There will be plenty of Canadian content at this week’s RBC Canadian Open being held just down the QEW at Oakville’s Glen Abbey Golf Club.
Five players from Ontario are in the field including; Mackenzie Hughes of Dundas, Ont., Corey Conners of Listowel,Ont., David Hearn of Brantford, Ont., Ben Silverman of Thornhill, Ont., and former Masters champion, Mike Weir of Brights Grove, Ontario. They are joined by fellow Canadian PGA players Adam Hadwin (highest ranking Canadian on the PGA Tour) and Nick Taylor of Abbotsford, B.C.
They’ll be joined by fellow Canadian pros Adam Svensson of Surrey, B.C., and Roger Sloan of Calgary from the Web.com Tour, European Tour player Austin Connelly, PGA Tour Canada’s Jared Du Toit of Calgary and Marc-Etienne Bussieres of Sherbrooke, Que.
There will also be four Canadian amateurs participating in this year’s Canadian Open including; Hugo Bernard of Mont-Saint-Hilaire, Que., Chris Crisologo of Richmond B.C., Todd Fanning of Winnipeg and Joe Savoie of La Prairie, Que.
While Canadian golf fans will no doubt be cheering on their native sons, they will be packing the rope lines to catch a glimpse of World No. 1 Dustin Johnson who is the unquestionable headliner in the field of golfers who will vie for a US$6.2-million purse. In fact, 12 of the top 50 golfers in the world will be teeing it up at this year’s Canadian open making it one of the deepest fields in a long time.
Johnson’s main competition is expected to come from former Masters champion Sergio Garcia (playing the Canadian Open for the first time since 2001), two-time defending U.S. Open champion Brooks Koepka, Tommy Fleetwood and Bubba Watson.
Jhonattan Vegas will be looking to become the first player to win the Canadian Open three consecutive times after capturing the last two.
The last Canadian to win the tournament on home soil was Pat Fletcher of Victoria, B.C., who won in 1954.
The tournament runs from July 23 to 29.
