The RBC Canadian Open is going to be elevated, and the bank that backs the tournament appears to be prepared to open its vault in support.
“We’ve been ambitious for a while now.”
That’s the response of Mary DePaoli, RBC’s chief marketing officer, when asked about the possibility of becoming one of four tournaments the PGA Tour is considering as additional “elevated events” for the coming year. While DePaoli is cagey about several factors – the cost of becoming one of the elevated events and the impact it has on a renewal of the contract with Golf Canada that expires in 2023 – she’s clear as crystal when it comes to the bank’s interest in taking the Canadian Open to the next level.
“It is absolutely something we’re interested in, and we’re working with the PGA Tour to determine whether we can make that happen,” she said.
Before the Tour Championship, PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan announced the plan to elevate four tournaments for the 2022-23 season based on recommendations and commitments made by the tour’s top players, with the details of which events coming this fall. The purse for these tournaments would be $20 million, well above the $8.7 million offered for the 2022 RBC Canadian Open at St. George’s in June.
The “elevated” tournaments are a direct response to the rise of LIV Golf, the breakaway tour backed by Saudi money. The organization made a big splash in June, days before the RBC Canadian Open, when it landed some of golf’s biggest names, including Dustin Johnson. Poaching Johnson was a huge gut punch to the Canadian Open, as the golfer was a past champion used in the tournament’s marketing, as well as being sponsored by RBC. The tournament was peeling Johnson’s image off of a billboard near the first tee in the hours leading into the event, but LIV’s luring the golfer away set the course for the PGA Tour to respond with a new approach to its schedule and tournaments.
Beyond the increased purse, few details have been revealed about what elevating these tournaments might mean, including whether the additional elevated events might be rotated in different years to include more tournaments. The uncertainty is a big issue for the RBC Canadian Open, which has a few complicating factors beyond what’s typical for a PGA Tour tournament. After all, Golf Canada, Canada’s governing body for the sport, runs the tournament, while RBC is the bankroll that makes it happen. Given its legacy as a national open, the event also has a lot of latitude to offer exemptions to golfers from Canada, meaning top amateur players, many of whom play on Golf Canada’s national team, get their first access to the PGA Tour.
It is hard to imagine the PGA Tour won’t seriously consider RBC’s expression of interest in making the Canadian Open one of the four events. ... When it comes to backing professional golf, few eclipse RBC’s reach.
Will these tournaments have smaller fields? No cut? What about timing? The RBC Canadian Open already follows the Memorial, a tournament which the PGA Tour already has designated as one of its key events. Would RBC, Golf Canada and Oakdale be prepared to move to a different date next year?
Moreover, there’s the question of whether the Canadian-ness in the RBC Canadian Open would disappear should the PGA Tour make the tournament one of its four special events in 2023. The ability for Golf Canada to use sponsor exemptions to have 20 Canadians in the field this year likely will change going forward, especially if the field is limited in some way.
That doesn’t worry DePaoli. The bank is confident that spectators show up to watch the best players in the world, some of whom just happen to be native sons. Six Canadians made it into the FedEx Cup playoffs – Corey Conners, Taylor Pendrith, Mackenzie Hughes, Adam Hadwin, Adam Svensson and Nick Taylor. Two of them – Conners and Pendrith – are on the Presidents Cup squad, and three are in the top 100 in the Official World Golf Ranking.
Would they all get into an elevated event? That’s not clear. But the bitter truth is the fans who come to the RBC Canadian Open and fill the fairways of places such as St. George’s earlier this year and Oakdale in 2023 want to see Rory McIlroy, Justin Thomas and the game’s other transcendent stars more than a Canadian whom they might not even recognize.
It is hard to imagine the PGA Tour won’t seriously consider RBC’s expression of interest in making the Canadian Open one of the four events. Since the bank came on as a sponsor and saved the Canadian Open in 2007, the institution has made its presence well known in the sport. It backed the Heritage at Harbour Town when the tournament was on the cusp of folding, put money into sponsoring the Ryder Cup, and has poured cash into various Canadian golf programs in recent years. When it comes to backing professional golf, few eclipse RBC’s reach.
What does this mean to Golf Canada, which has worked with RBC for 15 years to bring the Canadian Open to the next level? After all, the RBC Canadian Open is the largest revenue generator for the organization, fuel it uses to support its other golf programs. The organization didn’t want to talk about the negotiations, instead issuing a statement: “We recognize the thoughtful consideration that has gone into these innovative developments for the evolution of the PGA Tour … and look forward to how this meaningful next chapter will positively impact Canada’s historical national open championship.”
In a few weeks, we’ll have answers to many of these questions. RBC is prepared to open its purse strings, and it is hard to imagine that the PGA Tour will ignore one of its biggest backers.
The case for elevating the RBC Canadian Open is clear. But if that happens, one of the game’s historic tournaments surely will not be the same – and that’s a good thing.
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