Today marks the official start of the 2011 RBC Canadian Open, with practice rounds underway and other festivities. The final field has been announced and it contains a a fantastic list of great players hitting up the field for the $5.2 million (US) purse!

The defending champion Carl Pettersson will be there to defend his title against PGA stars that includes world number one Luke Donald, Ernie Els, Paul Casey, Jim Furyk, Rickie Fowler, Matt Kuchar, Hunter Mahan, Anthony Kim, Retief Goosen, Sean O’Hair, Camilo Villegas, Geoff Ogilvy, Justin Leonard, Jose Maria Olazabal, Stuart Appleby, David Duval and John Daly. 2010 British Open champion Louis Oosthuizen and 2011 Masters champion Charl Schwartzel will also be there. Now that’s a huge star-studded PGA cast!

But it doesn’t stop there. Canadian favourites from the PGA Tour include Stephen Ames of Calgary, former Canadian Masters Champion Mike Weir of Bright’s Grove, Ont., David Hearn of Brantford Ont., Chris Baryla of Vernon, B.C., and Matt McQuillan of Kingston, Ont. A fantastic group.

There are also 12 Canadians confirmed. The 2010 Canadian PGA Club Pro Champion Brian Hutton of Burlington, Ont. and 2-time defending Canadian Men’s Mid-Amateur Champion Dave Bunker of Woodbridge, Ont. as well as rising stars Adam Hadwin and Nick Taylor of Abbotsford, B.C. and Matt Hill of Bright’s Grove, Ont. will also be in attendance.

Other excempt Canadians to watch out for include Team Canada members Albin Choi of Toronto, the reigning Canadian Men’s Amateur champion and Eugene Wong of Vancouver, winner of the 2010 Jack Nicklaus Award. It’s going to be a fantastic four days of golf, folks.

We’ll be catching the action for Friday’s round, so we’ll be sure to bring back some exciting highlights!

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