Zac Blair gives perfectly fair review of Canadian Open venue, gets criticised anyway

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In his four years on the US PGA Tour, Zac Blair has established himself as a solid player, a savvy eBay buyer, and a golf course aficionado. His love of golf architecture is so strong, in fact, that he’s in the process of building his own course, called The Buck Club, in his home state of Utah. So if you were to ask any tour pro to assess a venue, Blair and Geoff Ogilvy should probably be at the top of everyone’s list.

All this leads to Thursday’s first round of the Canadian Open. After an opening 67, Blair was asked by Golf Channel’s Chantel McCabe about the tournament’s longtime site, Glen Abbey. Here’s what he had to say:

“Yeah, um, you know, it’s OK,” Blair said. “I mean, the course is in really good shape, which is always nice and that’s all you can ask, but it sounds like it’s going to Hamilton next year and that sounds like a pretty neat spot, so I’m looking forward to that for sure.”

Clearly, the Jack Nicklaus design isn’t one of Blair’s favourites, but that seems like a pretty fair and diplomatic response by him. Also, keep in mind that while there are certainly golf architecture experts out there, the topic is very subjective. Heck, there are some people who think Augusta National is a goat track. Anyway, Blair’s critique drew some criticism, and here’s how he responded on Friday.

No. . .

He thinks the course is “OK,” people. Nothing more, nothing less. He’s entitled to his opinion, which is an educated one at that. So let the man be. And let’s hope this doesn’t keep him from expressing his golf track takes going forward.

UPDATE: The man behind the tweet Blair responded to you has issued an apology to the golfer.