And it's got nothing to do with the fact that he's coming off a 5th place at last week's brutal 137th Open week at Royal Birkdale, is scheduled to go straight into next week's WGC Bridgestone Invitational without a break and is then to follow that by teeing it up in the final major of the year, the PGA Championship less than a week later.

Rather it has more to do with the fact that the title he is attempting to win for a third successive time this week seldom seems to be played at the same venue.

The American, made famous by his unusual looping swing and the fact that he owns a US Open title, first won the Canadian Open at Hamilton in 2006, successfully defended it at Angus Glen last year, and now needs to defend it again at Glen Abby Golf Club near Toronto

"It's interesting coming back to an event where you've won and it's on a different golf course," Furyk told reporters on Wednesday. "You lose the warm, fuzzy feeling."

Furyk is not unhappy with the rain-soaked Glen Abby course, however.

The soft conditions need a shift to target golf as opposed to the links golf that was needed to wind-swept Royal Birkdale so as to take advantage of greens that have been softened up by as much as 8 inches of rain in just five days - and he's managed to accomplish that by re-adjusting his ball flight to the much high trajectory required on most North American courses - and especially the wet ones.

"This is definitely a golf course where you want to bring the ball in high into a lot of these greens - and this coming off a week where I didn't hit it higher than about head high for four days," Furyk explained on Wednesday before more overnight rain meant a possible delayed start today (Thursday).

"So it's different, but I just want to slowly get my feel and my rhythm back and get the ball in the air."

Stephen Ames, who comes originally from Trinidad & Tobago, but is married to a Canadian and is now a naturalized Canadian citizen would love to get a win 'at home' and believes he has the form after tying for seventh at Royal Birkdale.

"I've gone from a 10-foot high ball flight to a 120-foot high ball flight," Ames declared

He could face some fierce local rivalry from Mike Weir, whose 2003 Green Blazer makes him Canada's only major winner

Weir, who has never won the Canadian Open and indeed missed the cut in his first nine starts is back at Glen Abbey for the first time since his deeply disappointing playoff loss to Vijay Singh in 2004.

"I finally played the golf course well last time out," Weir said.

"I never played very well here at all and I finally figured out a way to score around here in 2004 and I do feel more comfortable on it now than in years past.

Weir, Ames and the 17 other Canadians in the field are trying to become the first home winner since Pat Fletcher in 1954.

Weir, who is skipping next week's Bridgestone Invitational, opined: "The player who does the best this week and wins is going to be driving it in the fairway, because the rough is thick and, with it being wet, you're not going to bounce it very far, so the key is to keep that ball in the fairway."