The Canadian Open is on a roll | CBC Sports

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The Canadian Open has one of the richest histories of any golf tournament in the world. First played in 1904, it’s the third-oldest stop on the PGA Tour, behind only the British and U.S. Opens. Past champions include the legendary Walter Hagen, Sam Snead, Byron Nelson, Arnold Palmer and Lee Trevino, while Jack Nicklaus was a seven-time runner-up. Tiger Woods’ audacious 218-yard approach from a bunker on the final hole at Glen Abbey in 2000 is arguably the greatest shot ever hit by the greatest golfer of all time.

After Tiger’s victory and Canadian Masters champion Mike Weir’s memorable playoff loss to Vijay Singh in 2004, the national championship struggled to stay relevant as it moved from September to one of the worst spots on the golf calendar — the week after the British Open. The tournament’s inconvenient scheduling and relatively small purse made it easy for the sport’s biggest stars to skip, and most of them did, resulting in a series of mostly unremarkable champions like back-to-back winner Jhonattan Vegas.

But the Canadian Open started making a comeback in 2018, when American star Dustin Johnson (who later married into Canadian royalty as Paulina Gretzky’s husband) became the highest-profile player to win the event since Woods. The following year, a realignment of the PGA Tour rotation landed the Canadian Open in a more desirable slot — the week before the U.S. Open — and an even more popular and successful star won it as Rory McIlroy prevailed at Hamilton Golf and Country Club near Toronto.

Then came COVID, causing the cancellation of the Canadian Open for two straight years. But it roared (Ror-ed?) back in 2022 at Toronto’s St. George’s, where McIlroy repeated in extremely satisfying fashion.

That tournament happened to coincide with LIV Golf’s inaugural event, so more PGA Tour luminaries than usual made the trip north in a show of defiance against the rebel league. The tee sheet at St. George’s featured the winners of all four of that year’s major championships: Scottie Scheffler (Masters), Justin Thomas (PGA Championship), Matt Fitzpatrick (the following week’s U.S. Open) and Cameron Smith, who went on to win the British Open before defecting to LIV.

McIlroy had positioned himself as LIV’s most vocal opponent, so the PGA Tour could hardly have scripted a better ending than his sizzling 8-under final round to win by two strokes in front of a boisterous and appreciative crowd. Better yet, as McIlroy gleefully noted in his post-round TV interview, his 21st career PGA Tour victory gave him one more than predatory LIV Golf CEO Greg “the Shark” Norman.

WATCH | Taylor makes 72-foot eagle putt to win RBC Canadian Open:

That moment was hard to top. But Nick Taylor did it last year at Toronto’s Oakdale, sinking a 72-foot eagle putt on the fourth hole of a sudden-death playoff to become the first Canadian to win the tournament in 69 years. In terms of iconic Canadian golf moments, it was right up there with Weir’s Masters victory in 2003.

OK, that will be really hard to top. But it’s safe to say the Canadian Open is on a roll as it returns to Hamilton for Thursday’s opening round.

McIlroy, ranked third in the world, is the international headliner (and overwhelming betting favourite) as the Northern Irishman returns to the site of his 2019 victory in search of his third Canadian Open win in four tries. Other standouts competing at Hamilton include world No. 12 Sahith Theegala of the United States, former British Open champion Shane Lowry of Ireland, 2013 Masters champ Adam Scott of Australia and Englishman Tommy Fleetwood — the guy Taylor beat in the playoff last year.

Scheffler is not playing, and the world No. 1 could probably use the break after his bizarre arrest for allegedly assaulting a cop during a chaotic traffic stop at the PGA Championship two weeks ago (it was announced today that all charges against Scheffler are being dropped). Xander Schauffele, ranked No. 2 after winning the PGA Championship for his first major title, is absent too.

Also missing from this year’s Canadian Open is any new LIV-PGA drama. Following McIlroy’s take-that! victory in 2022, practice rounds were underway last year at Oakdale when the stunning news broke that the feuding tours had reached an accord on what seemed at the time like a merger. Nearly a year later, that “framework agreement” remains hollow as LIV continues to poach star players — including two-time major winner Jon Rahm late last year — and the golf war rages on with no end in sight.