The PGA Tour carries on this week as it visits the North Course at TPC Toronto at Osprey Valley for the 2025 RBC Canadian Open. Designed by Doug Carrick in 2001, the North Course will play as a Par 70, 7,389 yard layout as it hosts the RBC Canadian Open for the first time this week.
TPC Toronto is an absolutely gorgeous course where nature takes center stage, with minimal water hazards and bunkers, and maximum rugged terrain and scenic views. At nearly 7,400 yards, give an edge to the long ball hitters this week. Accuracy matters too, but hitting it farther means a little more on a Par 70 layout, where scoring opportunities aren’t nearly as plentiful. The real test will be on ball striking, as elite iron players will likely rise to the top as they try and land on these challenging green complexes. For those who aren’t dialed in, they best have a light touch around the green to give themselves a chance of getting up and down from wayward conditions so they can stay in the hunt. With this course being a first-time host of this event, it is truly anyone’s game this week. All it takes is one hot week on the greens for the studs, the duds and those in between to have a chance at a course where nobody has an advantage from playing in past editions.
The RBC Canadian Open is one of the most storied tournaments in golf, serving as the national open for Canada and testing the world’s best players since 1904. Many of the tour’s best are teeing it up this week, including Ludvig Åberg, Wyndham Clark, Corey Conners, Shane Lowry, Rory McIlroy and Nick Taylor, as well as plenty of up and comers looking to make their presence known, including Luke Clanton, Chris Gotterup, Rico Hoey, Nicolai Højgaard, Jake Knapp and Matthew McCarty, just to name a few.
Leo Diegel has won the Canadian Open the most times, finding victory in this event four times in his career. Tommy Armor, Sam Snead and Lee Trevino have each won this event three times, while Harry Cooper, James Douglas Edgar, Jim Ferrier, Doug Ford, Jim Furyk, Steve Jones, Karl Keffer, Bruce Lietzke, Rory McIlroy, Albert Murray, Charles Murray, Greg Norman, Nick Price, Curtis Strange, Jhonattan Vegas and Tom Weiskopf are also multi-time winners of this event.
Last year’s edition was won by Robert MacIntyre, who picked up his first PGA Tour victory, with his father on the bag, no less, by holding off Ben Griffin to win by a single stroke. Victor Perez finished in third place, two strokes back, while Tom Kim and Rory McIlroy finished T-4, three strokes off the pace.
Player to Fade:
Hereeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee’s Johnnyyyyyyyyy (Those of you reading this that are over 50 are laughing your ass off right now.). Johnny Keefer has shown lots of promise early on in his career. The 80th ranked player in the Official World Golf Ranking, Keefer balled out north of the border on the PGA Tour Americas in 2024, posting one win, four runner-ups, nine top 10’s and 10 top 20’s in 10 starts. Keefer has continued his run on the Korn Ferry Tour this season, winning the Veritex Bank Championship to go along with a pair of runner-ups, five top 10’s and eight top 25’s in 12 starts. Simply put, I’m feeling like Keefer is the budget version Scottie Scheffler at this point. Keefer is making his third PGA Tour start this week following a T-13 finish at last season’s Procore Championship and a missed cut in last month’s PGA Championship. Keefer’s game is obviously firing on all cylinders right now, but my gut says to fade him this week, mainly due to his lack of reps on the PGA Tour. This is just his third career start, and although this week’s field is much weaker than then field he faced at Quail Hollow, I still predict that Keefer will experience that learning curve and miss the cut in Canada. Expect big things from Johnny Keefer, only not this week.
Less than two years removed from brain surgery, Gary Woodland is starting to show flashes from his past successes on tour. Woodland has posted one top 10 and five top 25 finishes in 13 starts, highlighted by a T-2 finish at the Texas Children’s Houston Open, to sit at 62nd in the FedEx Cup Standings. Woodland’s game is pretty solid through the bag, gaining strokes in five of the six major Strokes Gained categories this season. Woodland’s successes can be largely attributed to the long ball though, ranking 8th in Driving Distance this season. Lately though, his short game has held him back, losing strokes around the green in five of his last six starts and on the greens in three of his last six starts. In those other three starts, Woodland gained +0.75, +1.75 and +2.18 strokes on the greens, which shows plenty of promise for Woodland as we head into the busy summer portion of the season. Woodland has had modest success in this event in the past, finishing 4th in 2017 and T-22 in 2018. A win isn’t necessarily that far-fetched this week, but I predict Woodland to lock down another top 25 finish in the RBC Canadian Open.
Keith Mitchell has been right on the doorstep of a breakout campaign in 2025, posting a pair of top 10’s and seven top 25’s in 14 starts, highlighted by a T-2 finish at the Corales Puntacana Championship. Mitchell’s game has really been rounding into form of late, posting five straight top 20’s from late-March through early-May. Like Woodland above, Mitchell is a great player from the tee, ranking 7th in Strokes Gained: Off-the-Tee and 11th in Driving Distance. His biggest weakness? Around the green, as he has lost strokes in six of his last 10 measured events in this area. Mitchell needs to clean up this part of his game if he wants to separate himself as one of the best from the rest. Mitchell has played quite well in Canada in recent years, posting top 10 finishes in this event in two of the last three years. Mitchell just appears to be on that precipice of career win #2, which could very well happen soon. But until then, mark Mitchell down for another top 10 in this event.
Sam Burns is one of several players who is just lurking in the weeds, just waiting to pounce at the right moment. 2025 has been a solid season for Burns, earning a pair of top 10’s and seven top 25’s in 15 starts. Burns is a stud on the greens. You literally can’t deny it, as he ranks 1st in Strokes Gained: Putting on tour this year. His ball striking though? Not so much, as Burns ranks 140th or worse in both Strokes Gained: Tee-to-Green and Approach the Green. Burns is a player who seemingly has found his groove in Canada, finishing in the top 10 in this event in two of the last three years, with a best finish of T-4 coming in 2022. Burns is a feast or famine player this week based on recent form, logging four top 20’s and five straight top 30’s in his last five starts. It’s hard to believe that Burns has been on a two-year winless streak, but if he can put together a half-decent ball striking week, that streak will come to an end. I’m taking Sam Burns for the win in the RBC Canadian Open!
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