![\"Loading...\"](\"https:\/\/dcs-static.gprod.postmedia.digital\/21.6.1\/websites\/images\/common\/icon-spinner-animated.svg\"){kind=icon}
<\/p>\nArticle content<\/p>\n
SOUTHPORT, England \u2014 With a new-look PGA Tour on the horizon, the fate and significance of national Opens is a topic that eventually will have to be addressed.<\/p>\n
Article content<\/p>\n
There don\u2019t appear to be easy answers for events such the RBC Canadian Open or the elevated Scottish Open as the PGA Tour looks to streamline its tournaments and have full control over field sizes and eligibility. At the moment, it\u2019s not clear how a national open with open qualifying can fit into this projected new system.<\/p>\n
Article content<\/p>\n
Colin Montgomerie is a board member on the DP World Tour and told the Toronto Sun on Friday at Royal Birkdale that there should be a place for these important tournaments.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe want an Open,\u201d the famous Scotsman said bluntly when asked about his own national open. \u201cWe want to try to get the Scottish Open from 120-odd players to 156. And if it is an Open, have qualifying. The same with the Canadian Open. Make them Opens.\u201d<\/p>\n
He agrees that the limited Fall International Series for players in the expected new top-tier Championship Series could be a good place to put national opens.<\/p>\n
\u201cYes, absolutely,\u201d he said, before re-iterating his position on the matter in his role on the DP World Tour board.<\/p>\n
Article content<\/p>\n
\u201cWe want to concentrate on national Opens,\u201d he said. \u201cWe want the Hong Kong Open back. We want the Singapore Open back. We want to make the Scottish Open big.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWith the Canadian Open, you want to make it as big as you possibly can,\u201d he said with a nod to the nationality of his interviewer.<\/p>\n
Nationals Open should be a big deal<\/p>\n
Montgomerie, who is at Royal Birkdale this week in his role as a Loch Lomond Whiskies Ambassador, says he has been following the PGA Tour\u2019s proposed two-tier plan and has many of the same questions as other observers.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you have 20-odd first-tier events, or special events, they\u2019re not that special anymore if there are so many of them,\u201d he said of the tour\u2019s hope of making the proposed Championship Series big-event television.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know how it is going to work, and I feel for the second tier,\u201d he added. \u201cThere\u2019s not going to be much draw if there is a so called special event opposite it. But it\u2019s something new. We have to think about golf with no LIV, really. They\u2019re looking for investors, but if the Saudis have found that they can\u2019t afford it, who the hell is going to?\u201d<\/p>\n
The conversation drifted back to national opens and his view on why it\u2019s important they don\u2019t get lost in the shuffle in whatever men\u2019s professional golf evolves into in coming years.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are sponsored tournaments, but there is nothing like the Canadian Open or Australian Open,\u201d he said. \u201c(Jack) Nicklaus was asking for the Australian Open to be a major for donkey\u2019s years, wasn\u2019t he? It will be interesting to see how it figures out.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
We apologize, but this video has failed to load.<\/p>\n
Play Video<\/p>\n
Share this article in your social network<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Article content SOUTHPORT, England \u2014 With a new-look PGA Tour on the horizon, the fate and significance of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":788000,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[443],"tags":[49,48,622,82],"class_list":["post-811998","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-golf","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-golf","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/811998","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=811998"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/811998\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/788000"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=811998"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=811998"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=811998"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}