The reaction I often get when I tell my friends to take in some women’s professional sports is doubt and laughter.  They don’t believe me when I say that, yes, it is a different game from when men play it.  Women play a more technical form of all sports.  Because of physiology some of the power and speed is taken out so technique and skill is focused on more heavily.  If you don’t believe me take in a women’s professional sporting event and find out for yourself.  In other words, just give it a chance and you won’t be disappointed.

In hockey contact is illegal, so defencemen cannot take out the opposition with a crunching body check and as a result they have to rely on positioning.  In soccer there is no throwing themselves on the ground and rolling around.  In women’s soccer this is just not acceptable.  When it comes to golf the women don’t drive the ball as far or as high, so their approach to the game has to be different.  Ball placement, club selection and play on and around the greens becomes even more important.

Hillsdale Golf & Country Club in Mirabel, Quebec was selected as the host of the 2011 CN Canadian Women’s Open.  Last year Winnipeg was the host city and American Michelle Wie won the title.  The CN Canadian Women’s Open is a big event on the LPGA tour schedule each year.  The purse this year is $2.25 million dollars.  It is so big that all the big names on the tour make sure they play in it.  At Hillsdale, besides defending champ Wie, better known players like world number one Yani Tseng, Morgan Pressel, Paula Creamer, Natalie Gulbis, Cristie Kerr, and Karrie Webb would all be participating in the tournament.

The course is a private 27 hole course with the 18 holes that the women are playing on being 6604 yards in length.  After playing on Thursday and Friday the field of over 150 golfers was trimmed down to 78 and for round three on Saturday the threesome became twosomes.  Some of the twosomes featured great pairings with world number one Yani Tseng playing with Canadian veteran Lorie Kane, American Michelle Wie playing with American Paula Creamer and American Angela Stanford playing with Japan's Ai Miyazato.  Miyazato was in first place at -11 tied with Stanford with the same score.

Saturday, unlike the predicted heavy rains and winds coming on Sunday due to Hurricane Irene, was a perfect day for golf.  Very light winds, sunny with occasional clouds, and not too hot.  Pin placement was a little more tricky on this day and it was not the birdie fest of the first two rounds in round three.

I took the complimentary shuttle from the parking area to the main gate and entered.  After being given my free souvenir program and a reusable Golf Canada bag to put things in I didn’t have to wander far to my first high profile player sighting.  Right near the entrance Michelle Wie, complete with iPod, was on the practice putting greens warming up before her 1:20 tee off time.  At 6’1” she is an impressive sight.  And on this day with her bright orange golf shirt and matching orange Nike golf shoes (loved them as they didn’t look like your traditional golf shoes rather more like trainers) she definitely was easy to pick out in a crowd.  Fans were gathered around watching the (probably) most famous part time professional golfer and full-time Stanford student go about her warm up.

It was then on to the first tee to watch the ladies make their first drives of the day.  We watched about 10 twosomes start off their round.  What struck me most was how consistent they were as none of the 20 golfers found themselves in trouble off the tee and how far they hit the ball with seemingly little effort.  No matter the player the swings were fluid and athletic and their ball traveled around 250 yards making them already halfway to the green on the fairly simple, par 5, 501 yard hole number one.  This consistency, which would be demonstrated again and again on the day, is why these women are the best in the world.

We then moved on to the par 4, 378  yard 9th hole.  Sitting on a hill located almost at the back of the green, it gave us a good vantage point to see the women hit their second shots plus everything they did around and on the green.  Though hole nine is a straight one with an elevated green (20 feet) and due to the mounds on the left and bunkers on the right it still proved to be a tricky hole for some.  While many were able to par the hole, some like American Gerina Piller really had to fight for their pars.  A few players like Michelle Wie were able to birdie the hole after deciphering the tricky undulations and breaks of the green.

Next vantage point I headed to was the public grandstand right on the green at the 18th hole.  The par 4, 398 yard 18th hole is an uphill dogleg left with plenty of trouble on the left.  Another elevated green with it sitting 30 yards above the fairway.  If you were short on you second shot then the false front of the green brought your ball away from the pin.  It was a hole with plenty of energy as the stands were packed and fans were delighted when the players tossed their ball into the stands as a souvenir for a lucky (and coordinated) fan.

Several players gave fans plenty to cheer about during the third round.  First was local girl Maude-Aimée Leblanc.  Coming into the round she was already a very respectable -3 after opening rounds of 70 and 71.  Instead of succumbing to the pressure of playing in front of her hometown crowd she fed off of it and shot an amazing five-under 67 in round three to be -8 for the tournament.  If the 22-year-old continues this strong play she has a chance to end up in the top 10 for the tournament.  Her birdie on the 18th led to a roar from the crowd and was a great end to the day for this Canadian.

She is probably used to it, but it was something to see to watch the hoards of people following 21-year-old Michelle Wie around the course.  Between TV cameras and a huge gallery it was easy to pick out where she was.  Of course, the fact that Wie was paired with popular (especially with the men, if you catch my drift) Paula Creamer did not hurt either.  Michelle Wie was attempting to become the tournament’s first back-to-back champion since Pat Bradley did it in 1985 and 1986.  She continued with her strong play and moved from -8 to -12 and a share of the lead with Ai Miyazato and tour rookie Tiffany Joh.

With Hurricane Irene predicted to hit the area around midday, the organizers moved up the tee times to starting at 7 a.m., groupings being threesomes as opposed to twosomes and the players going off on tees one and ten at the same time.  If they cannot get off before rain hits then a  three hole playoff will take place between the leaders after round three.  Whatever the case whomever can handle the wet and windy conditions best will take the hotly contested tournament.