The PGA Tour Is Off To Toronto For The RBC Canadian Open At Oakdale Country Club

Michael Reaves. Getty Images.

Note: I wrote all of this a couple of hours before yesterday's news broke. To summarize it clearly: holy shit.

The PGA Tour jumps up to America's hat for a final tune-up before next week's US Open in LA. The Canadian Open is actually the world's 3rd oldest national championship, dating back to 1904… so it's full of rich history. Historically it has gone through stints where it's rotated annually and stuck at specific venues for numerous years (Glen Abbey being the clear example there), but this year we're at Oakdale Country Club for the first time, which is in the greater Toronto metropolitan area.

Last year's Canadian Open was one of the best events of the year, as Rory outdueled Tony Finau and JT at a really opportune time for the PGA Tour. LIV Golf had just launched its first event in London the same week, and a tight finish with 3 studs going low on the weekend in Canada was exactly what the doctor ordered. Rory's 65-62 finish helped to defend his Canadian Open title from back in 2019, as COVID canceled this event in 2020 and 2021. So yeah… nobody but Rory has won this event since DJ won at Glen Abbey in 2018.

Last year's leaderboard and recent winners of the Canadian Open…

2022 Leaderboard

Recent Winners

The Course

Oakdale Country Club is a classic Canadian club established in 1926 featuring 27 holes - 18 of which were designed by Stanley Thompson, who also designed last year's course at St. George's. 9 more holes were added in the last 1950's, so the club has 27 total holes. As we often see in that type of scenario, we're getting a composite routing of these holes, meaning it's a mix and match of the 27 available holes.

As you can gather from the diagram above, it's a classic Northeast parkland layout with tons of tree-lined fairways. It has all the makings of a PGA Tour course that would eat you and I alive for a snack, but give these guys no trouble whatsoever. It's giving me big time Detroit Country Club vibes, which routinely has the winner coming in around -25. Hell, at relatively meager 7,264 yards this course is about 100 yards shorter than that one, and gives these guys even more freedom to miss a fairway here and there. Because it's going to be a ton of driver-wedges, they've grown the rough out quite a bit… but when you're about a hundred out and can bring the type of clubhead speed that these guys do, that doesn't typically prove to be all that penalizing. The composite routing is said to provide a tougher test on the front 9 especially holes 3-6) than the back, so prepare yourself for a birdiefest down the stretch. The 18th hole, in particular, is an interesting one as it's listed as a Par 5 at 496… which seems bananas but this course was actually used as a Monday qualifier course for last year's Canadian Open and the scoring average was exactly 5.00. Sure, that was coming from lesser players, but it goes to show that it's a tough hole even at that shorter length for a par 5. Great reminder that par is just a construct.

Best Hole - 14th hole Par 3, 172 yards

h/t Beyond The Contour, who did a really great review of the course HERE

Ok so this hole doesn't necessarily have a lot to it… slightly uphill par 3, short to mid iron for most players, front bunkers, etc etc… but it's where the Canadian Open is putting The Rink… which is an awesome wrinkle they've thrown in every year for the Canadian Open. Line the teebox with hockey boards, throw a hockey sweater on, and let the crowd rock. I love little one-off things like this that make events unique.

Vaughn Ridley. Getty Images.

Get a load of the crowd going NUTS for Rory last year on Saturday.

The Weather

Might be a bit brisk out there in the mornings. Lingering rain might be a factor. Otherwise, not much to touch on here.

The Coverage

CBS it is.

Featured groups to come.

Obligatory Tiger Ridiculousness

Tiger has made a ton of big time shots in his career, but none were ballsier than this one on the 72nd hole of the 2000 Canadian Open. 6-iron from 218 over water from a wet fairway bunker to win his 5th goddamn tournament in his last 7. The PGA Tour did an awesome oral history of the shot HERE. Give it a read. 

The Trophy 

Minas Panagiotakis. Getty Images.

This hardware is all class. Beautiful looking trophy with some distinctive features - the iconic Canadian maple up top, the leather handles on the sides, and a base with the winner's engraved on the rings.

Minas Panagiotakis. Getty Images.

As more years go by, more rings get added. Sounds a lot like the Stanley Cup to me, which is more than fitting. The top pops right off of it too. I give it a very solid 8.6. 

The Board

Rory is a clear cut favorite here at +400 at the Barstool Sportsbook as he goes for a 3-peat in Canada. Despite a tough result on Sunday, he showed last week that he was back on the horse by staking himself to a 54-hole co-lead. This tournament is against a weaker field in a setting he typically thrives in, so the short number makes sense.

However I'm going to go out on a limb (again) and say this is the one where Cameron Young gets it done. He's +1400 and hasn't teed it up since the PGA where he MC'd… but I like the course fit for him too much to lay off. He can bomb and gouge the everliving shit out of this place. He grew up playing northeast tracks just like this one and he finished T-2 last year at the Rocket Mortgage, which is the course this place resembles most closely. He's sniffed around too many leads to not break through, and there's only a couple big time threats in this field. I'm on Cam until he does it because he's gonna do it and it midas whale be this one.

Other Plays

Cam Young Top 5 +300 - See above. Cam will eat.

Sahith Theegala To Win +2800/Top 10 - Not in all that different of a boat than Cam Young

Keith Mitchell To Win +4000/Top 10 +350 - Bomb and gouge style should play well here.

Ludvig Aberg Top 10 +550 - 1st PGA Tour card-earner for the new PGA Tour U exemption, and he tore it up in college at Texas Tech. His first start as a pro.

Akshay Bhatia Top 10 +900 - Has a couple top 10's this year and seems to play better at the shorter tracks. I'm a big believer in him in general.

Nick Taylor Top Canadian +650 - There's 19 Canadians in this field, and Corey Conners is the heavy favorite among them. Nick Taylor had the near miss at Scottsdale earlier this year, and should pop for his home championship.

That's what I got this week. Little programming note, apologies for missing the last couple weeks and appreciate those who reached out. Means a lot that these things were missed, and I missed writing them. Made a big career change last week so I've been in the deep end with that… but I'm up and running and have the bandwidth to get back to the usual. On that note shameless plug, connect with me if you're in the accounting/finance realm and have needs.

God bless, and enjoy the Canadian Open.