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4008 days; that will be the amount of time between Wes Heffernan’s final putt on Sunday at the 2011 US Open - his last tournament on the world’s biggest stage – to this Thursday, when he will strike his opening tee shot at the RBC Canadian Open. 

Much like the #1 song on the Billboard Chart when he played his last PGA TOUR event, the Calgarian hopes to be ‘Rolling in the Deep’ this week at St. George’s Golf & Country Club in Toronto. We should specify; deep under-par, and not buried in the devastatingly deep rough players are set to face this week.

While many things have changed since June of 2011, a few things have remained the same: Heffernan’s silky-smooth swing and ever-steady composure. If he can settle in quickly, he will feel right at home.

“The hard part is going to be getting into that comfort level again, not just playing a tournament, but a PGA TOUR tournament, you can’t replicate that anywhere,” says Heffernan, who finished just one point ahead of fellow Calgarian Riley Fleming to earn the exemption. “It’s not the game that will be an issue, it’s getting into the right headspace as quickly as I can.

“You can hit 50 perfect shots on the range, but nothing will feel like that first tee shot on Thursday,” he added.

The PGA of Canada Points Ranking is based off the past three years of competition in PGA of Canada National Championships and select Zone events (2020 events did not count because of all National events being cancelled due to COVID-19). In that time, Heffernan has won two events and placed within the top-10 in 11 of the 12 tournaments.

Prior to this week, Heffernan says he has played this golf course one time – 22-years ago – “that isn’t going to help me much,” he says with a laugh.

However, following his arrival this past weekend, Heffernan joined old friend David Hearn for a round and has played 27 more holes at St. George’s over the past few days to get prepared. The course, he says, couldn’t be better.

“I can’t recall a golf course in better condition than this course, the fairways are some of the best ever,” says Heffernan. “Before this week I had only played six rounds this year, but we have a facility and it’s not like I haven’t been hitting golf balls the past six months. I’m just trying to get the short game in shape as quickly as possible.”

Heffernan is set to begin his opening round at 12:12pm MST on Thursday, with his second round following on Friday at 7:12am MST.

Click here for full article by Brendan Stasiewich on the PGA of Canada website.