Stephen Ames - Courtesy: Bodog Nation

Canadian golfer Stephen Ames is not one to mince words. If he likes something, he says so and if he doesn't, he says so.

After round two at the Canadian Open yesterday, Ames said the third oldest tournament in the world was turning into a putting competition.

The whole course, he said, was too soft - the greens, the fairways, the whole thing. And mistakes were not being punished at the level that a national tournament should demand.

As the Canadian Open heads into the weekend, the halfway point is reached and the leaders are at 10 under par.

Ames is right. The course is soft. For my money, Angus Glen North is just too easy for professional golfers at the top of their games. The fairways are 25 yards wide on many holes. Granted, the rough is punitive but yesterday, the players were making decent recovery shots out of the long stuff.

Come Sunday, the winning score could be ridiculously low.

I come back to what Davis Love said early last month about the changes he directed be made to the course. "If the wind blows and the conditions are dry, this will be a tough course".

It hasn't been. Only once has the wind blown to any real effect - Thursday afternoon - and scores rose in response. No serious winds since. And the threat of thunderstorms yesterday remained just that - a threat.

It was probably a good thing it didn't rain. The already soft greens would have become dart boards for the pros.

A golf course shouldn't be difficult only when the weather conditions are right; it should be a test of mettle rain or shine.

We've seen the brutally tough Oakmont challenge the world's best players four days running and produce a spectacular final round on Sunday at the U.S. Open.

We've seen Carnoustie's diabolical 18th hole create superb drama and another exciting finish on Sunday at The Open.

The two oldest tournaments are followed now by the third oldest tournament and it's just another whistle stop on the PGA Tour train.

The Canadian Open is a diminished tournament; the PGA pays lip service to its heritage and history but the tournament has suffered from awful dates on the calendar for a number of years.

This is something the Royal Canadian Golf Association - the owners of the Canadian Open - can address through pressure.

But that pressure will only be truly effective when the Canadian Open, a national tournament after all, can be held on a golf course that is a worthy opponent.

For those readers of this blog from other countries, it may not seem like an important issue. But imagine your own national tournaments staged on benign layouts.

You, too, would demand a course that could be spoken of in the same sentence as Carnoustie, Oakmont and many, many others.

For more remarks after round two, click here for the RCGA's fine press conference coverage.