Amid storm clouds, Canadian Open keeps shining
Heading into the RBC Canadian Open last year at Oakdale Golf & Country Club, many wondered how the latest edition of the tournament could possibly live up to the excitement that occurred 12 months earlier at nearby St. George’s.
Then, Rory McIlroy outduelled Tony Finau and Justin Thomas in a star-studded final grouping, with thousands of fans rushing to the brim of the 18th green to watch McIlroy put the finishing touches on a successful title defence that dated back to 2019 because of COVID cancellations. The tournament was played the same week as LIV Golf launched overseas in London and proved the perfect tonic for what ailed the PGA Tour at the time, with McIlroy saying he was determined to show fans what “real golf looked like.”
It was therefore thought that only another McIlroy victory — making him the first man to capture the tournament three times in a row — or a Canadian finally returning to the winner’s circle in 2023 could one-up the awesomeness of 2022. Of course, the latter outcome is exactly what occurred. Not only that, but Nick Taylor’s historic triumph came five days after the PGA Tour and Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) dropped a bombshell with its now infamous framework agreement announcement. Like McIlroy’s coronation, Taylor’s lifted a pall that had been cast over the proceedings.
So what do the tournament’s scriptwriters have in store this time? How does the hot streak continue at Hamilton Golf and Country Club? Because for all the trials and tribulations the RBC Canadian Open has faced — COVID, LIV, criticism of Oakdale’s setup and even the literal haze of smoke from Northern Ontario wildfires that moved in over Toronto last year — the tournament keeps producing fantastic finishes.
In fact, one could argue the ideal champion has emerged four times in a row.
First it was Dustin Johnson in 2018. He may be persona non grata with RBC now but at the time Wayne Gretzky’s son-in-law was the face of its tour staff. Then it was McIlroy in his tournament debut and him again amid all that LIV animosity. Followed by Taylor and his 72-foot putt.
What’s next? Mike Weir turning back the clock and making up for the one that got away 20 years ago at Glen Abbey?
The tournament got a bump before Christmas with McIlroy’s commitment. The prevailing thought after his three-peat bid came up short at Oakdale was that the Northern Irishman would have no compelling reason to return to Canada, especially with the event’s date now preceding a threeweek stretch of two mega-money signature events (Memorial, Travelers) sandwiching the U.S. Open. But mired in a long major drought, McIlroy revamped his schedule this year to play more golf leading up to the game’s four biggest tournaments. (It didn’t work at the Masters.) Plus, he had a good time winning at Hamilton five years ago.
Even better news would be an extension by title sponsor RBC, which is a stickier situation. Since LIV Golf first showed legitimacy with its poaching of Johnson, Brooks Koepka and Bryson DeChambeau not long before the St. George’s Open, RBC has had its foot on the brake pedal in that regard. Wisely, the bank’s decision-makers have been waiting and watching professional golf’s new landscape unfold and things haven’t gotten any more comforting with the recent scuttlebutt about a tiered tour that would further separate the game’s star players and events from its rank-and-file members and secondary stops.
Where would such a system under a three-headed monster of the PGA Tour, Strategic Sports Group and PIF leave the Canadian Open, which continues to be saddled with a date most hate? Furthermore, you can bet the apathy golf fans are showing toward the PGA Tour among all this rich-getting-richer talk — as proven by declining TV ratings — is not going unnoticed. It isn’t unreasonable, then, for RBC executives to be wondering whether they want their brand associated with such chaos, while recognizing how important the bank’s money has been to Canadian golf over the last 17 years and the goodwill that has generated among the game’s fans.
But those decisions are for the boardroom and big thinkers. Beginning just five weeks from now — which sounds crazy to say — let’s just enjoy the golf and see if our national men’s championship can deliver yet another banger.