The field for the RBC Canadian Open will be one of the best in years, headlined by defending champion Rory McIlroy and world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler. But the list of players who won’t be at St. George’s Golf and Country Club in Toronto this week also is intriguing.
With No. 3 Cameron Smith and No. 5 Justin Thomas aboard, too, the Canadian Open is the fourth consecutive event on the PGA Tour with at least three top-five players in the world ranking.
Five others in the top 25 — McIlroy, Sam Burns, Matthew Fitzpatrick, Tony Finau and Tyrrell Hatton — also committed.
But the no-shows include Dustin Johnson, a past winner of the national championship who has been financially backed since 2018 by Canadian Open title sponsor Royal Bank of Canada. The American has decided to compete in England at the inaugural event of LIV Golf, a controversial upstart tour with rich prize pools fed by Saudi Arabian money.
Johnson’s choice seemed to come as a surprise to RBC, which issued a terse statement last Wednesday night acknowledging it was “extremely disappointed in his decision.” The tournament added that it was disappointed Johnson dropped out “at this late stage.” He had been featured in promotional material.
Johnson’s decision also hijacked the Canadian Open discussion last week in what should have been a celebratory run-up for a championship that is returning after a two-year hiatus – 1,093 days, to be exact.
Another player who has been sponsored by RBC, fan favourite Graeme McDowell, also is skipping the Canadian Open in favour of the LIV event near London.
By Thursday afternoon, RBC terminated its sponsorship agreement with both players because of their LIV participation. “We wish them well in their future endeavours,” the bank said in another brief statement.
But the show will go on, and by Thursday the focus will be back on the players who are actually at St. George’s competing in the world’s third-oldest national championship.
The Canadian Open shut down in 2020 and 2021 because of COVID-19 and travel restrictions at the U.S.-Canada border. Canada still requires non-Canadians entering the country to be fully vaccinated against the coronavirus.
Tournament organizers said Matt Kuchar and Webb Simpson, also in the RBC stable of sponsored players, will not play in Toronto this week because of the restrictions.
Burns, the second-hottest player on the PGA Tour this year after Scheffler, was among the last-minute additions. He has won three times this season, including a playoff victory over Scheffler at the Charles Schwab Challenge on May 29.
Thomas, fresh from a second career major title at the PGA Championship, is making his second start at the Canadian Open. He made his debut in 2019, the same year McIlroy also made his maiden appearance and surged with a final-round 61 at Hamilton Golf and Country Club in Ancaster, Ontario, to run away with a seven-shot victory. (Kuchar and Simpson had shared the third-round lead with McIlroy.)
Scheffler, who has won four times since February, will make his Canadian debut this week as the action shifts to St. George’s, another historic club that last hosted the Canadian Open in 2010. Other high-profile players on the tee sheet this week will include major champions Justin Rose, Shane Lowry and Patrick Reed.
The 21-man Canadian contingent will be healthy, led by PGA Tour winners Corey Conners, Mackenzie Hughes, Nick Taylor and Adam Hadwin.
Fellow Canadians Adam Svensson and Michael Gligic, both PGA Tour members, also are expected to play, as are veteran Mike Weir, making his 29th appearance, resurgent pro Albin Choi and Aaron Cockerill, Canada’s only regular on the DP World Tour. Cockerill received a sponsor’s exemption to compete in what will be his first PGA Tour event.
Some tickets remained available last week, including for Friday and Saturday when fans can also attend after-golf concerts in a high-school field next to St. George’s. Rapper Flo Rida will perform Friday, followed by pop band Maroon 5 on Saturday. Tournament organizers said last month that all the hospitality suites and corporate spaces have been sold out.
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Canadian Open qualifiers: More than 350 hopefuls took a crack at getting into the RBC Canadian Open through its four regional qualifying tournaments, held in British Columbia, Alberta, Ontario and Quebec.
Only the Ontario event had more than 100 entrants – the threshold for the medalist getting a direct pass into the Canadian Open. Brendan Leonard of Cambridge, Ontario, prevailed there.
At all four qualifiers, though, approximately the top 10 percent of finishers advanced to the final qualifier, also known as the Monday qualifier, which was scheduled for June 6 at Oakdale Golf and Country Club in Toronto.
Among the notable players moving on to the Monday qualifier were Canadian journeyman Derek Gillespie, one-time Canadian Open darling Victor Ciesielski, former amateur standout Chris Crisologo, and ex-PGA Tour player Brad Adamonis, a 49-year-old American.
At least the top four finishers at the Monday qualifier will gain berths into the RBC Canadian Open. For Oakdale, the qualifier is a bit of a dry run. It is to host the Canadian Open itself for the first time in 2023 and again in 2026.
Ottawa Hunt's recovery: The Ottawa Hunt and Golf Club was pummeled by a recent flash windstorm that passed through Ontario and Quebec, but it is expected to be ready for play well before the CP Women’s Open begins there in late August.
The club in the nation’s capital said in an Instagram post that it received “severe and extensive damage to our beautiful course.” Hundreds of trees were toppled or harmed. More than 50 of the club’s members volunteered to help with the repairs, which were expected to take about two weeks.
Ottawa Hunt last staged the national championship and LPGA Tour event in 2017. This year’s edition begins Aug. 25, and its field is expected to feature Brooke Henderson, an honorary club member and Canada’s top female player.
Stollery family's donation: A Toronto-area business family with a long history in golf and philanthropy has donated $2 million to ensure that Canada continues to have a coach for the women’s national amateur team and the women’s Olympic golf team for the next 30 years.
The gift from the Stollery family is the first of its kind among Canadian national sport federations. “Our family recognizes and values the critical role that women’s golf and high-performance coaching can have on the overall growth of a sport that has meant so much to us all,” family representative Cailey Stollery said.
The national team coaching position is held by Salimah Mussani, a former amateur champion and touring pro who was promoted in May after serving as assistant coach under Tristan Mullally, who transitioned into the role of national talent identification director.
The Stollerys’ business roots and interests go back a couple of generations in mining, clothing, farming and horse racing. But the family also has been active in golf, with Cailey’s father, the late Gordon Stollery, building the public Angus Glen and private Goodwood golf clubs north of Toronto.
Angus Glen has staged the RBC Canadian Open twice, as well as the CP Women’s Open, the 2015 Pan American Games golf competition and the World Junior Girls Championship.
Canadian spirits: Once a vintner, Mike Weir has gone into the beer business. The Canadian golfing legend recently launched a craft lager called, appropriately, Weir Beer.
In keeping with the 52-year-old’s dedication to fitness, the beer is low-alcohol, low-carb and low-calorie. Weir developed the suds in conjunction with Shawn & Ed Brewing Co. of Dundas, Ontario. He described the crisp lager as a “great after-round beer.”
It’s sold at the brewer’s Dundas operation, at Liquor Control Board of Ontario outlets, some grocery stores, and about 30 golf courses, including Huron Oaks in his hometown of Sarnia, Ontario.
The PGA Tour’s Graham DeLaet of Saskatchewan also has his own beer venture, Prairie Baard, a golden ale that he describes as a “blue-collar craft” beer.
Weir, an eight-time winner on the PGA Tour, Masters champion and now a PGA Tour Champions regular, was in the wine business for more than a decade in Ontario’s winery-rich Niagara region. But that venture ended messily after radio host Bob McCown bought out Weir in 2017 and the winery went under, with Weir owed a reported $2.2 million.
While he owned the wine business, Weir directed its proceeds into his charitable foundation.
Henderson returns to LPGA: Brooke Henderson returned to action last week at the U.S. Women’s Open after missing a month with an undisclosed illness.
The 10-time LPGA winner, usually an iron woman who rarely misses a start, withdrew before the second round of the Lotte Championship in April with an illness, then missed the cut in her next two starts before taking a break. The Toronto Star confirmed her absence was because of illness, but didn’t disclose its exact nature. “Listening to your body and knowing when to take a step back is key for any athlete,” she told the Star.
The Star story said Henderson plans to play the next three LPGA Tour events.