With the 2024 U.S Open slowly looming into view, some of the best players on the PGA Tour will hope to get themselves in good shape at the 2024 Canadian Open.
The 2023 tournament still lives long in the memory thanks to Nick Taylor’s memorable putt which secured Canada’s first ever win at their home tournament.
Taylor and a host of other Canadian players are back to try and win this prestigious prize and everything looks set for another superb tournament. Ahead of the tournament teeing off, here is everything you need to know about the course and who will hope to end the tournament on top.
The Course
Like most tournaments on the PGA Tour, the Canadian Open doesn’t have a permanent home and this year’s tournament will take place at the Hamilton Golf and Country Club. Having recently undergone a multi-million-dollar renovation, the field will be greeted with a 7,084 par 70 course that will provide plenty of challenges.
Drawing inspiration from some of the best courses in the UK that have hosted the Open Championship, the course is aligned with many bunkers and if a player does stray offline off the tee, there could be some challenging rough to contend with.
The Favourites
Rory McIlroy
Despite not playing the busiest schedule on Tour, Rory McIlroy has long had an affinity with the Canadian Open and is twice a winner of this famous event.
To get back inside the winner’s circle when it comes to the majors, McIlroy has ramped up his schedule this year and headlines the field in this year’s tournament.
Swinging the club as well as he has ever done, McIlroy has won two of his last three starts but will be looking to bounce back from a frustrating PGA Championship.
One of the areas that McIlroy has improved this year has been his driving, although a beautiful driver of the ball, his accuracy can sometimes wane, but throughout most of this season McIlroy has found himself in all of the right spots.
Where McIlroy can struggle against someone like Scottie Scheffler is with his ability to make costly mistakes. Double bogeys reared their ugly head on multiple occasions at the PGA and the Northern Irishman will be desperate to avoid them from spoiling his card this week.
A lover of the conditions and clearly at home in Canada, McIlroy will start as the man the rest of the field will need to beat.
Tommy Fleetwood
Despite being a multiple winner on the DP World Tour, including earlier this year, remarkably Tommy Fleetwood has never won on the PGA Tour and for a man with his ball striking abilities, that is a record that the Englishman will be desperate to change.
Since moving to the PGA Tour, Fleetwood has experienced several near misses, but his closest opportunity to break his PGA Tour duck came at this event last season.
Having led for much of the final round, Fleetwood would end up in a playoff, but would end up being heart broken by Nick Taylor’s putt of a lifetime.
Now ranked 14 in the world, Fleetwood has been in good form recently, finishing third at the Masters and posting another top ten finish at the Texas Open.
Fleetwood has a game that belongs with the very best and you feel a win on Tour will help propel him to greater heights. With a legion of fans all over the world, many will be hoping that this is the week where it all finally comes together.
Sahith Theegala
Completing the top three in the betting at this year’s Canadian Open is the talented American, Sahith Theegala.
Now at an all time high of twelve in the world, Theegala has been steadily getting better with each and every start and is already a winner on the PGA Tour courtesy of his victory at the 2023 Fortinet Championship.
Looking to take further strides, Theegala will be hoping to get the better of Rory McIlroy who was the only man to have beaten him at the 2024 Wells Fargo Championship. He backed up his performance at the Wells Fargo with a good showing at the PGA Championship. In touch with the leaders, a poor final round would see him finish in a tie for twelfth, but he should have taken plenty from his efforts.
Looking to announce himself as the next big thing in American golf, he and his career could take a giant leap with a victory this week.
Value Bets
The beauty of tournaments such as the Canadian Open are that there are plenty of players who could win this tournament at a decent price. One of those players is Corey Conners.
Likely to start the week as the leading Canadian player in the betting, Connors hasn’t had the best of years but is still a two-time winner on the PGA Tour.
Usually unerringly accurate with his irons, conditions could be perfect for him this week and he will hope to produce a display in front of his home fans that nets him his first top ten finish of 2024.
Shane Lowry, came within an inch of breaking the lowest score ever recorded at a major when posting a 62 during the third round of the PGA Championship. A former winner of the Open, Lowry has shown on many occasions that he can blow hot and cold, but when his game is on, he has a game capable of taking on anyone in the game.
A recent winner in the Zurich Classic alongside Rory McIlroy, he has four top five finishes in his last eight starts and is playing really consistent golf. Hoping to have yet another positive week, his current price of 20/1 could end up looking a steal by the end of the week.
Rewind a few years ago and Sam Burns looked like America’s next major champion in waiting. Five times a winner on the PGA Tour, Burns has had a disappointing 2024 and has posted just one top five so far this season. A devastating hitter of the ball, Burns can light up the course at any moment.
Although he isn’t hitting the ball as well as he can, Burns has the talent to win this week and his current price of 25/1 looks impossible to ignore.
Long Shots
As the PGA Tour has shown numerous times already this season, anybody who tees it up this week has a chance of winning and there have been several surprising winners.
Akshay Bhatia undertakes one of the busiest schedules on Tour and will arrive in Canada finely tuned and ready for a big week. Despite his diminutive size, Bhatia is a fine striker of the ball and can carry the ball a mile. Talented with his wedges and irons, he should be looking at plenty of opportunities to score birdies this week.
A recent winner at the 2024 Houston Open, Bhatia has struggled since and heads into this week having missed the cut in both of his previous two starts. Looking to showcase his talents once again, Bhatia should be determined for a big week and at 50/1 odds he could be worth considering.
Approaching the twilight of his career, Matt Kuchar is selective of the tournaments that he plays nowadays. Once a fixture inside the world’s top ten, Kuchar has tasted success on the PGA Tour eight times and is still capable of competing against some of the world’s best players.
Kuchar had his best finish of the season last year when finishing 17th at the Charles Schwab Challenge and he arrives in Canada looking to build on that effort here. Whilst a leap of faith is required if you want to back him, his odds of 100/1 look generous considering what he has gone on to achieve in the game.
Jack Hartman
A keen golfer and huge fan of the game, Jack has been covering golf for the last five years. Bringing you all the latest coverage and news from the PGA, LIV, LPGA and DP World Tours, never before has golf been so popular and Jack can’t wait to bring all the excitement to his readers.
