Golf betting hits links in Canada

The world's top golfers will compete in a national championship for the second consecutive week starting Thursday morning when they hit the links at Shaughnessy Golf & Country Club in Vancouver for the 2011 RBC Canadian Open (Thursday/Friday GOLF, Saturday/Sunday CBS).

Headlining the field at Shaughnessy this week will be Luke Donald, who holds down the top spot in the world rankings heading into the event. Donald, though, is coming off a disappointing finish in last week's British Open, turning out scores of 71 and 75 in the first two rounds to miss the cut at the major tournament.

However, Donald managed to finish third at the RBC Canadian Open at St. George's Golf and Country Club in Toronto last year, ending up one stroke back of Dean Wilson and two strokes behind champion Carl Pettersson.

Pettersson, who shot a sizzling 60 in the third round at St. George's last year en route to the victory, will be back to defend his title this week in Vancouver. Also in the field will be the trio of Chad Campbell, Anthony Kim, and Rickie Fowler, who all ended up in a tie for fifth place at the British Open over the weekend.

Lucas Glover, who finished in 12th place at the British Open last week, will also be at Shaughnessy this week and he has some experience on the course, ending up tied for 28th place when the event was last held there in 2005.

Mark Calcavecchia beat Ben Crane and Ryan Moore by one stroke at Shaughnessy to claim the Canadian Open title in 2005. Crane and Moore will both be in the field this week after playing in last week's British Open; Moore finished tied for 28th place at Royal St George's, while Crane missed the cut with rounds of 71 and 73.

The 2005 tournament at Shaughnessy also saw a Canadian make a run at the title with Stephen Ames ending up in seventh place, four strokes back of Calcavecchia. Ames tied for 59th place at the Canadian Open last year. Fellow Canadian Mike Weir missed the cut at this event in both 2005 and 2010.

Two-time Canadian Open champion Jim Furyk (2006 and 2007) will be seeking his third title at the event this week. Furyk ended up tied for 48th place at last week's British Open, and he didn't play in the Canadian Open in either 2005 or 2010.

Other notable names in the Canadian Open field for this week include Paul Casey, Ernie Els, Hunter Mahan, Matt Kuchar, Sean O'Hair, Retief Goosen, Geoff Ogilvy, Justin Leonard, Camilo Villegas, and Stuart Appleby. Charl Schwartzel, this year's Masters champion, will be making the trip to Canada this week as well; Schwartzel finished in a tie for 16th place at the British Open over the weekend.

Oddsmaker will offer up a complete odds menu for the Canadian Open this week.