RBC Canadian Open: Quail Hollow likely to provide clues

• Rory seeks the threepeat

• Oakdale a similar test to last year's venue

• Read my Scandinavian Mixed preview here

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Tournament History

The Canadian Open dates all the way back to 1904 and this will be the 112^th edition. It's the third oldest national open and prior to the establishment of the PGA Tour it was one of the most prestigious tournaments in the world.

The Canadian Open was once referred to as the unofficial fifth major but having been played in the week immediately following the Open Championship, it was struggling to attract the marquee names.

The tournament was switched to a new slot - one week before the US Open - in 2019 and the fields have improved markedly as a result - although we've only had two renewals since.

Rory McIlroy has won the last two editions but due to the pandemic, he had to wait three years to defend his title 12 months.

Having won at Hamilton in 2019, and St. George's Golf and Country Club last year, Rory will attempt to land the threepeat at another new venue - the Oakdale Golf and Country Club in Ontario - which is hosting the event for the very first time.

Oakdale will also host the event in 2026 - it's centenary year.

Venue

Oakdale Golf and Country Club, Toronto, Ontario.

Course Details

Par 72, 7264 yards

There are three nine-hole courses at Oakdale - the Thompson, the Homenuik and the Knudson.

The club was founded in 1926 and Stanley Thompson was immediately hired to craft the initial nine holes (the Thompson), with the designer adding another nine a few years later (the Homenuik). Canadian designer, Robbie Robinson, added the final nine (the Knudson) in 1957 and renowned architect, Ian Andrew, restored all 27 holes with Thompson's vision in mind in 2018.

Trees were removed to open up vistas, bunkers were restored, and alterations were made to Robinson's nine to make it more in line with Thompson's vision of the property. This week's course is a composite of the three.

Oakdale Golf and Country Club is a traditional tree-lined classic parkland style course over tumbling land, quietly situated in a populated urban setting. The picturesque Black Creek runs throughout the property.

There's an excellent hole-by-hole course tour of this week's layout on Oakdale's website here.

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Weather Forecast

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TV Coverage

Live on Sky Sports all four days, starting at 17:00 UK time on Thursday.

Last Six Winners with Exchange Prices

• 2022 - Rory McIlroy -19 11.010/1
• 2020 & 2021 cancelled due to the pandemic
• 2019 - Rory McIlroy -22 13.012/1
• 2018 - Dustin Johnson -23 7.413/2
• 2017 - Jhonattan Vegas -21 (playoff) 180.0179/1
• 2016 - Jhonattan Vegas -12 150.0149/1
• 2015 - Jason Day -17 10.09/1

Is There an Angle In?

It's never easy when a tournament moves to a new venue, but last year's edition should provide plenty of clues for this year's renewal.

Like Oakdale, the 2022 venue, St. George's Golf and Country Club, is a Stanley Thompson designed traditional, tree-lined parkland course that's been very recently renovated, with the original design ethic in mind, by Ian Andrew.

St. George's opened three years after Oakdale and Andrew renovated the course after it had staged the Canadian Open in 2010.

Unsurprisingly, St George's and Oakdale are visually very similar, and it would be no surprise at all to see last year's form hold up well.

Quail Hollow Worth Considering

Given the obvious similarities between St George's and Oakdale, form at Quail Hollow, the host course for the Wells Fargo Championship, looks well worth considering.

Rory, who made his first successful title defence of his career at St George's 12 months ago is a Quail Hollow specialist and the man who was matched at a low of 2.01/1 before finishing third last year, Justin Thomas, won the first of his two US PGA Championships at Quail Hollow back in 2017.

Justin Rose, who finished fourth last year, has two thirds and a fifth placed finish at Quail Hollow, last year's sixth, Corey Connors, finished eighth at the Wells Fargo in May and Wyndham Clark, who got off the mark on the PGA Tour at Quail Hollow in May, was the halfway leader at St George's 12 months ago, before he eventually finished seventh.

And alongside Clark in a tie for seventh at St George's was Keith Mitchell, the man that led the 2021 Wells Fargo by two strokes through 54-holes, before he was caught and passed by McIlroy.

Nobody has ever gone on to win the US Open having won the week before but that's a quirky stat that really doesn't warrant much respect.

Keep a close eye on the US Open market?

As was the case last year, the US Open immediately follows the Canadian Open so watch that market carefully as anyone in-contention here will shorten up dramatically for the year's third major.

This event proved to be a decent little warm up last year as the winner, Rory, went on to finish tied for fifth at Brookline, and last year's US Open winner, Matt Fitzpatrick, finished tied for 10^th in this event but he was sitting tied for second at halfway.

Should we Swerve the Locals?

No Canadian has won this event since Pat Fletcher way back in 1954 but the locals often contend and one or two often finish the week in the places.

Corey Connors finished sixth from off the pace 12 months ago, Adam Hadwin began the final round trailing by just a stroke four years ago but faded to finish sixth, and Mackenzie Hughes was 8^th in 2018.

Mike Weir was matched at 1.041/25 in-running back in 2004, having led by three with a round to go, so if any of them get into contention again this time around they may well be worth taking on.

Market Leaders

Rory McIlroy heads the market and understandably so given he's in search of his third Canadian Open win in-a-row in his third start in the event.

The world number three, who absolutely thrives at Quail Hollow, is almost certain to take to the venue and he'll be extremely keen to move on from his frustrating finish at Muirfield Village on Sunday.

Having gone into round four tied for the lead, Rory finished tied for seventh, the same position he occupied at the US PGA Championship two weeks prior, so he's in fine fettle but his wedges just weren't dialled in and he cut a frustrated figure as he tried desperately to make up the shots required after the turn.

He ended the week four short of the playoff after three bogeys in-a-row from the 12^th but it wouldn't surprise me in the least if he put that behind him and dotted up here.

Last week's seventh was his third best performance in 12 spins around Muirfield and it was his best result there since he was fourth in 2016 (also fifth in 2011) so it's not a course that really suits him anyway and I couldn't help but feel a bit of sympathy for him when Nicklaus publicly declared that they needed 'a talk sometime'.

Rory McIlroy greets Jack Nicklaus as he leaves 18 green @MemorialGolf pic.twitter.com/IQDYALuLJ6

? Golf on CBS ⛳ (@GolfonCBS) June 4, 2023

Rory looked a bit awkward and maybe even offended by Nicklaus' comments and rightly so. He's well overdue another major win but at 34 he's no wet-behind-the-ears rookie.

It was just one of those days on Sunday and Jack's comments could easily provoke a response.

Following Viktor Hovland at Mayakoba (T10), Sam Burns at Copperhead (T6) and K.H. Lee at TPC Craig Ranch (T50), Rory is the fourth man this season to attempt a threepeat at a PGA Tour event and he might just be frustrated enough to go out and do it but at just 5/16.00, I'm happy to watch him do so without any of my cash weighing him down.

Tyrrell Hatton, who finished third at Quail Hollow back in May, was a bit disappointing last week, finishing tied for 12^th and he's just a bit too short for my liking too.

The High Wycombe born whinger doesn't stop grumbling on the course as the world contrives against him and while that doesn't appear to affect his game too much, it's now over two years and more than 60 starts since he last won so the 14/115.00 is short enough.

The WGC World Matchplay winner, Sam Burns, is a solid enough contender having finished fourth in the event 12 months ago and sixth and 16^th in his last two starts and next week's defending champion, Matt Fitzpatrick, caught the eye last week too.

The RBC Heritage winner was beaten by the five strokes he trailed the playoff protagonists by after round one, so it was a decent week after a slow start but I'm happy to leave him out of my plans before the off.

None of the market leaders make much appeal but I do like one or two at triple-figure prices so I'll be back later today or tomorrow with a selection or two in this event for the Find me a 100 Winner column.

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*You can follow me on Twitter @SteveThePunter