The PGA Tour crosses the northern border for what typically is one of the most exciting tournaments of the season. It’s the 2024 RBC Canadian Open at the Hamilton Golf and Country Club in Hamilton, ON. As always, here is a preview of the 2024 RBC Canadian Open and a guide for how to bet on the tournament.
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2024 RBC Canadian Open Preview
The Golf Course
The 2024 RBC Canadian Open will move back to Hamilton Golf and Country Club. It recently hosted the 2012 tournament, won by Scott Piercy, and the 2019 tournament, won by Rory McIlroy.
Hamilton Golf and Country Club was designed by English architect Harry Colt in 1914. Colt is responsible for some of the best golf courses in the world. He takes credit for the redesigns of Muirfield, Royal Portrush, and the Royal Liverpool Golf Club in Great Britain, along with the creation of Pine Valley, which is considered the #1 golf course in the United States.
The best way to describe Hamilton Golf and County Club is its classical parklands layout utilizes the rolling topography of the property superbly, leading to an exciting golf course for both member and professional play:
The golf course features a creative routing where both nines are out-to-in setups, with the midway point of each nine (Hole No. 4 and 13) as the farthest point from the clubhouse. For tournament play, the golf course utilizes a composite course between the East and South courses. The golf course also features strategically placed dog legs and narrow fairways to challenge the players off the tee, as most holes feature fairways less than 30 yards wide.
As mentioned earlier, Hamilton Golf and Country Club has a wonderful land movement. Here are a few examples of holes that utilize the land features quite well:
Hole No. 3
This hole acts like a staircase. Players tee off from an elevated position to a series of split fairways. The first fairway runs out at about 265 yards and plays about 40 feet below them. There is then another section of the fairway just before the creek that meanders through the property and runs out about 320 yards, which is another 15 feet below that. Bolder players who want to access the second fairway will have to land their drive in a very small target and likely won’t see where the ball lands once it hits the ground.
Hole No. 5
This is a drivable Par 4 that plays slightly uphill. But it sits on the side of a hill, and everything wants to feed hard from left to right. The left side of the fairway is about 12 feet above the right side of the fairway, while anyone who tries to go for the green and misses right will face an uphill chip about 7 to 8 feet back up the hill.
Hole No. 18
The tee box sits about 40 feet above the fairway. However, the fairway runs out to the creek that snakes its way across the property at about 304 yards out. To carry the entire creek takes a drive about 355 yards in the air – something even Rory McIlroy can’t do (I think).
That sets up a mid-iron up to an elevated green. But what makes the green truly special is its amphitheater setting. The green sits at the bottom of a basin below the clubhouse, where fans can sit and watch the final holes of the RBC Canadian Open.
While only 7,000 yards on the scorecard, Hamilton Golf & Country Club presents enough challenges to prevent it from being completely overrun. It’s a true ball-striker’s golf course, where players must demonstrate precision and control from tee to green.
For those who would like to see more of how the golf course plays and how the land movement shapes the strategy on each hole, here’s a recent video series from Caton Bittner of what it’s like for a 7 handicap to play from the tips at Hamilton Golf & Country Club:
In 2019, Martin Ebert, the architect who oversees the Open Championship golf course redesigns and renovations, renovated Hamilton Golf and Country Club shortly after the completion of the 2019 RBC Canadian Open. Here is a summary of the work done by Martin Ebert in preparation for the 2024 RBC Canadian Open:
- Lengthening of the golf course by about 100 yards. This was done in the following ways:
- New tee boxes on the following holes:
- Hole No. 2 (now plays at 457 Yards)
- Hole No. 5 (now plays at 346 Yards)
- Hole No. 6 (now plays at 249 Yards)
- Hole No. 7 (now plays at 447 Yards)
- Hole No. 11 (now plays at 502 Yards)
- Hole No. 14 (now plays at 474 Yards)
- Hole No. 18 (now plays at 457 Yards)
- New tee boxes on the following holes:
- Reconstruction of every bunker on the golf course
- Removal of superfluous bunkers and addition of new fairway bunkers to accommodate for the advancements in length
- Renovation of every green, including a transition from poa annua to bentgrass, expanding its average square footage from 5,000 sq. feet to 6,000 sq. feet and pushing back the Par 5 17th by about 25 yards.
In 2019, Rory McIlroy completely pummeled Hamilton Golf and Country Club. He simply possessed too much power for the golf course and was able to cut corners and carry bunkers that no one else in the field could. While the restoration of Hamilton Golf & Country Club was already planned well before Rory burned the golf course down, some of the changes made were done to prevent a guy like Rory from doing that again. Will the same play out in 2024? It remains to be seen.
BETTING STRATEGIES
Here is general information about Hamilton Golf & Country Club and the 2019 tournament there to help you begin the betting strategies for the 2024 RBC Canadian Open.
Par: 70
- Two Par 5’s will play at only 542 and 580 yards, respectively, and are reachable by nearly every professional in the field from the fairway or a good lie in the rough.
Length: 7,084 Yards
- Approximately 100 yards of distance was added to the scorecard through new tee boxes, and the 17th green pushed back about 20 yards.
Average Green Size: 6,000 sq. feet
- The new greens added about 1,000 sq. feet in area to the surfaces.
Agronomy:
- Fairways: Bentgrass/Poa Annua Mix
- Rough: Poa Annua/Kentucky/Bluegrass/Tall Fescue Mix – ~3-4″ in length
- Collars & Approaches: Bentgrass
- Greens: Bentgrass (11-12 on stimpmeter)
- The greens in 2024 are now fully bentgrass. In 2019, they were a bentgrass/poa mix (similar to a TPC River Highlands or Rocket Mortgage Classic)
Scoring at RBC Canadian Open
- Average Score: -0.23
- Cut Line: -2
- Winning Score: -22 (Rory McIlroy)
- Rory McIlroy won the tournament by 7 strokes thanks to a final round 61. He absolutely torched Hamilton Golf & Country Club
Final Leaderboard – 2019 RBC Canadian Open:
While Rory McIlroy ran away from the tournament, the leaderboard looks very similar to one generated from Harbour Town. Given both golf courses are short on the scorecard and aren’t won that (most) players can overpower with the driver, a leaderboard consisting of accurate ball-strikers who can fill up the cup with hot putting makes sense.
Off The Tee
In 2019, Hamilton Golf & Country Club ranked 21st out of 35 golf courses played on the PGA Tour that season in terms of difficulty off the tee. While the golf course is narrow and the driving accuracy rates were relatively low (~55%) compared to other PGA Tour venues, the degree of difficulty isn’t all that different than the average PGA Tour venue. Several feature narrow landing zones where laying up off the tee is the best strategy.
That might be different in 2024. Ebert not only put new bunkers in landing zones for those looking to be aggressive, but also new bunkers for those who want to layup off the tee. In addition, they were reshaped so that they jut out more into the fairway.
Rough was also removed around the bunkers to allow balls to roll in if they were just a little offline in the fairway. Hamilton might be a little more intimidating off the tee this year.
However, expect more of the same in terms of club selection. The average drive at Hamilton in 2019 only went about 285 yards. However, how Rory was able to separate himself that week was his excellent driving performance. Not only was he 3rd on the week in average driving distance (300.6 yards), but he also was 6th in fairway accuracy.
Rory gained 1.73 strokes per round off the tee in 2019. The course was changed to prevent that from happening again, but if he repeats that performance, another win is likely in the cards.
Lastly, where Hamilton plays tough off, the tee is in its rough. In 2019, Hamilton featured the 9th most penal rough that season. There was about a 0.34 stroke difference on any given hole with approach shots hit from the fairway as opposed to the rough. And there was a very high correlation to performance off the tee that week based on how many fairways one hit.
Approach
In 2019, Hamilton Golf & Country Club ranked 22nd out of 35 golf courses played on the PGA Tour in terms of approach shot difficulty. Like off the tee, when compared to other PGA Tour venues, the degree of difficulty wasn’t all that different from the average PGA Tour setup. While the greens were quite small in 2019, the green-in-regulation rate was still around 64.5% (about PGA Tour average).
It remains to be seen if the changes made to the golf course will make approach shots more challenging. The expansion and reconstruction of greens could allow for more difficult pin positions and increase the margin of error between a great shot and a mediocre one. In addition, greens saw all their bunkers reshaped, and a few have been added as well. Expect approach shots to be a little more difficult at the 2024 RBC Canadian Open.
Here’s the proximity chart from the 2019 RBC Canadian Open (per DataGolf):
There was a higher emphasis in shots from 150 yards or less at the 2019 RBC Canadian Open when compared to the typical PGA Tour stop. That might be a reason why the final leaderboard produced a similar looking leaderboard that Harbour Town would. Though the golf course was lengthened about 100 yards, this will largely be offset by the advancements in distance since then. Expect a similar proximity chart at the 2024 RBC Canadian Open.
Around the Green and putting
In 2019, Hamilton Golf & Country Club ranked 17th and 11th in around the green and putting difficulty, respectively, out of 35 golf courses played on the PGA Tour that season. Players struggled to get up and down from the rough because of how thick it was and how little real estate players had to deal with from off of it. In addition, players often are forced to chip back up or down to the putting surface, as the land isn’t uniform around the green. These aren’t routine chip shots from relatively flat lies that players typically deal with on the PGA Tour.
What wasn’t challenging was getting up and down from bunkers. It ranked 32nd that season in terms of difficulty. However, with bunker enhancements made for 2024, expect those conditions to get a little trickier in 2024.
As for the greens, their difficulty might have something to do with the poa annua. While East Coast POA isn’t quite as inconsistent as its West Coast cousin, it’s still not an easy surface to put on. But with new bentgrass installed on the greens, they should roll a little smoother and easier this year. However, these could be offset by the changes in the greens done by Martin Ebert. While the greens aren’t severely undulated, it’s subtle sloping around the holes still should present quite a challenge to the players.
In Tournament Strokes Gained
Here’s how players were able to separate themselves at the 2019 RBC Canadian Open when compared to the typical PGA Tour setup (per DataGolf):
In 2019, it was much easier to separate oneself from the field off the tee than it does at the typical PGA Tour setup. This was primarily directed through how many fairways one hit as opposed to how far one hit it. In addition, it was a little easier to separate oneself around the green and and with the putter than it did at the average PGA Tour setup.
While still the second most important separator, iron play was de-emphasized a bit. This is likely because of the high volume of short iron shots that shrink the gap between the elites and the average players.
Expect a similar scatterplot for the 2024 RBC Canadian Open. Even with the course enhancements, Hamilton Golf & Country Club should still largely play the same as it did in 2019 for the entirety of the field. In addition, last year the Canadian Open spent significant effort to create actual penal rough to protect the short nature of the golf courses.
Early intel suggests more of the same again in 2024. The name of the game will still be to find the fairway off the tee and set one up for a good look at the pin from short range.
Follow the tips in this preview, and one should put together a solid DFS lineup and betting card for the 2024 RBC Canadian Open.