Rory McIlroy defends RBC Canadian Open title

Credit: Eric Bolte-USA TODAY Sports

Field Level Media’s Golf Glance provides weekly news and storylines from each of the major North American golf tours.

PGA TOUR
LAST TOURNAMENT: The Memorial Tournament (Billy Horschel)
THIS WEEK: RBC Canadian Open, Toronto, June 9-12
Course: St George’s Golf & Country Club (Par 70, 7,014 yards)
Purse: $8.7M (Winner: $1,566M)
Defending Champion: Rory McIlroy (2019)
FedEx Cup Leader: Scottie Scheffler
HOW TO FOLLOW
TV: Thursday-Friday, 3-6 pm ET (Golf Channel); Saturday-Sunday, 1-3pm (Golf Channel), 3-6pm (CBS)
PGA Tour Live: Daily feeds on ESPN+
Social Media: @RBCCanadianOpen (Twitter)
NOTES: The event returns after being canceled each of the past two years due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The tournament was last played at Hamilton G&CC in 2019. This will be the sixth time St George’s has played host to the event (1933, 1949, 1960, 1968, 2010). … The course features five par 3s and three par 5s, leading to groups teeing off on Nos. 1 and 9 for the first two rounds. … McIlroy, a 20-time winner on the PGA Tour, seeks his first successful title defense. … Twenty Canadians are scheduled to tee it up in their country’s national open, including world no. 31 Corey Conners and No. 77 Mackenzie Hughes. A Canadian has not won the event since 1954. … The top two finishers this week not otherwise exempt will qualify for the 150th Open Championship at St Andrews.
BEST BETS: Scheffler (+800 at BetMGM) makes his tournament debut while coming off a loss in a playoff in his previous start. He’s trying to become the first five-time winner in a season since Justin Thomas in 2016-17. … Thomas (+900) is coming off a missed cut at the Charles Schwab Challenge after winning the PGA Championship. … McIlroy (+1000) has three top-10s in his past four starts and is second in strokes from tee to green and scoring average on tour this season. … Cameron Smith (+1200) leads the tour in scoring average (69.253) but has missed the cut in his previous two event starts. … Sam Burns (+1600) has won two of his past five starts and is ranked a career-high ninth in the world.
NEXT TOURNAMENT: US Open, Brookline, Mass., June 16-19

LPGA Tour
LAST TOURNAMENT: US Women’s Open (Minjee Lee)
THIS WEEK: ShopRite LPGA Classic, Galloway, NJ, June 10-12
Course: Seaview, Bay Course (Par 71, 6,190 yards)
Purse: $1.75M (Winner: $262,500)
Defending Champion: Celine Boutier
Race to the CME Globe leader: Minjee Lee
HOW TO FOLLOW
TV: Friday, 12-4 pm ET (Golf Channel); Saturday, 2-5 pm (GC); Sunday, 12-1pm (GC), 1-3pm (Paramount+)
Twitter: @ShopRiteLPGA
Streaming: Friday, 12-3pm ET; Saturday, 2-5 pm; Sunday, 12-1pm (NBCSports.com/golfchannel.com)
NOTES: The 144-player field will be cut to the top 70 and ties after 36 holes. … Boutier beat Brooke Henderson, Jin Young Ko and Inbee Park by one shot last year. … Lee, the only multiple-time winner in 2022, leads the tour in scoring average at 68,750 and total strokes gained per round at 2,710. … Danielle Kang, who won the Tournament of Champions earlier this year, will skip the next few events to let her ailing back heal.
NEXT TOURNAMENT: Meijer LPGA Classic, Belmont, Mich., June 16-19

Champions tour
LAST TOURNAMENT: Principal Charity Classic (Jerry Kelly)
THIS WEEK: American Family Insurance Championship, Madison, Wisc., June 10-12
Course: University Ridge GC (Par 72, 7,083 yards)
Purse: $2.4M (Winner: $360,000)
Defending Champion: Kelly
Charles Schwab Cup leader: Steven Alker
HOW TO FOLLOW
TV: Friday, 6-8 pm ET; Saturday-Sunday, 2:30-5:30 pm (All times Golf Channel)
Twitter: @amfamchamp
NOTES: Kelly is the two-time defending champion and owns a 67.75 scoring average in the event. … Steve Stricker has not finished lower than T7 in four previous starts in his hometown event. … Fred Couples will play in only his fourth event this year. He posted a T17-T2-T12 in his first three. … The event has been decided by a single shot or a playoff in each of the past four seasons. … This is a no-cut event with an 81-player field.
NEXT TOURNAMENT: US Senior Open Championship, Bethlehem, Penn., June 23-26

– Field Level Media

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