sunday's flow. There are cries to shut it down after the FedEx Cup is over or when the Presidents/Ryder Cup is done. People and even some pros complain it can't compete with football both at the college and pro level. Truth be told, the PGA Tour season has been the same length for more than 30 years, if not more. Don't think so? Copy and paste the following link to find the 1977 schedule: http://sports.yahoo.com/golf/pga/schedule?season=1977.

Change the year going forward and you'll see that the season has always ended in late October or early November. Heck, in 1988 it ended November 13th. Just as an aside: note the difference in prize money from then to now. The media coverage and the money rolling in for the players is what have changed. Tempted by a cash bonanza, the majority of touring pros keep right on going until the end. The fall tournaments have always been there but until recent television contracts; they were always relegated to a few notes in the sports section right beside the horseracing results. The 1987 Tour Championship changed all of that. Hatched as the Nabisco Championship, the limited-field event allowed only the top-30 on the money list to play for even more cash. It induced the boys to pad their schedules in the fall and voila; we have what we have today.

The European Tour sure didn't waste any time. Their 2008 season gets underway November 9th in China. Okay, here is where I agree about too long a season. They go right through to mid-December and then pick it up the second week of January. Granted, some of those events they just borrow from other tours, but doesn't any of their staff get a few months to decompress and unwind?

Mickelson finally opens his eyes...

Well, you have to hand it to Phil Mickelson. No one knows how to put his foot in his mouth as he does – or come across as so parochial. He is now saying – according to Nick Mulvenney via Reuters – that golf should be in the Olympics and that another way of making the sport more global was for top players to take part in international tournaments, something he was hoping to do more and more.

"In the past I haven't been able to because it hasn't been fair on my family," he said. "Now that my kids are older they can grasp the cultural differences. So I want to make an effort to help globalize golf but also to give my kids a more global education."

Uh Phil… what difference does it make where you play when you are away from your family? Whether it's Shanghai or San Antonio, you are still away from them. Heck, bring them along and home school them. Gee Phil, you don't think Gary Player, Bobby Locke, Ernie Els and others have already ventured around the world to play golf?

Mickelson feels that having golf in the Olympics would help the sport develop around the world. Good grief Phil! Where have you been the past 25 years as golf has boomed everywhere that laying down a golf course is feasible? I wonder if Mickelson has checked all the non-American major (and minor) championship winners on the PGA Tour in recent decades.

Pretty amazing isn't it, Phil, what happens when you venture outside your borders for a change? You realize that a world exists outside of America and that, lo and behold, golf courses, golf tournaments, and damn good golfers are everywhere.