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RBC Canadian Open Each-Way Tips: Finau can flourish

Dave Tindall
07 June 2022
4:00 min read

Tony Finau is back in form

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The PGA Tour crosses the border and Dave Tindall has three each-way tips for the action at St George's G&CC...

"This is a new course to virtually everyone but Finau has always had plenty of success when stepping outside of the United States."

Back Tony Finau each-way @ 26.025/1

Main Bet: Tony Finau each-way @ 29.028/1

Traditionally played the week after the Open Championship, the Canadian Open moved to a pre-US Open slot in 2019.

If that hasn't really registered yet it's because the last two editions were cancelled due to Covid.

Rory McIlroy romped to a seven-shot win over Shane Lowry and Webb Simpson three years ago but the Northern Irishman will have to defend on a different track.

That 2019 edition took place at Hamilton but this year the tournament returns to St George's Golf & Country Club, a venue last used in 2010 when another European, Carl Petterson of Sweden, lifted the silverware.

Petterson shot 14-under and won by a shot from Dean Wilson, with Luke Donald in third.

Given the make-up of the podium, it's no surprise to remind ourselves that St George's is a short par 70 measuring just 7,014 yards.

It's tree-lined with elevated bentgrass greens although hitting them in the right number didn't seem very important in 2010, with Petterson ranked 48th, Wilson 52nd and Donald 39th.

However, Wilson and Donald were the two best scramblers on the week while Pettersson and Wilson were both in the top six for Putting Average.

Is that of any use though? The greens have been redesigned since 2010 (there was a 2014 revamp) and a lot of the slope taken out.

As with other pre-Major events, there's also been a deliberate decision to try and make the course act as a useful warm-up for next week's US Open.

Therefore, the rough is thicker than it is at an average PGA Tour track and the greens will roll faster than they did in 2010.

Ian McQueen, the club's superintendent, told pgatour.com: "Off the tee it's pretty forgiving, but the greens are dynamic and small and surrounded by bunkers and thick rough. A good long game is going to do well here."

But with green sizes small and the surfaces fast, a sharp short game wouldn't go amiss either.

It's not an easy week for punters and potential bets aren't jumping out but I'm happy to play Tony Finau at 25/1.

The first four months of the calendar year were pretty underwhelming for Big Tone but he's definitely found his stride in recent times.

He ranked 1st for Strokes Gained: Tee To Green when runner-up at the Mexico Open four starts ago and after a strong closing 68 secured a top 30 finish at the US PGA, Finau was fourth at the Charles Schwab Challenge last time out.

Colonial Country Club doesn't seem a million miles different to this week's test and Finau likes Bentgrass greens as he showed when ranking 17th for SG: Putting at the Charles Schwab. He was also second for Scrambling there.

This is a new course to virtually everyone but Finau has always had plenty of success when stepping outside of the United States.

His first win was in Puerto Rico while he's made all four Canadian Open cuts and was fifth at Glen Abbey on his penultimate start in this event in 2017.

After his second place in Mexico, Finau said: "I've been hitting it really nicely all week. My iron play has been exceptional. I made some adjustments kind of before Augusta and I'm kind of seeing the fruits of it now a few weeks later now.

"Sometimes that's all it takes, a little tweak in your setup and all of a sudden you're hitting the back of the ball better and able to shape the ball. So a little tweak in my setup that I made and it's been working nicely."

Next Best: Adam Hadwin each-way @ 34.033/1

Adam Hadwin is my second pick at 33/1.

As a Canadian this is clearly a big deal for him so both eyes are on the task in hand rather than next week's US Open. That's something you maybe can't say about the very top names.

Hadwin has played his home Open on 10 occasions and he started out at this course in 2010 when ranked 658th in the world.

He performed admirably too, opening 68-66 over the first 36 holes and finishing tied for 37th.

Hadwin followed that with a fourth place at Shaughnessy in 2011 and he's since added seventh at Glen Abbey in 2015 and sixth at Hamilton when the event was last staged in 2019.

In other words, despite the event moving from course to course, he's been able to find good results on a variety of Canadian Open tracks.

This year, the 34-year-old finished fourth at the Texas Open the week before The Masters and that followed seventh at the Valspar and ninth at The Players Championship.

He also recovered well from an opening 76 last week to post a top 20 at the Memorial Tournament.

On the stats he's 30th on Approach and 18th Around The Green and that looks a good combination for this course. As does the fact that he's straighter (46th Driving Accuracy) than he is long (125th Driving Distance).

The course also has five par 3s so it's reassuring to find him sat 13th in Par 3 Scoring Average.

Add up all the elements and he can give us a good run for our money at 33/1.

At the front end of the market, Scottie Scheffler (8/1), Justin Thomas (9/1) and Rory McIlroy (9/1) are all single-figure prices.

Cameron Smith is 11/1, with Sam Burns 14s.

Matt Fitzpatrick should enjoy this test but 18s reflects that and it's worth recalling that he's yet to win on American soil.

Final Bet: Brendon Todd each-way @ 67.066/1

For my third and final pick, I'll side with Brendon Todd.

The fact that the course is only 7,000 and a bit yards brings Todd into the crosshairs as he's extremely accurate (5th DA) but very short (201st DD).

The 36-year-old won twice in 2019, both victories achieved on little layouts at the Bermuda Championship and Mayakoba.

They also came within a few weeks of each other which means there's evidence to believe that he can put in another big performance following a third place at the Charles Schwab Challenge a fortnight ago.

Todd was 8th for SG: Off The Tee, 17th Tee To Green and 5th for SG: Putting at Colonial and no-one found more fairways.

Also eighth in the Texas Open at the beginning of April, the American ranks 22nd in Par 3 Scoring. He's also 12th for the season in Scrambling.

If Colonial is a good pointer, his comments there two weeks ago bode well. Todd said: "It was a great week. This is my favourite course on tour. It's a place I feel like I can contend, and I've done that again.

"I lost by two in '14 and one today. Length is not as big of an advantage here as other weeks. I love the shot making about this golf course.

"It's tough because I feel like if I had just a couple things go my way today, I would have been the clear winner. It's definitely disappointing.

"But my game feels good, so I feel like it was definitely a huge positive step in the right direction, and looking forward to having a good summer."

Let's hope those words play out here.