The golf world woke up to a bombshell Tuesday morning, as we all learned that the PGA Tour, LIV Golf and the DP World Tour would be merging together to create one big enterprise. Although this was announced, nobody has a clue what is to come next, and we've already seen pro golfers speaking their mind. This will be a huge is the news over the weekend, but I don't want to take away from my favorite event of the year, the RBC Canadian Open.
I've broken down this course that we have never seen on the pro tour, and my favorite picks going into the weekend. Let's get into it...
Tournament Information:
Formally known as the Canadian Open Championship, it was first held in 1904 at the Royal Montreal Golf Club and since then the event has been played at 36 different venues throughout Canada. In 1994 this event was renamed to the Bell Canadian Open, and was then changed to the RBC Canadian Open in 2008, and RBC has been the sponsor of this event ever since.
This is another typical 72-hole stroke play event, with 144 golfers in the field with the top 70 including ties making the cut after two rounds. There will be nine million dollars in the prize purse this weekend that players will be competing for, but on top of that, a lot of these players will be using this event as a tune up for next week's U.S Open. It’s a weaker field this week, but it will be headlined by Rory McIlroy and the three Canadians that have won on the PGA Tour, Corey Conners, Adam Svensson and Mackenzie Hughes.
The field will certainly be weaker than what we see on Major weekends, but there are still a lot of interesting names in the field, and will be playing a course that looks very scoreable on paper. Let’s dive in and see what we can learn about this track…
Event History:
Past 5 Winners @ The RBC Canadian Open:
2022: Rory McIlroy 2019: Rory McIlroy 2018: Dustin Johnson 2017: Jhonattan Vegas
2016: Jhonattan Vegas
2021 & 2020 were cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Lowest Winning Score: In 2018 Dustin Johnson went -23 in four rounds at Glen Abbey taking 265 strokes, but in 2019 Rory McIlroy shot -22 at Hamilton Golf and Country Club while only taking 258 strokes. But the actual record is held by Johnny Palmer who shot -25 back in 1952.
Largest Margin of Victory: In 1919 the event was won by 16 strokes, and in 1952 when Palmer set the scoring record for the event, he won the event by 11 strokes. More recently, Rory McIlroy won the event by seven strokes, which is the most dating back to Palmer’s win in 1952.
Playoff Information: This event has only gone to playoff holes three times since 2008 when RBC became the title sponsor of the event.
Scorecard:
Course Information:
As I mentioned, this event has been held at numerous locations throughout Canada, and we will be adding another one to the list this weekend. Oakdale Golf and Country Club will be hosting its first RBC Canadian Open and it is located in North York which is one of the six districts that make up the city of Toronto.
This will be a par 72 track playing off of an approximate 7,264 yards. Although that set up looks common, Oakdale is a unique par 72 layout with only three Par 3’s and three Pae 5’s, whereas most Par 72 tracks consist of four of each.
With this being a new course, we don’t have any official data on the course, but from what I have gathered, this track looks like it will be torn to shreds by these players. There are only three Par 4’s that play over 450 yards, and five that play under 400 yards. There is a par five that is under 500 yards, and the other two will be reachable in two for most if not all players in the field.
Off the tee we were going to see a lot of tree lined fairways that appear to be on the tighter side, with smaller greens that are a mix of bentgrass and poa seed. Most greens are protected by bunkers on the front side, and some have trees out the back, scaring players from going long. The approach game here is going to be huge, but we’ll talk more about that in a second.
Here in the Toronto area, we haven’t had rain in a couple of weeks, the grounds are dry and there isn’t any rain in the forecast leading up to the event. The shorter track and dryer conditions will have a lot of these guys flicking wedges into greens, I’m anticipating the winner to shoot somewhere around -20 or lower this weekend.
Players Path To Victory:
Strokes Gained: Off The Tee:
This is a course where distance isn’t going to be a major factor, and I will be prioritizing accuracy over distance as a lot of these fairways will be lined with trees, and off target drives could end up blocked from being able to approach the green.
Now this field is considerably weaker than normal, so the accuracy and distance combo might be hard to find this weekend, but if one of these bombers keeps the ball in the fairway, those players will have a massive advantage when it comes time to approach these smaller greens.
Strokes Gained: Approach:
The approach game is going to be everything this weekend. We’re going to see a lot of these approaches come from distances that most if not all of these players should be comfortable from.
As I mentioned earlier, a lot of these greens are protected by bunkers in the front, and trees in the back. This is to create depth perception issues to scare players from going long, and will cause some players to come up short landing in the traps.
Guys that want to be in the mix coming down the stretch on Sunday will have to trust their numbers, and get within birdie range consistently all four days. I don’t think one or two exceptional ball striking rounds will keep guys in the mix. The winner will likely be within the top 10 in the field in SG: Approach.
Par 4 Scoring:
This is another one I mentioned earlier, Oakdale is a different layout than most par 72 tracks, it has two extra par 4’s on the course, leaving only three par 5’s and three par 3’s. Neither the par 3’s or the par 5’s appear to be too difficult at this course, so I think this event will be won or lost on the par 4’s, specifically holes 3,4,5 and 6, all par 4’s playing over 450 yards.
Other Key Statistics:
Official Picks:
Outrights:
Tyrell Hatton (+1200) - Bet365 - To Win 4.00u
Justin Rose (+1800) - FanDuel - To Win 4.00u
Tommy Fleetwood (+2500) - Bet365 - To Win 4.00u
Placements:
Tommy Fleetwood Top 20 (+120) Bet365 - To Win 1.00u
Mark Hubbard Top 40 (+120) Bet365 - To Win 1.00u
Lee Hodges Top 40 (+125) Bet365 - To Win 1.00u
The golf world woke up to a bombshell Tuesday morning, as we all learned that the PGA Tour, LIV Golf and the DP World Tour would be merging together to create one big enterprise. Although this was announced, nobody has a clue what is to come next, and we've already seen pro golfers speaking their mind. This will be a huge is the news over the weekend, but I don't want to take away from my favorite event of the year, the RBC Canadian Open.
I've broken down this course that we have never seen on the pro tour, and my favorite picks going into the weekend. Let's get into it...
Tournament Information:
Formally known as the Canadian Open Championship, it was first held in 1904 at the Royal Montreal Golf Club and since then the event has been played at 36 different venues throughout Canada. In 1994 this event was renamed to the Bell Canadian Open, and was then changed to the RBC Canadian Open in 2008, and RBC has been the sponsor of this event ever since.
This is another typical 72-hole stroke play event, with 144 golfers in the field with the top 70 including ties making the cut after two rounds. There will be nine million dollars in the prize purse this weekend that players will be competing for, but on top of that, a lot of these players will be using this event as a tune up for next week's U.S Open. It’s a weaker field this week, but it will be headlined by Rory McIlroy and the three Canadians that have won on the PGA Tour, Corey Conners, Adam Svensson and Mackenzie Hughes.
The field will certainly be weaker than what we see on Major weekends, but there are still a lot of interesting names in the field, and will be playing a course that looks very scoreable on paper. Let’s dive in and see what we can learn about this track…
Event History:
Past 5 Winners @ The RBC Canadian Open:
2022: Rory McIlroy 2019: Rory McIlroy 2018: Dustin Johnson 2017: Jhonattan Vegas
2016: Jhonattan Vegas
2021 & 2020 were cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Lowest Winning Score: In 2018 Dustin Johnson went -23 in four rounds at Glen Abbey taking 265 strokes, but in 2019 Rory McIlroy shot -22 at Hamilton Golf and Country Club while only taking 258 strokes. But the actual record is held by Johnny Palmer who shot -25 back in 1952.
Largest Margin of Victory: In 1919 the event was won by 16 strokes, and in 1952 when Palmer set the scoring record for the event, he won the event by 11 strokes. More recently, Rory McIlroy won the event by seven strokes, which is the most dating back to Palmer’s win in 1952.
Playoff Information: This event has only gone to playoff holes three times since 2008 when RBC became the title sponsor of the event.
Scorecard:
Course Information:
As I mentioned, this event has been held at numerous locations throughout Canada, and we will be adding another one to the list this weekend. Oakdale Golf and Country Club will be hosting its first RBC Canadian Open and it is located in North York which is one of the six districts that make up the city of Toronto.
This will be a par 72 track playing off of an approximate 7,264 yards. Although that set up looks common, Oakdale is a unique par 72 layout with only three Par 3’s and three Pae 5’s, whereas most Par 72 tracks consist of four of each.
With this being a new course, we don’t have any official data on the course, but from what I have gathered, this track looks like it will be torn to shreds by these players. There are only three Par 4’s that play over 450 yards, and five that play under 400 yards. There is a par five that is under 500 yards, and the other two will be reachable in two for most if not all players in the field.
Off the tee we were going to see a lot of tree lined fairways that appear to be on the tighter side, with smaller greens that are a mix of bentgrass and poa seed. Most greens are protected by bunkers on the front side, and some have trees out the back, scaring players from going long. The approach game here is going to be huge, but we’ll talk more about that in a second.
Here in the Toronto area, we haven’t had rain in a couple of weeks, the grounds are dry and there isn’t any rain in the forecast leading up to the event. The shorter track and dryer conditions will have a lot of these guys flicking wedges into greens, I’m anticipating the winner to shoot somewhere around -20 or lower this weekend.
Players Path To Victory:
Strokes Gained: Off The Tee:
This is a course where distance isn’t going to be a major factor, and I will be prioritizing accuracy over distance as a lot of these fairways will be lined with trees, and off target drives could end up blocked from being able to approach the green.
Now this field is considerably weaker than normal, so the accuracy and distance combo might be hard to find this weekend, but if one of these bombers keeps the ball in the fairway, those players will have a massive advantage when it comes time to approach these smaller greens.
Strokes Gained: Approach:
The approach game is going to be everything this weekend. We’re going to see a lot of these approaches come from distances that most if not all of these players should be comfortable from.
As I mentioned earlier, a lot of these greens are protected by bunkers in the front, and trees in the back. This is to create depth perception issues to scare players from going long, and will cause some players to come up short landing in the traps.
Guys that want to be in the mix coming down the stretch on Sunday will have to trust their numbers, and get within birdie range consistently all four days. I don’t think one or two exceptional ball striking rounds will keep guys in the mix. The winner will likely be within the top 10 in the field in SG: Approach.
Par 4 Scoring:
This is another one I mentioned earlier, Oakdale is a different layout than most par 72 tracks, it has two extra par 4’s on the course, leaving only three par 5’s and three par 3’s. Neither the par 3’s or the par 5’s appear to be too difficult at this course, so I think this event will be won or lost on the par 4’s, specifically holes 3,4,5 and 6, all par 4’s playing over 450 yards.
Other Key Statistics:
Green In Regulation Percentage
Proximity To Hole
Par 4 Birdie or Better Percentage
SG: Putting
Par 5 Scoring Average
Official Picks:
Outrights:
Tyrell Hatton (+1200) - Bet365 - To Win 4.00u
Justin Rose (+1800) - FanDuel - To Win 4.00u
Tommy Fleetwood (+2500) - Bet365 - To Win 4.00u
Placements:
Tommy Fleetwood Top 20 (+120) Bet365 - To Win 1.00u
Mark Hubbard Top 40 (+120) Bet365 - To Win 1.00u
Lee Hodges Top 40 (+125) Bet365 - To Win 1.00u
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