Next we head north of the border to Ancaster, Ontario for the 2024 RBC Canadian Open.

The RBC Canadian Open will be played at Hamilton Golf and Country Club. The course has hosted six previous Canadian Opens, most recently in 2019. Rory Mcllroy won by seven strokes with a score of 22 under. He improved in each round shooting 67, 66, 64 and a closing 61 on Sunday. Webb Simpson finished 2nd tied with Shane Lowry.

Hamilton Golf and Country Club is a 7,084 yard par 70 with Bentgrass greens.

Hamilton is similar in some ways to what we saw at Colonial in short yardage, hard to hit fairways and smallish greens but plays much easier. Golfers will need to make far more birdies if they want to contend.

There are two par fives that are the easiest holes on the course. Both are reachable in two with hole five boasting a 3.3% eagle rate and 40% birdie rate. Hole 17 has a 2.6% eagle rate but a 53% birdie rate.

There are four par threes with an average yardage of 196 yards. The longest is 218 yards and the shortest is 169 yards. They play as some of the more difficult holes on the course.

There are 12 par fours on the course. Seven of which are 400-450 yards. Hole number five is a short 308 yard par four that boasts a 30% birdie rate. Hole 18 is a 434 yard par four that has a nearly 25% bogey rate and plays as the most difficult hole on the course.

As mentioned hitting fairways is rather difficult at Hamilton with only 55% of drives finding the fairway. The rough isn’t extremely penal so many golfers still choose driver off the tee and the average drive comes in right at tour average at 283 yards.

Approach shots from the fairway will obviously be easier especially considering 26% of approaches come from 200+ yards. Greens are slightly more difficult to hit with a 63% greens in regulation percentage. Missing greens isn’t the end of the world with scrambling being fairly easy at Hamilton but creating and capitalizing on birdie opportunities is key for anyone looking to contend.

2024 RBC Canadian Open: Key Stats

• Approach
• Approaches from 150-175 yards
• Fairways Gained
• Birdies or Better Gained
• Par 4 Scoring: 400-450 yards

Golfers to Monitor

Rory Mcllroy

Rory is clearly the best golfer in this field. His number is unbettable but he could be necessary in DraftKings lineups.

In his last two starts Rory has a win at the Wells Fargo where he gained 15.6 strokes tee to green and then played well at the PGA Championship gaining just under nine strokes tee to green and finishing in 12th place.

Over the last 24 Rounds Rory is 1st in opportunities gained, 1st in bogey avoidance, 4th off the tee, 3rd in par four scoring and eighth on approach.

Rory won at Hamilton back in 2019 and has played well overall in Canadian Opens recently. He also won in 2022 and came 9th last year.

Shane Lowry

Lowry finished tied for 2nd at Hamilton in 2019 shooting 68 or better in every round. He had finished 12th at the Canadian Open in 2018 and had a 10th place finish in 2022.

Over the last 24 rounds Lowry is 7thbin strokes gained approach, 11th off the tee, 9th in par four scoring, 19th in fairways gained and 14th in opportunities gained.

Lowry has only missed one cut so far in 2024 and has three top ten finishes. He most recently finished 6th place at the PGA Championship. He’s gained strokes on approach in eight of his last nine tournaments and has gained off the tee in seven of his last eight.

Akshay Bhatia

Bhatia can be extremely volatile and is coming off of back to back missed cuts. I do believe this is a good course for him and he has enough upside to take a risk.

Over the last 24 rounds Bhatia is 3rd in strokes gained approach, 7th in opportunities gained, 15th in bogey avoidance and 15th on par fours from 400-450 yards. Putting will certainly come into play especially converting from inside 10 feet and Bhatia is 8th in the field putting from 5-10 feet.