First staged in 1904, this tournament has taken place every year since – barring breaks for the two World Wars and the global health crisis of 2020/21. Taking place in June, the event is the third oldest continually running tournament on the PGA Tour – lying behind only The Open Championship and the US Open. Organised by the PGA Tour in partnership with Golf Canada, the Canada Open is also the only national championship to fall under PGA management.
Held in extremely high regard for much of its lifespan, the event was often referred to as the “fifth major” and boasts legendary names such as Sam Snead, Byron Nelson, Arnold Palmer, Lee Trevino, Greg Norman, and Tiger Woods on its roll of honour.
Rather than having a fixed home, the tournament has moved around various Canadian courses, most commonly in the Ontario and Quebec areas. The Glen Abbey Golf Club has been the most frequent destination, with the Hamilton Golf and Country Club, Royal Montreal Golf Club, and St George’s Golf and Country Club amongst the other venues to have hosted multiple editions of this historic event. Leo Diegel dominated the early editions, with the Hall of Fame US star registering four wins during the 1920s. In more recent times, Rory McIlroy picked up his first win in 2019 and, following a two-year enforced break for the tournament, returned to successfully defend his title in 2022.
Past Winners
| Year | Course | Winner |
|---|---|---|
| 2023 | Oakdale Golf & Country Club | Nick Taylor |
| 2022 | St George’s Golf & Country Club | Rory McIlroy |
2023: Nick Taylor
The 2023 edition of this 119-year-old tournament will go down in the history books as buoyed by the support of a nation as Nick Taylor became the first Canadian to win the event since Pat Fletcher back in 1959. Previously successful in the Sanderson Farms Championship (2014) and AT&T Pebble Beach (2020), Taylor’s third Tour victory is comfortably the biggest of them all – and he could scarcely have secured the trophy in a more thrilling style.
Such a momentous triumph certainly looked a long way off at the end of the opening day, as a labouring Taylor managed only a three-over-par 75 to sit way back in 120th place. Bouncing back with a Friday 67, a bogey-free round of 63 on Saturday, then saw Taylor sitting just three back headed into Sunday. CT Pan led the way on 14 under, two shots clear of Tommy Fleetwood and Mark Hubbard.
With Pan and Hubbard struggling to get anything going on the final day, Taylor’s score of 66 was good for the clubhouse lead of 17 under for the tournament. However, Fleetwood was emerging as a major threat. Three shots back with three to play, exquisite wedge play saw the Englishman birdie the 16th and 17th to draw level ahead of the par-five 18th, which had been playing as the easiest hole of the week. Needing a birdie to lift the trophy, Fleetwood had to settle for par and a playoff, having veered right from the tee and with his second shot.
Keeping pace to go birdie, par, par over the first three playoff holes, the magical moment came at the fourth. With Fleetwood assessing a birdie putt from around 12ft, Taylor was aiming to put the pressure on when lining up his eagle effort from 72ft across the green. He did much better than merely applying the pressure, however: sensationally sinking the putt to send the home crowd into raptures.
In addition to etching his name into Canadian sporting legend, Taylor picked up $1.62m in prize money and moved up to 44th in the Official Gold Rankings. For Fleetwood, the wait for a first PGA Tour success was extended, with this representing his fifth runners-up finish. In a solid event for the English players, Tyrrell Hatton and Aaron Rai joined C.T. Pan on 16 under to finish in a tie for third.
2022: Rory McIlroy
Due to events elsewhere, the PGA Tour desperately needed a big week at the 2022 RBC Canadian Open. Wow, did the tournament deliver! A final grouping of Rory McIlroy, Justin Thomas and Tony Finau was as good as the PGA Tour could have hoped for and they were cheered on the whole way by some of the best fans of the year. It was clear from earlier in the week that the Canadian fans were cheering for Rory McIlroy and he did not let them down by securing the first successful defence of a PGA Tour title in his career.
For once, the often frustrating McIlroy was at his brilliant best during all four days of a tournament. If one area of his game was off he was able to compensate elsewhere. A case in point was his putting on the Sunday. The final round was the only one in which McIlroy lost strokes to the field on the greens but his iron and wedge play was able to pick up the slack as he fired in a stunning 62.
Amazingly, 62 was not the lowest score of the day. Justin Rose somehow missed two putts from three feet to fall one short of breaking the magical 60 mark while both Thomas and Finau took advantage of the perfect conditions to keep the pressure on McIlroy and ensure a thrilling finish. The worst score of the final three-ball was 64 and yet McIlroy was able to separate himself to give the PGA Tour a much welcome shot in the arm.