home

jobs

	products recent interviews FastScripts archive about ASAP Sports

Our Clients:

Browse by Sport

Find us on

Subscribe to RSS

Click to go to
Asaptext.com

View our
e-Brochure

BELL CANADIAN OPEN

September 6, 2005

Glen Hnatiuk

VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA

THE MODERATOR: We have Glen Hnatiuk, winner four times on the Nationwide Tour, 1992 to 1999, his best finish in the Bell Canadian Open is tied for 28th in 2002 at Angus Glen.

Q. If someone had told you this would be one of best courses you'd play this year, was he right?

GLEN HNATIUK: Without a doubt. I played the Pro Am yesterday, and there's not a weak hole out there. It's all in front of you, and it's just an old style kind of golf course. Small greens, tree lined, rough, it's tough, but fair, very tough but very fair.

Q. Obviously when you're dealing with a national Open, it should be reflective of having it bounce around from year to year, but the fact that the events that sandwich it are both based in the east, would the strength of the field be more Eastern based?

GLEN HNATIUK: You know, I don't know if Eastern based, but I think, you know, if we could have a tournament out here maybe the week before, instead of Boston, if it was Washington state or something like that, I think you would get a better field.

I think that if it was maybe earlier in the year where it was kind of in amongst the other majors, you would probably get a better field, as well, because you're going to get guys, the top players who are playing at that time may come and play the Canadian Open. Whereas being in September, a lot of the guys just don't play a whole lot in the fall. But if guys came and played a golf course like this for the Canadian Open, I think if we played courses like this all the time, I think that would definitely be an attraction.

Q. Can you give us a rundown, are you healthy right now?

GLEN HNATIUK: I am. I had surgery obviously last year in May and didn't touch a club for about five months or. So the progression of the healing was slow. Even through January, February, March of this year I was still pretty sore. But the last three or four months or so have been pretty good.

I had tendonitis on my elbow. The tendon itself on my elbow wasn't as bad as they thought when in. They didn't have to actually severe it and recut it and reattach. They just had to repair some of the tendon and mostly the inflammation around it and the scar tissue and that kind of tough. It was very tedious and very long, but it's amazing, after I had surgery, I couldn't do anything for a month with my left arm. I couldn't lift couldn't do anything, and it's just a trunk. So I think the strength, trying to get the strength back was probably the hardest part.

Q. What's the game plan for you now in terms of exempt status and everything else between now and what happens next year?

GLEN HNATIUK: Well, I have to play very well obviously this week in order to keep my status. If I don't, then I'll either, you know, try and play on sponsor's exemptions for the rest of the year and try to make my money that way, and if that doesn't work out, then unfortunately Q School is an option. Bad word, bad word.

Q. There's a suggestion that you might be able to get to go directly to the final round of Q School. Have you investigated that?

GLEN HNATIUK: Yeah, I have, and I understood that I have to start at the second stage. I think it would have been for last year, if I would have come back and played after surgery, I think it was for last year. I don't think it was for this year. If that's the way it is, that would be great.

Q. How much of the time have you spent playing this year where you're really still recovering from the injury? You've played 20 some odd events.

GLEN HNATIUK: Like I said, even the first part of the year, and I don't play a whole lot on West Coast anyway; I only played two or three times. Like I said, through March it was still kind of sore. I'm not using any excuse but it wasn't 100%. I think the strength, as hard as I worked over the off season to regain my strength, it just took a long, long time.

By the time I felt comfortable probably wasn't until May or so where it was feeling close to 100%.

Q. There's a few young guys, Canadian young guys that are getting some attention, and 16 Canadians in the field. Can you assess how you see the state of the game in Canada and what the fans might have to look forward to?

GLEN HNATIUK: From what I understand, the crop of young players is fantastic. I think it's getting better and better every year. We have an NCAA champion from Canada, James Lepp. That's unbelievable and congratulations to him obviously. He has taken his game to a high level, and I'm sure he's looking to some day play on the regular tour.

And also from what I understand, there's guys, three or four other All Americans playing in college down in the States. I always thought that's the way you had to go, and you know, to have these young guys playing at that high level is great.

And I've always said it would be fantastic to have 20 Canadians out on Tour every year.

Q. Do you have any idea as to why it might be or what's changed from when you were a guy, 20 years old, trying to get out here to now, is it just a matter of the more guys that get on Tour, more role models, more people playing?

GLEN HNATIUK: Well, I think that's part of it. When I was growing up, we had Richard Zokol (ph) and Dan Hollickson (ph), Ray Barr (ph), Ray Stewart (ph) was playing on TOUR, those are the guys you looked up to because they were Canadians playing on the PGA TOUR. I think the programs have gotten better. What Richard is doing with the CJGA is great. I grew up in a small town, so everything that I did was basically just in and around my area. I didn't really do a whole lot nationally when I was playing.

I think nowadays, younger players are realizing that, you know, they have to venture out and maybe play in the U.S. in some of the bigger tournaments down there and they realize that they need to, you know, try to work hard to get a college scholarship so they can play all year around and play against the best players.

When I went to college, there still wasn't a whole lot of guys who were playing golf all year round at a U.S. college. I think that's basically the way that they have to go. Again, junior programs I think are a lot stronger nowadays as well.

Q. A lot of people are talking about it, you may have been asked about it before, but a course like this, a classic course they call it, eventually being obsolete because the equipment is so good inaudible anything along those lines?

GLEN HNATIUK: Well, you're going to see this week that it doesn't matter what technology has done. With a golf course that's designed this way, it doesn't favor a guy that hits it ten miles, when you have a course like we play last week in Boston where if you fly it 285 and 290, the golf course becomes wider; it just makes it easy for guys above it to play. The week and Pittsburgh, it's basically the same thing. You know, I think guys are going to be disappointed who didn't play this week because they will realize that we don't play a whole lot of golf courses like this, unfortunately. But alls is takes is narrowing the fairways, rough and smaller, traditional greens. I'm not going to say it's going to take away new technology; that will never happen, but it will make it, I don't know if fair is the word, but it will make it a little bit more of an even playing field.

Q. Can you comment on the 50th anniversary of Arnold Palmer's first win and his presence in golf for all of you considering the number of years removed?

GLEN HNATIUK: He was huge for the PGA TOUR obviously and for the game of golf. Even being at a place like this makes it more special. In fact, my caddie is not in town yet and I had a young kid caddie for me yesterday. It was on the par 3 eighth hole, and he was telling me a story. He plays here and he caddies here, as well, and he was saying that when Nicklaus played here way back on that eighth hole, he hit that big pine tree on the left, like all four days and said he would never come back.

And he also pointed to me and said there was a tee 30 yards back from where we were. I don't know if they played it back there, he said it's rumored they played it back there, a long time ago with the equipment they played to a hole that's 220 yards or whatever from back there is something else.

You know, obviously, like I said with what Mr. Palmer has done for the PGA TOUR, anything, any thanks that you can give to him, you have to.

THE MODERATOR: Thanks for your time and best of luck this week.

End of FastScripts.

ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297