“Had a couple of glasses of wine. I was probably feeling a little groggy when I woke up.”
HAMILTON, Ontario – Rory McIlroy was stuck in neutral during Thursday’s opening round of the RBC Canadian Open, and he had a good idea why. It was caddie Harry Diamond’s fault – sort of.
“A bit of a slow start,” McIlroy conceded. “Harry’s birthday dinner last night so had a couple of glasses of wine. I was probably feeling a little groggy when I woke up.”
With a 7:40 a.m. ET tee time off No. 10, that was understandable.
Could it have been a bit of a rust after a week off? “I certainly switched off,” McIlroy had said on Wednesday. “I went to one of my best friend’s wedding in Italy for four days, which was a lot of fun, good to see a lot of people from home I haven’t seen in a long time. Yeah, it was actually a really good trip, I needed it. Then I had a lovely, I had a great weekend at home. Spent time with my family and with Poppy and, yeah, it was awesome. So I needed that reset. I’m playing four weeks in a row here, so, yeah, I’m ready to go, but, yeah, it’s been a busy stretch and I’m sort of easing my way back into it. I probably hit a grand total of probably 150 balls last week.”
After his round, McIlroy offered another reason for being stuck on the par train. He hadn’t seen the back nine this week, having only played the front during the pro-am on Wednesday.
“So I was sort of happy enough to get out of there in even par and not make a bogey,” McIlroy said.
He made nine straight pars to start his round, including at the par-5 17th, where he drove into a hospitality tent.
“Some guy yelled out, ‘You need a wrist band to get in here,’ ” McIlroy said. “So that was pretty funny.”
Once McIlroy flipped to the front nine, he also flipped the script and stuck a wedge to four feet at the first to break the seal. He added three more birdies to shoot 66. He dubbed it “a good day’s work.”
In 2019, the last time the RBC Canadian Open was played at Hamilton Golf & Country Club, McIlroy fired a 61 to win by seven. The next day the course was ripped up for a renovation. Did they Rory-proof it?
“You can’t be quite as aggressive with the second shots, there are a lot of run-offs, there’s a lot of sections of the greens that you have to be careful about,” he said. “It used to be if you missed the green here it would go off into the rough maybe a couple yards but now with all these run-offs it can run 20 yards away from you.”
Whether it was because he was groggy, rusty, or playing a nine that he lacked familiarity with, McIlroy pulled it together to post 66 and sits three strokes off the lead shared by Sam Burns and Sean O’Hair after his first round of his bid for his third RBC Canadian Open title.
“Let’s ride today G,” Bhatia said on his Instagram story. After his 1-under 69 round, Bhatia was asked about the way he chose to commemorate his friend.
“Oh, God, I didn’t think it would be this hard. Yeah, I wrote G-money today. He’s one of my best buddies out here, grew up together. I looked up to him for a long time,” Bhatia said. “I wish he was still here, but I know he’s here watching above everyone. Yeah, it’s just crazy. Like I was driving yesterday, or a couple days ago, going back from dinner back to the hotel, and for whatever reason, I looked to the right, and there was a trash can with G-money on it. Just freaky stuff happens like that where I know he’s with us.
“I’m playing for him this week, and every round I play for the next however long. Yeah, he’s just with me all the time, and he meant a lot to me. Just happy and proud to wear Grayson’s name on my wrist.”
Akshay Bhatia wrote G$ on his left wrist ahead of the first round of the 2024 RBC Canadian Open at Hamilton Golf & Country Club in memory of his friend Grayson Murray. (Photo: Minas Panagiotakis/Getty Images)
This is Bhatia’s first appearance at Hamilton Golf & Country Club, but he did make the cut and eventually tie for 68th at last year’s RBC Canadian Open.
In 15 events this season, Bhatia has seven top 25 finishes and a win at the Valero Texas Open.
Success on this level was something Bhatia says Murray hinted at years ago.
“I just remember when I was 13, 14 years old, I’d see him on the putting green at our golf course, and I’d ask him what’s it like being on the PGA Tour? It’s just so cool, right?,” Bhatia sais. “And he was always like, ‘Dude, you’re going to be there. Trust me.’ I don’t know, he just always believed in me.
Grayson Murray celebrates with Akshay Bhatia after Murray won the 2024 Sony Open in Hawaii at Waialae Country Club in Honolulu, Hawaii. (Photo: Michael Reaves/Getty Images)
“I think his story and everything that’s happened, I think, has really opened everyone’s eyes. It just doesn’t happen that often. The amount of appreciation and just uplifting energy from everyone across the world on the PGA Tour has been great for his family. We’re grateful for that because sometimes you feel like no one really cares about you, but the fact that he’s touched this many people’s hearts, my heart, he’s made me just really open my eyes a little bit.”
“I don’t think the money that’s going around is sustainable for golf.”
HAMILTON, Ontario – No PGA Tour event has felt the repercussions of the PGA Tour-LIV controversy quite like the RBC Canadian Open.
Two years ago, LIV Golf played its debut tournament in London the same week with former RBC ambassadors Dustin Johnson and Graeme McDowell among the defectors. It took a big final-round 62 for Rory McIlroy to repeat as champion, winning his 21st Tour title and taking a dig at LIV CEO Greg Norman when he passed him on the Tour’s career victory list.
“I had extra motivation of what’s going on across the pond,” McIlroy said at the time. “The guy that’s spearheading that tour has 20 wins on the PGA Tour and I was tied with him and I wanted to get one ahead of him. And I did. So, that was really cool for me, just a little sense of pride on that one.”
And then, of course, who can forget last year’s bombshell news of the framework agreement on Tuesday of tournament week between the PGA Tour, DP World Tour and Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund. During his press conference the next day, McIlroy said he felt like a “sacrificial lamb.” A few months later, McIlroy stepped down from the Tour board.
McIlroy, who had been the public face for the PGA Tour in the skirmish with LIV, is back for the fourth straight time north of the border and at Hamilton Golf Club, where he won the first of his consecutive titles in 2019. In this year’s press conference, he expressed regret over being such an outspoken critic of the Saudi-backed LIV.
Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland talks with the media following the Pro-Am of the RBC Canadian Open at the Hamilton Golf and Country Club on May 29, 2024 in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. (Photo by Vaughn Ridley/Getty Images)
“In hindsight, I wish I hadn’t have gotten involved or not hadn’t have gotten involved, hadn’t have gotten as deeply involved in it,” he said. “I hold no grudge, I hold no resentment over the guys that chose to go and play on LIV. Everyone’s got their own decisions to make and everyone is, has the right to make those decisions. My whole thing is I’m just disappointed to what it’s done to, not to the game of golf, the game of golf will be fine, but men’s professional golf and this sort of divide we have at the minute. Hopefully, we’re on a path to sorting that out and getting that to come back together, but, yeah, I mean, in hindsight, hindsight’s always 20/20, but in hindsight I wish I hadn’t have gotten as deeply involved as I have.”
McIlroy, who was named recently as one of three active players to the Tour Enterprises’ Transaction Subcommittee, did have Commissioner Jay Monahan’s ear on Wednesday. Monahan walked with McIlroy’s group during his morning pro-am round.
All year long, Canadian Mackenzie Hughes has been a voice of reason among active players on the greed that has infected the game. His comments have been a refreshing perspective that fans have needed to hear from somebody.
Asked for his assessment on the state of the pro game during these uncertain times, Hughes spoke eloquently on the topic yet again.
“I knew it was coming. Yeah, that’s a big question,” he said. “Obviously a year later you would have thought we had a bit more clarity on that. There’s not really much there. I think eventually when we get through this situation I think golf will be in a great spot still. But there’s a lot of hurdles to get over right now. I think one of the biggest things I think about is the fan and how the fan has been affected by all this. The fans are just tired of hearing about it, tired of hearing about the money. I don’t think the money that’s going around is sustainable for golf.
“I would love for the game to kind of come back a little bit where it’s like we’re just, we’re talking about the golf now, we’re not talking about LIV, we’re not talking about the money and these purses and all that sort of stuff. Because people don’t care. People don’t want to hear it. I’ve said this many times to, you know, the media, the Tour, I mean, it just, we just, we want to, like, I feel like we’re shoving it down people’s throats. This is a big tournament for me, you know, I would say far bigger than the one next week, but next week’s worth 20 million dollars, this one’s worth, I don’t know how many, whatever, but that’s not something that I care or think about, but I’m here to win this trophy, it wouldn’t matter if it was for a thousand bucks or a million bucks, I’m here to play well and win this tournament. I think it’s become so much about the money and, again, I would say 99 percent of the people don’t care, they don’t want to hear it. So I think the state of the game, I would say right now it’s not super healthy, because of the things we’re focused on, but I think once we can kind of get past this stuff and maybe the deal happens or it doesn’t happen, but we kind of get some clarity there, then we can kind of go forward.”
Hughes noted that before LIV started throwing around obscene amounts of guaranteed money to woo players to the renegade circuit, the Tour highlighted its impressive charitable contributions.
“It was like a badge of honor,” he said. “We donated more than all the other major sports leagues combined. I would like to see that become a priority again, where we really impact the places that we play and leave them better than we found ’em. So, you know, I do think that golf will come out of this OK, but right now I think it’s in a very weird spot and a difficult spot and we need to get a lot of things figured out.”
The PGA Tour is north of the border this week for the 2024 RBC Canadian Open at Hamilton Golf & Country Club in Hamilton, Ontario. Five years ago, Rory McIlroy claimed the 2019 title at this golf course, winning by seven shots over Shane Lowry and Webb Simpson thanks to a final-round 9-under 61.
McIlroy, who also won this event in 2022, and Lowry are in the field again this week and joined by defending champion Nick Taylor, Sahith Theegala, Tommy Fleetwood, Cameron Young, Sam Burns, Tom Kim and Adam Scott, among others.
Hamilton Golf & Country Club is a par-70 track measuring 7,084 yards.
Alistair Docherty won’t soon forget his 30th birthday and the chain of events that led to the Canadian native earning a spot in this week’s RBC Canadian Open at Hamilton Golf & Country Club.
On March 20, Docherty was playing in the Saturday game at Grayhawk Golf Club in Scottsdale, Arizona, when his friends huddled around him as he faced a 5-6-foot putt to win the 11th hole.
“We’re not playing for much, but we’re having a great time,” Docherty said. “They stopped me and they’re like, ‘Hey, we’ve got a surprise for you.’ ”
That’s when they broke the news that he had been granted a sponsor exemption into the PGA Tour’s Myrtle Beach Classic.
“It was the best surprise, greatest 30th birthday I could ever ask for,” Docherty said.
He went on to finish in a tie for second in the opposite-field event, which was taking place while most of the stars were cashing guaranteed money at the limited-field, no-cut Wells Fargo Championship.
“Life Changing Week!” Docherty posted on his Instagram page.
Docherty was born in Saint John, New Brunswick, and moved with his family to Vancouver as a young child. At age seven, the family moved to Washington state.
Since graduating from Chico State in 2016, Docherty has been chasing his dream on lower-level tours such as the Mackenzie Tour in Canada. But after missing at second stage after the wraparound year, he was at a crossroads until he met Sam “Riggs” Bozoian of Barstool Sports.
“I didn’t know where I was going to play, and I went back to caddying at Silverleaf in Scottsdale. Met a few people, and a lot of people helped me out. I hung the clubs up for a little bit, but I ran into Riggs at the right time, played my ass off in front of him, and I impressed him enough that he’s been helping me ever since,” Docherty said.
Speaking on Barstool’s Fore Play podcast, Riggs recounts how he wrote Docherty a personal check for $50,000 and told him to go play.
“If I didn’t run into Riggs at the right time, I don’t know if I’d still be playing or standing right here,” he said at the Myrtle Beach Classic.
Success for Docherty has been hard to come by on the Korn Ferry Tour, where he has just one top-10 finish in 40 starts. He finished 86th on the Korn Ferry Tour last year and this year he has made just four of eight cuts, earning $26,751. The eighth-year pro entered the Myrtle Beach event with earnings of $152,978 across PGA Tour-sanctioned competitions.
After bogeying the 14th hole of the final round at the Dunes Golf & Beach Club, Docherty parlayed birdies on three of the last four holes to shoot 64 and tie for second, six shots behind winner Chris Gotterup. He earned $356,000 for the runner-up showing, more than double his career earnings.
Alistair Docherty plays his shot from the second tee during the third round of the 2024 Myrtle Beach Classic at Dunes Golf & Beach Club in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. (Photo by Sam Greenwood/Getty Images)
“This is what we always want, just a chance. Just a chance and take advantage, and I did it,” Docherty said after the Myrtle Beach Classic. “There’s been times where who knows if I was going to keep playing, who knows if I was going to be able to financially be able to do it let alone get status in order to do it, and to receive the sponsor exemption and take advantage is unbelievable.”
Asked to name what he’d proven in Myrtle Beach, he said, “That I can be here. I can be here, and I can play with the best of them. I can do it.”
Playing for just the second time in his career on the PGA Tour, Docherty earned a spot in the RBC Canadian Open in Hamilton by virtue of his top-10 finish.
“What better way to go back to Canada? I haven’t been back in a long time, and maybe some of my family from back east will be able to come over,” he said.
Asked what he’s most looking forward to about playing a Tour event in his native Canada, he said, “Going to Toronto and wearing my Canucks jersey.”
Here’s everything you need to know for the first round north of the border.
Before the PGA Tour heads to Jack’s Place for the Memorial next week, the best players in the world are north of the border for the 2024 RBC Canadian Open at Hamilton Golf & Country Club in Hamilton, Ontario.
Two-time winner and world No. 2 Rory McIlroy — who won the RBC Canadian Open in 2019 when it was last hosted at HGCC — highlights the field and he’ll be joined by defending champion Nick Taylor, Tommy Fleetwood, Sahith Theegala, Cameron Young, Sam Burns and Shane Lowry, among others.
Hamilton Golf & Country Club is a par-70 track measuring 7,084 yards.
The purse at the 2024 RBC Canadian Open is $9.1 million with $1.638 million going to the winner. The champion will also receive 500 FedEx Cup points.
From tee times to TV and streaming info, here’s everything you need to know for the first round of the 2024 RBC Canadian Open. All times listed are ET.
After a week in the Lone Star State, the PGA Tour heads across the border for the 2024 RBC Canadian Open at Hamilton Golf & Country Club in Hamilton, Ontario.
Two-time champion Rory McIlroy, who earned his first RBC Canadian Open title at HGCC in 2019 by seven shots, highlights the field and will joined by defending champion Nick Taylor, Cameron Young, Shane Lowry, Sahith Theegala and Adam Scott, among others.
McIlroy, the No. 2-ranked player in the world, won the Zurich Classic of New Orleans and Wells Fargo Championship in back-to-back starts before a T-12 finish at the PGA Championship.
Hamilton Golf & Country Club is a par 70 measuring 7,084 yards.
A handful of events ranging from the PGA Tour to the LPGA featured in the Tournament of the Year discussion.
As the month of December winds down and January approaches, it’s time to look back on 2023 and reward some of the best moments the game of golf provided fans over the last year.
The discussion among the Golfweek staff for “Tournament of the Year” was a rather lively one, so much so that our group of reporters and editors could not come to a consensus pick for the best week of the year.
This year in golf was a busy one off the course, but the players stepped up and provided some memorable events all season long. From major championships to team events to late comebacks and stellar pro debuts, here are Golfweek’s best Tournaments of the Year in 2023.
The winner will get an exemption into the 2025 RBC Canadian Open.
History will be made next fall in Canada.
Golf Canada announced this week the creation of the Canadian Collegiate Invitational, the first Division I men’s college golf event in the country. It will take place at Oviinbyrd Golf Club in MacTier, Ontario, from Sept. 15-17, 2024.
The tournament will be conducted by Golf Canada and co-hosted by Kent State University and Penn State University who are both led by Canadian head coaches, Kent State’s Jon Mills and Penn State’s Mark Leon. The tournament will feature NCAA Division I men’s golf teams with prominent Canadian ties along with the team champions of the 2024 Canadian University/College Championship.
Even more impressive? The winner will get an exemption into the 2025 RBC Canadian Open.
“We are excited to add a new tournament to our Amateur Championship schedule, and we thank Kent State and Penn State for co-hosting this invitational as we welcome some of the top Division I NCAA collegiate programs to compete in Canada for the first time,” said Mary Beth McKenna, Golf Canada’s Director of Amateur Championships and Rules.
The inaugural championship will be contested over 54 holes in two days, with 36 holes played in the opening round and 18 holes in the final round.
While the winner receives the PGA Tour exemption, the top-five finishers also receive spots in the 2025 Canadian Men’s Amateur.
The RBC Canadian Open was one of the best tournaments on the PGA Tour schedule in 2023.
The RBC Canadian Open was one of the best tournaments on the PGA Tour schedule in 2023.
Canadian Nick Taylor hit a walk-off 72-foot putt, the longest of his career, to win on the fourth playoff hole for his third Tour title. It was also the first time a Canadian had won his national open since Pat Fletcher in 1954.
“It feels, I can’t even describe it,” Taylor said after ending the drought. “This is the most incredible feeling.”
Now, his victory and celebration will be etched with the tournament for the foreseeable future.
On Friday, the RBC Canadian Open changed its logo. Although it’s subtle, it’s a nod at Taylor’s putt and the celebration that followed.
That’s right. Taylor and his putter toss after knocking in the eagle putt to win is now the “I” in the logo.
“We are excited to pay tribute to the epic performance of Nick’s amazing win by capturing the energy of that moment within the brand identity and logo mark for the 2024 RBC Canadian Open,” Golf Canada Chief Marketing Officer Tim McLaughlin said in a release. “Nick’s historic victory will be celebrated in the lead up to and throughout the 2024 RBC Canadian Open and the reimagined logo is a fitting homage to both Nick and this most special moment for our National Open.”
The 2024 RBC Canadian Open is set for May 30-June 2 at Hamilton Golf and Country Club in Hamilton, Ontario.
