The PGA Tour departs the Lone Star State and heads north of the border for the 2024 RBC Canadian Open at Hamilton Golf & Country Club in Ancaster, Ontario, Canada. Hamilton G&CC has been open for over 100 years and will host the Canadian Open for the seventh time in its illustrious history. Rory McIlroy won the last time the PGA Tour was in Hamilton in 2019, where he shot 9-under 61 on Sunday to win by seven strokes.
This year marks the 112th edition of the Canadian Open, one of the longest-running tournaments on the PGA Tour, with roots stemming back to 1904. Last year, Nick Taylor defeated Tommy Fleetwood in a playoff by rolling in a miraculous 72-foot birdie putt on the fourth playoff hole to become the first Canadian to win the event since Pat Fletcher in 1954. Taylor's victory will forever be etched in Canadian sports history and was undoubtedly one of the most iconic moments from the 2023 PGA Tour campaign.
The 156-player field teeing it up this week is headlined by several notable RBC ambassadors, such as McIlroy, Tommy Fleetwood, Shane Lowry, Sahith Theegala, Cameron Young, and Sam Burns. Tom Kim, Akshay Bhatia, Adam Scott, Alex Noren, defending champion Nick Taylor, and fellow Canadians Corey Conners, Taylor Pendrith, and Adam Hadwin are some other notable players in Hamilton. The top 65 and ties through 36 holes qualify for the weekend.
THE FIELD/ODDS
Rory McIlroy (+335), Tommy Fleetwood (+1400), Shane Lowry (+1800), Sahith Theegala (+2000), Corey Conners (+2000), and Alex Noren (+2000) enter the week as the betting favorites, according to BetRivers Sportsbook.
Adam Scott (+2500), Cameron Young (+2500), Sam Burns (+2500), Maverick McNealy (+3300), Tom Kim (+3300), Keith Mitchell (+4000), Mackenzie Hughes (+4000), Davis Thompson (+5000), Aaron Rai (+5000), Erik van Rooyen (+5000), Akshay Bhatia (+5000), and Adam Hadwin (+5000) are the rest of the players listed below 50/1 odds.
Doug Ghim (+6600), Nick Taylor (+6600), Taylor Pendrith (+6600), Daniel Berger (+8000), Nicolai Hojgaard (+8000), Robert MacIntyre (+8000), Kevin Yu (+8000), Ben Griffin (+8000), Adam Svensson (+8000), Matt Wallace (+8000), and Mark Hubbard (+8000) fill up the middle tier of the betting board.
Mac Meissner (+9000), Ryo Hisatsune (+9000), Sam Stevens (+10000), Ryan Fox (+10000), Ben Silverman (+10000), Michael Kim (+10000), Seamus Power (+10000), Kevin Tway (+10000), Eric Cole (+10000), Beau Hossler (+10000), Charley Hoffman (+10000), S.H. Kim (+10000), Thorbjorn Oleson (+10000), C.T. Pan (+10000), Greyson Sigg (+10000), K.H. Lee (+10000), Chan Kim (+10000), Luke List (+10000), Zach Johnson (+10000), Chesson Hadley (+10000), and Matt Kuchar (+10000) are the rest of the players under 100/1.
For the complete tournament odds board, click here .
*Odds subject to change*
PAST WINNERS
2023: Nick Taylor (-17) - Oakdale
2022: Rory McIlroy (-19) - Royal St. Georges
2019: Rory McIlroy (-22) - Hamilton
2018: Dustin Johnson (-23) - Glen Abbey
2017: Jhonattan Vegas (-21) - Glen Abbey
KEY STATS
SG: Approach
Fairways Gained
Birdies or Better Gained
Greens In Regulation
SG: Putting (Bentgrass)
SG: Par-3s (200+ Yards)
SG: Par-4s (400-450 Yards)
Proximity 100-125 Yards/125-150 Yards
SG: Total (Short Courses)
SG: Par-5s (500-550 Yards)
THE COURSE
Hamilton Golf & Country Club (Par 70) opened in 1914 and was designed by famed course architect Harry Colt, best known for creating iconic Open Championship venues Royal Portrush and Royal Liverpool. Hamilton G&CC is one of the shortest courses on the 2024 schedule, stretching only 7,084 yards (112 yards longer than in 2019) but has four-inch Kentucky Bluegrass rough and heavily undulated Bentgrass green complexes overseeded with Poa. The classical track also features tight tree-lined fairways (29 yards wide on average), 72 sand bunkers, 11 holes with water hazards, and greens that run at 11 feet on the stimpmeter.
Following the PGA Tour's most recent trip here in 2019, the course underwent a similarly extensive "restoration" to last week's Colonial Country Club. An $8.5 million process led by Martin Ebert led to brand-new green complexes for all 18 holes, a new irrigation system, and removing several greenside sand bunkers. The ideology behind the restoration wasn't to change the golf course but to fine-tune certain areas surpassed by modern technology and modern-day golfers. While the process extended over three years due to complications from COVID-19, Hamilton G&CC was named GolfDigest's 2023 Best Renovation of the Year. It's worth noting Ebert was also responsible for his restorations at Colt's Royal Portrush and Royal Liverpool.
With a par-70 layout this week, the course features 12 par-4s, four par-3s, and only two par-5s.
Among the 12 par-4s, six range between 400-460 yards, while three are shorter than 400 yards. Considering the lack of distance on most par-4s, players will often be left with short wedge shots into the greens. The 447-yard 18th hole was the toughest hole on the course in 2019.
Three of the four par-3s stretch over 200 yards, and all three ranked among the four most difficult holes last time here. Hamilton's par-3s will likely be among the most challenging PGA Tour players face this season. The 249-yard 6th hole is a monster, and the 209-yard 13th is set to be the 'The Rink', where a hockey-inspired atmosphere encapsulates the green.
Both par-5s are shorter than 580 yards and offer loads of birdies and eagles. The 578-yard 17th hole was the easiest hole on the course in 2019, carrying a 53.5 percent birdie rate. Nearly 40 percent of the field also made birdie at the 542-yard 4th hole.
Despite the course's lack of distance and McIlroy reaching 22-under in 2019, Hamilton G&CC isn't a cakewalk in terms of scoring difficulty. McIlroy went nuclear on Sunday to win by seven strokes, but only nine other players reached 10-under for the tournament. With heavy rainfall in the Ancaster area on Sunday and Monday, I believe low scores will be available during the opening round on Thursday. However, once the course begins to firm up and the fairway rough continues to grow, I believe Hamilton G&CC will provide a stern test and could play similarly to Oakdale last year. I expect the winning score to be around 18-under.
This week, I'll target players with a sturdy history on short courses who've been playing a clean game from tee to green and possess putting upside. Nine of the top-10 finishers in 2019 gained strokes to the field on the greens, so I believe it's important for players to separate themselves from the pack by capitalizing on birdie opportunities. A simple path of fairways, greens, and lots of made putts figures to be the recipe in Hamilton.
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