The PGA Tour heads north of the border for the RBC Canadian Open, which begins Thursday at the Hamilton Golf & Country Club in Ontario.
In addition to featuring two-time winner and No. 3-ranked Rory McIlroy, the field includes a host of players vying for the final spots into next week’s signature event at the Memorial Tournament.
Our golf experts preview the event and provide their favorite props picks along with the best bets to win this week.
RBC CANADIAN OPEN
Location: Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, May 30-June 2
Course: Hamilton Golf & Country Club (Par 70, 7,084 Yards)
Purse: $9.4M (Winner: $1.69M)
Defending Champion: Nick Taylor
FedEx Cup Leader: Scottie Scheffler
HOW TO FOLLOW
TV: Thursday-Friday, 3-6 p.m. ET (Golf Channel); Saturday, 2:30-5:30 (GC), 5:30-7:30 (CBS); Sunday, 1:30-2:30 (GC), 2:30-6:30 p.m. (CBS)
Streaming (ESPN+): Thursday-Friday, 6:45 a.m.-6 p.m. ET; Saturday, 9:15 a.m.-7:30 p.m.; Sunday, 8:15 a.m.-6:30 p.m.
X: @RBCCanadianOpen
PROP PICKS
–Cameron Young to beat Corey Conners (+100): Conners was considered the likeliest candidate to break Canada’s nearly seven-decade drought in its national tournament until Taylor beat him to the punch last year. He does have a strong track record in the event, but we like the underdog odds on Young. He has struggled over his past three starts — finishing no better than T34 — but Young does have five top-10s worldwide this year and keeps cashing significant paychecks as the No. 18 player in the world.
–Ryan Fox Top Oceania Player (+250): At No. 63, the Australian is the top-ranked player yet to play in a signature event this season. He’s in position to do so with a solid week in Canada. Fox has made three consecutive cuts, including a T4 in Myrtle Beach to kick off this Aon Swing 5 trio of events. Adam Scott (+105) is the favorite in this prop, and clearly presents the biggest threat as he comes off a T12 last week. The other two options are longshots in Aaron Baddeley at +450 and Harrison Endycott at +600.
–Sahith Theegala Top 20 (+100): This should be easy money in backing the world’s No. 12-ranked player. He finished T12 at the PGA Championship while battling allergies that sapped his energy. Theegala has six top-20s in his past 10 starts, with one of the four misses being a T45 at the Masters and two others against signature event fields.
2024 Prop Picks Record: 29-31-1
BEST BETS
–Rory McIlroy (+360 at DraftKings) carded a final-round 61 at Hamilton five years ago to capture the first of his two Canadian Open titles. He also won in 2022 and tied for ninth last year. McIlroy leads the field in both total bets (11%) and money (13%) backing him to win at the book.
–Tommy Fleetwood (+1600) lost to Taylor in last year’s playoff. He’s third at DraftKings with 8 percent of the money backing him.
–Sahith Theegala (+1800) has four top-10s among 11 consecutive made cuts, and has drawn 9 percent of the money to win this week.
–Corey Conners (+2000) desperately wants to win his country’s biggest event. He finished sixth two years ago and T20 last year.
–Shane Lowry (+2200) finished T2 to McIlroy in 2019 and paired with his Ryder Cup teammate to win the Zurich Classic last month.
–Sam Burns (+2500) has struggled of late but did post four consecutive top-10s earlier this year.
–Taylor (+6000) doesn’t have a top 10 since his win at the WM Phoenix Open in February. However, the defending champ is a four-time winner on tour.
NOTES
–An event record 28 Canadians are in the field, including seven previous winners on the PGA Tour. Taylor made a 72-foot, 6-inch eagle putt on the fourth playoff hole last year to become the first Canadian to win the event since Pat Fletcher in 1954. The last time Canadians won in consecutive years was Albert Murray and Karl Keffer in 1913 and 1914, respectively.
–This is the final event for players to qualify for the next two signature events, the Memorial Tournament and the Travelers Championship, via the Aon Swing 5, which will also include points earned at the Myrtle Beach Classic and Charles Schwab Challenge. However, a player in the Aon Next 10 after this week could still be knocked out of the Travelers following the U.S. Open, which could impact the Aon Swing 5.
–Hamilton will play host to the event for the seventh time, and the first since McIlroy won in 2019.
–Field Level Media