The RBC Canadian Open
Preview for the RBC Canadian Open: This tournament is one of the oldest on the PGA Tour as its roots date back to 1904 when Englishman Jack Oak won by two strokes over Percy Barrett at Royal Montreal Golf Club. The record at the Canadian Open is held by Johnny Palmer who shot a score of -25 back in 1952 at St. Charles Country Club to win by a whopping 11 strokes over two other competitors. Winners of the Canadian Open over the last five editions include Rory McIlroy in 2022, there was no tournament in 2021 or 2020 due to the pandemic, Rory McIlroy in 2019, Dustin Johnson in 2018, Jhonattan Vegas in 2017, and Jhonattan Vegas in 2016.
Tournament purse: The prize money for this week’s event is $9M, the winner collects $1.6M, and also earns himself 500 FedEx Cup points.
Course and key stats: Oakdale Golf & Country Club is 7,264 yards in length, is a par 72, and the greens are bentgrass. The winning score at the Canadian Open over the past decade ranges from -12 to -23, but the score is largely dictated by where they’re playing in any given year. Also keep in mind that the 2020 and 2021 editions of this event were wiped out due to the pandemic. This will be the first time that Oakdale has been used as the venue and it will again host in 2026. Some core key stats to focus on this week include strokes gained: approach, driving distance, strokes gained: putting, strokes gained: total, and strokes gained: around the green.
The 2023 RBC Canadian Open field: We have a full 156-player field this week with the top 65 golfers plus ties after round 2 advancing to the weekend to play round 3 on Saturday and round 4 on Sunday. The field includes Rory McIlroy, Justin Rose, Corey Conners, and other talented pros. On a scale from A to D, I rank the field strength to be a B.
DFS PGA Tour Golf Picks
Make the most of this article’s data, predictions, and insights to help with your fantasy golf picks for the RBC Canadian Open. And check out our PGA Projections and Optimizer tools to make more informed player selections for your DFS DraftKings lineups. Best of luck this week!
Three questions that are relevant to the Canadian Open this week:
- Which 10 players have gained the most strokes total over their last 24 rounds? Tyrrell Hatton, Matt Fitzpatrick, Justin Rose, Rory McIlroy, Corey Conners, Shane Lowry, Tommy Fleetwood, Sahith Theegala, Matt Kuchar, and Sam Burns.
- Which 10 players does my custom model like the most? Matt Fitzpatrick, Tyrrell Hatton, Justin Rose, Rory McIlroy, Tommy Fleetwood, Corey Conners, Adam Svensson, Shane Lowry, Sahith Theegala, and Eric Cole.
- Which 10 players gained the most strokes total (minimum 4 rounds) at this event since 2018? Rory McIlroy, Justin Rose, Sam Burns, Webb Simpson, Byeong Hun An, Shane Lowry, Matt Fitzpatrick, Tommy Fleetwood, Aaron Rai, and Matt Kuchar.
All the best in your journey to win or at least be in the money in some contests this week – here are (in no particular order) 15 DFS golf picks on DraftKings (DK), plus I also include player salaries for DK. I consistently provide recent and seasonal finishes for each of my picks, their performances at the event over the last five years, and add in some valuable data.
15 Players Who Are Either High-Potential or Solid-Value Plays This Week – Get Them Into Your DFS Lineups
Rory McIlroy (Salary: DraftKings – $11.5K) – Can he threepeat at the Canadian Open?! We will find out in a few days, but he will need his putter to gain at least 2 or 3 strokes for him to make it happen. Nonetheless, his ball-striking is solid and he’s good around the greens, so most parts of his game are in fine shape heading into this week. Rory was in contention last week after 54 holes but didn’t have the best of finishes to end up T7 – giving him back-to-back T7’s. Canadian Open finishes over the last five years: 2022 – Won and 2019 – Won.
Tyrrell Hatton (Salary: DraftKings – $10.2K) – Hatton has been playing solid golf for the better part of this year, especially lately as he has five consecutive top 19’s and two of them have gone for top 5’s. Every part of his game is in great form and he could ride a hot putter to victory this week. He gained 5.58 strokes last week on the greens at Muirfield Village, and has gained strokes putting in five straight starts. Canadian Open finishes over the last five years: 2022 – cut.
Matt Fitzpatrick (Salary: DraftKings – $9.9K) – He won just four stroke play events ago at the RBC Heritage, so it will be interesting to see if he can do RBC proud again and win the Canadian Open. He had a T9 last week at the Memorial Tournament gaining strokes across the board, and had a solid top 10 last year thanks to solid ball-striking and putting. Canadian Open finishes over the last five years: 2022 – T10.
Corey Conners (Salary: DraftKings – $9.8K) – Canada’s best hope for a win this year is likely on Conners’ shoulders given he won six starts ago at the Texas Open, and he has two top 12’s over his last three starts including a T8 at the Wells Fargo Championship. He missed the cut last week, but I see that as beneficial so he can focus on his national championship in Toronto. If his ball-striking is hot as we know it can get, then he only has to be an average putter this week to contend. Canadian Open finishes over the last five years: 2022 – T6, 2019 – cut, and 2018 – cut.
Justin Rose (Salary: DraftKings – $9.7K) – Rose won back in February at Pebble Beach, and has been hot over his last six starts with two top 9’s, three other top 25’s, and has finished no worse than T36 during this stretch. He had a good appearance last year in Toronto finishing T4, and will be looking to duplicate that effort this week. Canadian Open finishes over the last five years: 2022 – T4.
Shane Lowry (Salary: DraftKings – $9.4K) – He has a solid track record at Canadian Opens over the last few years, and has been sound over his two most recent starts with a T12 at the PGA Championship and a T16 at the Memorial Tournament last week and gained a combined 14.50 strokes ball-striking in those events. Canadian Open finishes over the last five years: 2022 – T10, 2019 – T2, and 2018 – T12.
Byeong Hun An (Salary: DraftKings – $8.8K) – I’m not normally on Hun An, but I can’t deny his recent success with three consecutive top 24’s and he has six top 33’s over his last seven starts if you include the Zurich Classic. His putting has been terrible but his ball-striking is sizzling with more than 20 strokes gained in the category over his last three appearances. Canadian Open finishes over the last five years: 2018 – T2.
Joseph Bramlett (Salary: DraftKings – $8.2K) – Bramlett has been playing fairly well since mid-March with six top 40’s in his last eight starts if you include the Zurich Classic, and he had a top 10 at the Mexico Open in April. He can be part of your balanced and hybrid lineups this week, but don’t be overweight on him since his putting is weak. Canadian Open finishes over the last five years: 2022 – cut.
Michael Kim (Salary: DraftKings – $8.0K) – I like what Kim has been up to over his last three starts with two top 7’s including a T6 in his most recent start at the Charles Schwab Challenge. His putter has been hot as of late, and he can pop with his ball-striking as he gained 7.21 strokes at the Wells Fargo Championship and gained 4.19 strokes at the Charles Schwab Challenge. Canadian Open finishes over the last five years: none.
Eric Cole (Salary: DraftKings – $7.9K) – Cole has turned in some good tournaments since late April with four top 24’s over his last six starts including a T5 at the Mexico Open where he gained strokes across the board. He also had a T15 at the PGA Championship and is coming off a T24 last week in Ohio. Canadian Open finishes over the last five years: none.
David Lipsky (Salary: DraftKings – $7.4K) – Lipsky was in the mix to win last week as he had a 3 stroke lead in round 3, but he came back down to earth and settled for a T12. He has two top 16’s in as many starts and his stats, while aren’t impressive by any means, are sound across the major stat categories. Canadian Open finishes over the last five years: 2022 – cut.
Mark Hubbard (Salary: DraftKings – $7.3K) – Here’s another player who was sniffing around the leaderboard last week, but ended up T30. He has four top 30’s over his last five starts, has made five consecutive cut lines, and his ball-striking looks pretty good by his standards during that stretch. Canadian Open finishes over the last five years: 2022 – T44.
Carson Young (Salary: DraftKings – $7.1K) – I normally include a couple $6K players but I just can’t endorse any of them this week and the lowest I’ll go is Young. He has back-to-back top 21’s, and four top 21’s over his last five stroke play starts. His ball-striking and putting have been solid since mid-April, and it’s carrying him to respectable finishes. Canadian Open finishes over the last five years: none.
Sam Burns (Salary: DraftKings – $10.5K) – Burns is starting to turn on the jets again with a T6 at the Charles Schwab Challenge and a T16 at the Memorial Tournament over the past two weeks, and he will be looking to add another top 5 to his Canadian Open resume after finishing T4 last year. Canadian Open finishes over the last five years: 2022 – T4.
Ludvig Aberg (Salary: DraftKings – $8.3K) – Aberg put up a T24 at the Arnold Palmer Invitational in March, and is considered the top amateur in the world right now. He’s priced a tad high for my liking, but could make some noise in Canada. Canadian Open finishes over the last five years: none.
