If this looks like another major kind of week on the PGA TOUR, well, you're not far off. The Canadian Open is the third oldest event on the TOUR and the third oldest national championship in the game behind the U.S. Open and the British Open.

Begun in 1904, the Canadian Open completes what is known as the Triple Crown with its two older Open counterparts. The fact that Lee Trevino (1971) and Tiger Woods (2000) are the only players to accomplish the feat makes it that much more significant.

Not just history is on the side of Canadian Open, however. This year it returns to Hamilton Golf & Country Club in Ontario, which dates back to 1894. Renowned British architect H.S. Colt designed the present layout in 1916, a par-70 track with hilly, tree-lined fairways and devilishly undulating greens. The rough has been grown in to add to the examination, especially around the putting surfaces.

Accuracy would be a good idea on a course that measures less than 7,000 yards.

Bob Tway won the '03 edition in a playoff over Brad Faxon after they finished at a major-type aggregate total of 272, 8 under par.

If it looks like a major and smells like a major. ... oh, you know the drill.

Last year: Mark Calcavecchia shot a closing 1-over-par 71 at Shaughnessy Golf & Country Club in Vancouver, but managed to hang on for a one-stroke victory over fast-closing Ben Crane, who shot 66. Calcavecchia, who led or shared the lead after each round, ended up at 5-under 275 for his first victory since the 2001 Phoenix Open.

How he did it: With patience. Calcavecchia registered just one birdie over his final 36 holes, the first winner on the PGA TOUR to convert so little over the final two rounds since Curtis Strange at the 1989 U.S. Open. An opening 65-67 start proved to be enough as the former British Open champion. He hit 60 percent of his greens in regulation, leading to a tournament-best 53 pars.

Strange but true: Vijay Singh is ranked 179th in driving accuracy. He's ranked among the top 100 only once since 2000, but shouldn't the world's most ardent range player do better?

True but not so strange: Only four times this year has the winner led the field in scrambling.

If the course could talk: "Think of me as a smaller version of Winged Foot -- fewer teeth but about the same amount of hairy lies for the wild hitters."

Worth knowing:

•Four of the top five finishers from the '03 Canadian Open in Hamilton are in the field: Bob Tway (first), Brad Faxon (second), Tom Pernice (third) and Hidemichi Tanaka (T4).

•Forty-something players have done well in the Canadian Open of late, winning the last three, including Tway's playoff win over Faxon in the '03 edition at Hamilton G&CC. Vijay Singh won in '04 and Mark Calcavecchia last year. That trend might well continue given that six players finished among the top-10 three years ago: Tway, Faxon, Pernice, Fred Funk, Singh and Loren Roberts.

• Tommy Armour won three Canadian Open titles, including the 1930 edition at Hamilton G&CC. He set the course record that year with a 64 (since broken by amateur Warren Sye in 1991). Tommy Armour III tied for 11th in the 2003 Canadian Open at the same venue, but he shot no lower than 68.

•Want another reason to go with a veteran selection this week? Only three times has a first-time winner claimed the Canadian Open title, the last being John Rollins in 2002.

• Nick Price is returning to the Canadian Open for just the second time since he withdrew in 1996; prior to that he finished 11th or better six straight seasons with two victories.

•When Eduardo Romero of Argentina won last week's JELD-WEN Tradition, he became the first international player to win on the Champions Tour this year. On the PGA TOUR, the international contingent has won 16 times.

Canadian Mike Weir will be a fan favorite this week. (Greenwood/WireImage)

• Olin Browne, who has never finished in the top 10 in the Canadian Open, comes to Hamilton armed with the new Callaway X-prototype irons that Charles Howell III added to his bag at the PGA Championship.

TOUR Insider's strength of field index: Two big-time players with Canadian ties headline a hungry set of Fall Finishers. 7.9.

TI's power ranking for the Bell Canadian Open: 1. Mike Weir, 2. Fred Funk, 3. Stephen Ames, 4. Jim Furyk, 5. Corey Pavin.

Parting shot: "It really is a second career for me because it's opened my eyes and showed me how fortunate I am to be playing this game.. .. A bad shot, I'm not going to say it doesn't bug me, but it doesn't bug me as much anymore as it used to. When you're playing bad and you walk away from the game, it's easy to do. When you get hurt and it's taken away from you, is when it's hard. Hopefully this time I'm going to play it just because I love the game." -- Bob May, who is playing well of late after missing more than two PGA TOUR seasons with a back injury.