RBC Canadian Open
Course: TPC Toronto at Osprey Valley -- North Course (7,389 yards, par 70)
Purse: $9,800,000
Winner: $1,764,000 and 500 FedExCup Points
Tournament Preview
National Opens are a big part of the golf calendar and carry a certain level of prestige. The Canadian Open is one of the more historic that dates all the way back to 1904. It has been a prominent part of the PGA Tour schedule for years and has found a good identity being the lead into the U.S. Open. The Canadian Open has been hosted at over 35 different venues, but this year will head back to TPC Toronto at Osprey Valley. This is the second in a three-year deal for the North Course to host the RBC Canadian Open.
For years the biggest storyline going into the Canadian Open was can a native son break the drought, but that was put to rest back in 2023 when Nick Taylor prevailed in dramatic fashion at Oakdale. Taylor was the first Canadian to win this national open since 1954. The RBC Canadian Open has had a very international feel the last several years with only one American winning this event in the last 10 editions (Dustin Johnson in 2018). Ryan Fox from New Zealand will be back to defend his title at the same course after taking down Sam Burns in a playoff last year.
This is a pretty stellar field considering this event is sandwiched between a Signature Event and a major. There's also another Signature Event the week after the U.S. Open. Seven players in the Top 20 of the OWGR will be in the field this week led by No. 4 Matt Fitzpatrick. The Englishman is already a three-time winner on the PGA Tour this season, including the other RBC event on the schedule at Harbour Town. Fellow top Englishmen Justin Rose (No. 6), Tommy Fleetwood (No. 7) and Aaron Rai (No. 13) will join Fitzpatrick in the field. Collin Morikawa and Viktor Hovland also return to action this week after both elected to skip the Memorial Tournament.
Scoring has been pretty good of late at the RBC Canadian Open with an average winning score of -17.5 over the last four years. Last year at TPC Toronto Fox and Burns posted 18-under-par after 72 holes, while the field averaged 68.745 for the week at this par 70. It also took at least a score of three-under-par to make the weekend. This week the weather could be a bit dodgy. Saturday's third round looks to be the only tournament round that will likely be unaffected by precipitation. The course should be receptive, but gusts are expected to be up over 20 mph in each round, which will make pulling the right club tricky.
Recent Champions
2025 - Ryan Fox (-18) at TPC Toronto at Osprey Valley
2024 - Robert MacIntyre (-16) at Hamilton Golf and Country Club
2023 - Nick Taylor (-17) at Oakdale Golf and Country Club
2022 - Rory McIlroy (-19) at St. George's Golf and Country Club
2021 - No Tournament
2020 - No Tournament
2019 - Rory McIlroy (-22) at Hamilton
2018 - Dustin Johnson (-23) at Glen Abbey
2017 - Jhonattan Vegas (-21) at Glen Abbey
2016 - Jhonattan Vegas (-12) at Glen Abbey
Key Stats to Victory
- SG: Off-the-Tee/Driving Distance
- SG: Putting/Putts per GIR
- SG: Approach/GIR Percentage
- Par 4 Scoring/Proximity 50-125 Yards/Proximity 200-225 Yards
Champion's Profile
The North Course at TPC Toronto was redone prior to last year's tournament to be able to challenge the best players in the world. It features a number of lengthy par-4s with six measuring at over 480 yards. Three of those are on the back nine (13, 16 and 17) and were the three toughest holes on the golf course a year ago. With only a pair of par-5s on the card, par-4 scoring should prove to be pretty important this week.
Looking through some of the top finishers from last year, one thing was pretty clear, bombers are going to thrive on this course. Ryan Fox, Sam Burns, Kevin Yu, Cameron Young, Byeong Hun An and Cameron Champ all finished in the top 10 and were some of the longest hitters on Tour last season. SG: Off-the-Tee and driving distance will be a pretty critical stat to look at. The fairways at this course are wide and there isn't a ton of trouble to worry about. You gotta rip driver around this place.
Putting was always strongly correlated to success last year. Matt McCarty led the field in SG: Putting last year at TPC Toronto on his way to a T4 finish. Burns, Yu and Young were also top 10 for the week in SG: Putting. The greens are quite large at this course and the average GIR percentage will be pretty high, especially compared to what we saw a week ago at Muirfield Village. Avoiding three-putts will be at a premium, but capitalizing on opportunities with the putter is also a must. We are expecting to see some pretty good scoring again this season.
The last area I'm really going to be focusing on is iron play. The 150-200 yard range is typically the most common range of approaches on the PGA Tour, but that was not the case last year at TPC Toronto. Most of the approaches here were either flick wedges or long irons. Proximity from 50-125 yards and 200-225 yards will be the two main areas I'm focusing on in approach models this week.
FanDuel Value Picks
The Chalk
Tommy Fleetwood ($12,000)
Fleetwood briefly held the lead late at the Memorial last week before settling for a T4 following a bogey on the 71st hole. That was his second top-5 finish in his last three starts and his sixth top 10 on the campaign. It's hard to find any area of Fleetwood's game that he is not performing well in, which is why he is the rightful favorite this week. This is also an event that he has finished T6-2nd-T21 at in his career.
Sam Burns ($11,700)
Burns was the top ranked player in my model this week. He is coming off a strong T4 showing at the Memorial where he performed very well approaching the green and with the putter. Burns' combination of distance and putting makes him the exact type of build we are looking for at TPC Toronto, which is why he finished second here last year. Burns has a total of three top-10s in four career starts in this event. He is also first in this field in strokes gained on Bentgrass and strokes gained on par-4s over the last 12 months.
Wyndham Clark ($11,400)
Clark has certainly locked in after a slow start to the season. He now has five top-25s in his last six starts, including a win and a solo third last week at the Memorial. A lot of that recent success has to do with the putter finally coming back around to go with the strong iron play that has been there all year. I mentioned two key approach proximities for me this week were 50-125 and 200-225 yards. Clark ranks third and eighth in those this season, respectively. He is also second in putts per GIR, which makes him a strong option if this turns into a birdie fest.
The Middle Tier
Nicolai Hojgaard ($10,900)
Hojgaard was a little high for this range, but I wanted to do a write up for him because I think he brings a lot of value at this price and what should be lower ownership than normal coming off a missed cut. Hojgaard was third in my model and is up that high because of his ability to bomb it, flush his long irons and pop with the putter. The Dane disappointed me in his last two starts, but the data has to start winning out soon. If Hojgaard does the things he has done well all year, TPC Toronto should line up as an excellent course fit.
Alex Fitzpatrick ($10,300)
Fitzpatrick just continues to crush it. He posted a T6 at the Memorial Tournament to collect his fourth top-10 finish in five starts on the PGA Tour. The iron play continues to be very impressive after finishing seventh last week in SG: Approach. Driving has also been a strength both in terms of distance an accuracy. Fitzpatrick is doing all this while not even putting that well. It's crazy to think what these results might look like if he has a good week on the greens.
Ryan Fox ($9,700)
Fox was rolling with four straight top-25 finishes to start the 2026 PGA Tour campaign, but things have been a little tougher since a bout with kidney stones in mid-March. While Fox only has one top-25 finish since then, he still has made the cut in each of his last five starts. Clearly TPC Toronto suits his game as a bomber who can pop on the greens. Fox is also 12th this season in Proximity from 200+ yards.
The Long Shots
Jackson Suber ($8,400)
Suber is one of the best iron players in this field. He ranks 20th in SG: Approach, 19th in GIR percentage and third in proximity this season, particularly excelling with his wedges and long irons, both areas which will see a lot of action on this course. Suber seems to be getting more comfortable going back to some of these courses a second time. Last year he had a nice week at TPC Toronto finishing T18 while ranking eight in SG: Approach and fifth in average distance of putts made.
A.J. Ewart ($8,200)
I had to include a Canadian in here somewhere, and despite this price, I think Ewart has a very solid chance to be the low player from his country at TPC Toronto. He has finished top 20 in three of his last four starts and now has totaled eight top-30 finishes this season. Ewart has been rolling the rock so well, as he is gaining the fifth-most strokes of any player in the field this season with the putter. He is also 35th in GIR percentage and 30th in proximity on the PGA Tour this season.
Sam Ryder ($8,100)
Ryder has been a player I've been keeping my eye on for awhile, but I'm ready to hop on the train this week. He ranks high in some key metrics for me this week like SG: Approach (11th), Prox. 50-125 yards (12th), Prox. 200-225 Yards (5th), SG: Putting (18th), putts per GIR (15th) and par-4 scoring average (4th). The only real concern I have with Ryder is the driving numbers, but there's a lot of other boxes checked for a player this cheap. Ryder is has gained the third-most strokes per round on Bentgrass greens since the start of last season.
Strategy Tips This Week
Based on a Standard $60K Salary Cap
There is a much more top heavy feel this week than what we had at the Memorial. The $7K range is one that I will be avoiding on FanDuel, which should be pretty manageable even if you elect to take two players in the $11K range. The $10K range in particular I felt was really the make-or-break area. There's a lot of really quality players loaded into that small section who are all playing well. Shane Lowry ($10,800), Kristoffer Reitan ($10,700), Alex Noren ($10,500) and Eric Cole ($10,200) were others who I also liked that weren't mentioned above. We don't have a ton of course history to lean on, so current form should be an even bigger factor than it has been in recent weeks.
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