TORONTO – Golf Canada and title sponsor RBC have confirmed that the membership of St. George’s Golf and Country Club in Toronto has agreed to host the 2021 RBC Canadian Open, with nearby Islington Golf Club housing the official practice facility for the tournament.

The two facilities were scheduled to host the 2020 RBC Canadian Open this week (June 8-14), prior to the event being cancelled because of international travel and government restrictions related to the COVID-19 global pandemic. The 2021 RBC Canadian Open will be held June 7-13.

“Together with our partners at RBC and the PGA TOUR, we are very pleased with the overwhelming support by the members of St. George’s Golf and Country Club to host the RBC Canadian Open in 2021,” said Golf Canada CEO, Laurence Applebaum. “The cancelation of our 2020 event due to the COVID-19 pandemic was disappointing and there is now a great enthusiasm as we pivot our full efforts alongside our partners and team of volunteers to making 2021 a great success. I want to thank the membership and the board of directors at both St. George’s and Islington for continuing in this journey towards what will be a truly special edition of the RBC Canadian Open.”

“We are thrilled to host the 2021 RBC Canadian Open at St. George’s Golf and Country Club,” said Mary DePaoli, Executive Vice-President and Chief Marketing Officer, RBC. “As one of the top five golf courses in Canada, and one of the top 30 in the world, St. George’s is not only an incredible golf course but a world-class venue. Building off of last year’s momentum, we look forward to working together with our partners at Golf Canada and the PGA TOUR to make next year’s event one to remember.”

St. George’s Golf and Country Club has previously hosted the RBC Canadian Open on five occasions, dating as far back as 1933 and most recently in 2010.

Part of the FedExCup and conducted by Golf Canada for more than a century, the RBC Canadian Open provides an opportunity for Canada’s top talents to compete against the world’s best golfers while also leaving a significant impact in the event’s host community. The RBC Canadian Open is proud to support the Golf Canada Foundation as the event’s official charity partner. Established in 1904, Canada’s national open golf championship is the third-oldest national open golf championship worldwide next to the British Open and the U.S. Open. The RBC Canadian Open is proudly sponsored by RBC, Audi, Acushnet, Steam Whistle, Hilton, Levelwear, Coca-Cola and the Government of Ontario and the Government of Canada.

Golf Canada and RBC will now pivot all efforts towards planning for a celebrated return of the RBC Canadian Open in 2021

TORONTO – With continued public health concerns as well as international travel and government restrictions due to the COVID-19 global pandemic, the PGA TOUR, in consultation with Golf Canada and RBC, has made the difficult decision to cancel the 2020 RBC Canadian Open.

The event was scheduled for June 8-14 at St. George’s Golf and Country Club with Islington Golf Club as the official practice facility. The cancellation of the 2020 RBC Canadian Open also includes the RBCxMusic Concert Series which was scheduled to take place June 12-13 at Richview Collegiate Institute, featuring headline performances by The Chainsmokers and Keith Urban.

“The RBC Canadian Open has always been a rallying point for Canadian golf and while we share in the crushing disappointment with our fans, players, volunteers and many event partners, our primary responsibility is the safety of our people and our communities,” said Golf Canada CEO Laurence Applebaum. “It is now our full intention to push forward together with RBC, the PGA TOUR, the City of Toronto and our host clubs with the goal to bring the 2021 RBC Canadian Open to St. George’s Golf and Country Club with Islington Golf Club as the official practice facility.”

“Our foremost consideration is the health and safety of everyone in our community, including the players, spectators, our staff and volunteers, the media and the thousands of supporters who contribute to the success of our event,” said Mary DePaoli, Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer, RBC. “The international travel restrictions, required quarantine measures and government mandates were critical factors that contributed to the decision to cancel our event this year. We have no doubt that the incredible momentum we’ve built together with our partners will make the 2021 RBC Canadian Open a world-class experience.”

Golf Canada and RBC would like to thank golf fans across the nation for their understanding and in particular, our  many corporate partners, ticket and hospitality purchasers, as well as the countless volunteers for their continued support through this unprecedented time.

Golf Canada, the PGA TOUR and RBC have continued to monitor the guidelines provided by federal, provincial and municipal government health authorities in order to prevent the spread of the virus within our communities. With this decision, Golf Canada and RBC will now turn their focus towards the 2021 RBC Canadian Open.

Dating back to its inception in 1904, the cancellation of the 2020 RBC Canadian Open marks only the seventh time that Canada’s National Open Championship has not been conducted, including wartime cancellations from 1915-18 as well as 1943-44. 

All corporate hospitality buyers will be contacted by their Golf Canada sales representative over the coming days to plan forward for 2021 and individual ticket purchases made via Ticketmaster will be automatically refunded within the next 30 days. The same refund policy applies for RBC clients who purchased RBCxMusic Tickets.

Today, the City of Toronto made the decision to cancel all permits and access to City services for events through June 30 due to ongoing developments with COVID-19.

We appreciate the factors that led to this decision, in particular that all city resources are being directed to support our communities during this unprecedented health crisis.  The health and safety of everyone who supports the RBC Canadian Open – and our community as a whole – will always come first, and we respect the City’s decision.

Together with the PGA TOUR, we are assessing this recent development along with other challenges posed by COVID-19 to determine the best course of action for the RBC Canadian Open.  We will make further announcements in the coming week.

TORONTO – Golf Canada has postponed three regional qualifying tournaments for the 2020 RBC Canadian Open due to the COVID-19 pandemic

The tournaments were slated to start May 14 at TPC Toronto at Osprey Valley in Caledon, Ont., May 19 at Meadow Gardens Golf Club in Pitt Meadows, B.C., and May 21 at Club de golf Pinegrove in St-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Que.

There is no indication yet on when the postponed events may be rescheduled, but the RBC Canadian Open is still scheduled to start June 8 at St. George’s Country Club in Toronto. The CP Women’s Open is scheduled to start Aug. 31 at Vancouver’s Shaughnessy Golf & Country Club.

For more information on RBC Canadian Open qualifying, click here.

This report by The Canadian Press was published March 30, 2020.

The PGA TOUR announced on March 17 that due to the ongoing health crisis related to COVID-19, all PGA TOUR events through the week of the AT&T Byron Nelson (May 7-10) have been canceled. In addition, both The Masters (April 9–12) and PGA Championship (May 14–17) have been postponed to a future date later this year with further details to be announced.

With this news, we wanted to provide an update regarding the 2020 RBC Canadian Open, scheduled for June 8-14 at St. George’s Golf and Country Club and in partnership with Islington Golf Club in Toronto.  As of today, March 19, we continue to work through all possible scenarios for the RBC Canadian Open with our hope that the event will be played as planned in June.

With that outlook, our primary and utmost concern remains the health and safety of everyone associated with the RBC Canadian Open and our community will continue to be our No. 1 priority as we navigate the ongoing health crisis.

This is a very fluid situation that requires constant review, regular communication and the utmost transparency. We are working closely with key partners, such as the PGA TOUR, RBC, the Canadian Olympic Committee and other national/international sport and entertainment properties to make informed and responsible decisions.

As we move forward, Golf Canada will continue to monitor information provided by the World Health Organization, Health Canada, Toronto Public Health and other expert government/regional health experts to follow developments and receive guidance.

Golf Canada will provide status updates on the RBC Canadian Open website, Twitter and Instagram channels, including any additional protocols put in place to ensure the health and safety of all attendees. We encourage our fans to stay informed on the developments of COVID-19 through official health sources (as noted above) and will provide further updates as new information becomes available.

RBCxMusic Concert Series returns to the tournament for a second year following a 2019 sell out

TORONTO, February 27, 2020 — RBC is excited to announce the return of the RBCxMusic Concert Series at the 2020 RBC Canadian Open, featuring headlining performances by Grammy Award-winning artist/producer duo, The Chainsmokers, and four-time Grammy Award winner, Keith Urban.

Building on the success of the inaugural event in 2019 with our partners at Golf Canada, which saw sold out performances from headliners Florida Georgia Line and The Glorious Sons, the RBC Canadian Open will once again offer an unforgettable experience for golf and music fans of all ages. The concerts will take place near the iconic St. George’s Golf and Country Club on the football field of Toronto’s Richview Collegiate Institute and will feature performances on both the Friday and Saturday evenings of tournament week – June 12 and 13, 2020.

Canadians will have the opportunity to see The Chainsmokers live in concert at the RBC Canadian Open on June 12, 2020.

“Performing in Canada is always a good time,” says The Chainsmokers’ Alex Pall.

The Chainsmokers’ Drew Taggart adds, “Nothing says summer like golf and outdoor concerts, and we can’t wait to kick off the season with our friends up north.” 

In addition, Keith Urban will close the Concert Series with a headlining performance on June 13, 2020.

“We are thrilled to announce the return of the RBCxMusic Concert Series, with artist and producer duo The Chainsmokers and the reigning ACM Entertainer of The Year, Keith Urban,” said Mary DePaoli, Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer, RBC. “Last year we set our sights on attracting new, younger fans to the sport of golf and creating a fresh, unforgettable fan experience, resulting in our most successful RBC Canadian Open to date. We can’t wait to build on that incredible momentum at this year’s tournament.”

“We are so excited that RBC will continue to integrate the RBCxMusic platform with world-class golf through their incredible support of the RBC Canadian Open,” said Golf Canada CEO Laurence Applebaum. “Adding the Concert Series to the RBC Canadian Open has been an iconic enhancement to our tournament, and the perfect kick-off to summer.”

In addition to can’t-miss music performances, fans can expect exciting spectator experiences, including a dedicated food and beverage area – the Fare Way, and the return of The Rink, awarded 2018 best-in-class element by the PGA TOUR.

Exclusively for RBC clients and new for 2020, an allotment of RBCxMusic Tickets are now available for purchase on Ticketmaster. Following the purchase of every RBCxMusic Ticket, RBC clients will receive a $10 Concert Cashcode, redeemable towards a future concert ticket purchase.

RBCxMusic Tickets are only available for Friday, June 12 and Saturday, June 13 of the RBC Canadian Open. Tickets are available to the general public for purchase at RBCCanadianOpen.com. Tickets for Friday and Saturday are $96.05 (plus service charges). The event is General Admission / All Ages. Tickets are all-inclusive: your tournament day pass is your concert ticket.

Canada’s Nick Taylor faced increasingly windy conditions, a hard-charging Phil Mickelson, and his own struggles in the back nine to come out on top at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am.

Taylor led by as many as five strokes heading into the back nine before bogeys on holes 11 and 12 followed by a double bogey on No. 14 seemed to give Mickleson a window on Sunday. But Taylor, from Abbotsford, B.C., remained unperturbed for birdies on Nos. 15 and 17 for a 2-under 70 round and a four-stroke win over Kevin Streelman, with Mickleson fading to five shots back with three bogeys on his back nine.

Was Taylor really as steely as he seemed, though?

“On the inside? Probably not,” said Taylor with a laugh. “I did feel calm all week and today, but I definitely started feeling some nerves middle of the back nine with really difficult holes and making some bogeys.

“Phil was making bogeys alongside me so it’s not like I was making bad bogeys, it didn’t feel like. It was just playing so difficult.”

Playing as the final pairing of the day, Taylor had Mickleson and his legion of fans in lockstep with him through the storied course. A partisan crowd was clearly hoping that Mickleson would win a record sixth tournament at Pebble Beach, his home course.

Both players had a disastrous No. 14 _ Taylor double bogeyed and Mickleson bogeyed _ but Taylor recovered with his two late birdies and Mickleson didn’t shoot below par again.

“It’s disappointing certainly to have not won, but I got outplayed,” Mickelson said. “I mean, Nick played better than I did. He holed a couple of great shots. That eagle on 6, the putts he made on 4, 5 and 7 … he just really played some great golf.”

Instead, Taylor won a PGA Tour event for the second time of his career and set himself up for an exciting 2020 season.

He’ll now join Adam Hadwin, Corey Conners and Mike Weir at the Masters, the most Canadians to ever play at Augusta. He also joins Hadwin and Conners as a potential member of Canada’s Olympic team at this summer’s Tokyo Games. Canada’s two highest-ranked male players in the world golf rankings will compete in the Olympics.

Winning at Pebble Beach guarantees Taylor a full exemption for the 2021 PGA Tour season.

Taylor also made a little bit of history.

Having won the Sanderson Farms Championship in November 2014, Taylor joined Mike Weir and Stephen Ames as the only Canadians in the modern era to win twice on the top men’s tour.

He’s also the first player to lead all four rounds at Pebble Beach since Mickleson accomplished the feat in 2005.

“It’s a unique week with having three different golf courses to play on,” said Taylor. “Each day is a new challenge, totally different. I think that helped a little bit. I won the Canadian junior championship before I went to college, pretty sure I went wire-to-wire there but it doesn’t happen very often to have a great start and back it up with another good round.

“It’s very rare and makes for a tiring week. Now I know 0.1 per cent of what Tiger Woods does every single day, having to talk to media and stuff like that.”

Taylor and Mickleson – who finished the day 2-over 74 – weren’t the only players to struggle with the wind.

Dustin Johnson shot a 78. Matt Every, in the third-to-last group, shot 80. Jason Day closed with a 75.

The best round and best finish belonged to Jordan Spieth, who chipped in to save par on his final hole for a 67. It was the low round of the day and enabled Spieth to finish in a tie for ninth. That narrowly moves him back into the top 50 and makes him eligible for a World Golf Championship in Mexico City in two weeks.

Streelman also left with a trophy. He teamed with Arizona Cardinals receiver Larry Fitzgerald to easily win the pro-am for the second time in three years.

Michael Gligic of Burlington, Ont., shot a 3-over 75 to finish tied for 55th at even par.

By: John Chidley-Hill (THE CANADIAN PRESS)

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, FLORIDA – PGA TOUR player Gary Woodland surprised Amy Bockerstette from Special Olympics Arizona last January with the opportunity to play the 16^th hole together as part of his Waste Management Phoenix Open practice round. With a smile on her face and her can-do, “I got this” self-talk, Amy – the first collegiate golfer to compete with an intellectual disability such as Down syndrome – became an overnight sensation. Her remarkable, par-saving putt has been viewed nearly 44 million times across TOUR platforms and has been featured on the NBC Nightly News, CBS Evening News, the TODAY Show and countless other platforms beyond golf.

One year later, the PGA TOUR celebrated the anniversary of that memorable event by announcing that the TOUR and its tournaments have surpassed $3 billion in all-time charitable giving. The charitable total, which includes a record $204.3 million in 2019 to bring the all-time total to $3.05 billion, includes donations made by tournaments on the PGA TOUR, PGA TOUR Champions, Korn Ferry Tour, Mackenzie Tour-PGA TOUR Canada, PGA TOUR Latinoamérica and PGA TOUR Series-China.

“It’s truly a pleasure to thank our fans, sponsors, tournaments, players and volunteers for helping us generate over $3 billion for charity and positively impact millions of lives,” said PGA TOUR Commissioner Jay Monahan. “As remarkable as this milestone is, what really matters are the countless stories like Amy’s that every tournament has. Together, we look forward to continuing to reach – and celebrate – millions more.”

Woodland and Amy are two of those millions, and it’s been a whirlwind for both since the two first met at TPC Scottsdale. Woodland and his wife, Gabby, have welcomed twins; he celebrated the biggest win of his career at the U.S. Open, telling Amy he “used (her) positive energy” to do so; and Amy has become an ambassador for those with Down syndrome, launching her I GOT THIS FOUNDATION topromote golf instruction and playing opportunities for people with Down syndrome and other intellectual disabilities. The two will reunite on Wednesday, January 29, at the Waste Management Phoenix Open, the site of their now-famous interaction.

The PGA TOUR and its more than 100 tournaments across all Tours achieved the $3 billion mark just six years after surpassing $2 billion in 2014. The TOUR achieved the $1 billion mark in 2005. In addition, the record $204.3 million in 2019 bests the previous record of $190 million in 2018. The TOUR’s first charitable donation of $10,000 was at the 1938 Palm Beach Invitational.

Each PGA TOUR tournament provides individuals an opportunity to give back to the community in one of three ways – attending an event, volunteering, or donating money. Not-for-profit tournaments under the PGA TOUR umbrella donate their net proceeds to support local organizations, totalling more than $3 billion in donations to date. The impact these tournaments make throughout the year is possible thanks to the more than 100,000 volunteers who commit their time to ensure each event is a success.

The charity partner of the RBC Canadian Open is the Golf Canada Foundation. To learn more, visit www.golfcanadafoundation.com

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. – The PGA TOUR today announced the 16-member Player Advisory Council (PAC) for 2020. The PAC advises and consults with the PGA TOUR Policy Board (Board of Directors) and Commissioner Jay Monahan on issues affecting the TOUR.

2020 Player Advisory Council

Ryan Armour
Paul Casey
David Hearn
Harry Higgs
Charley Hoffman
Billy Horschel
Zach Johnson
Russell Knox
Anirban Lahiri
Peter Malnati
Rory McIlroy
Ryan Palmer
Jon Rahm
Kevin Streelman 
Justin Thomas
Harold Varner III

Charley Hoffman, Peter Malnati and Justin Thomas have been selected by the Player Directors to run for PAC Chairman via election which ends February 7. The leading vote-getter will replace Johnson Wagner as a Player Director on the PGA TOUR Policy Board, serving a three-year term (2021-23).