International flavor at the top of the board, led by McIlroy, this week at the RBC Canadian Open

The final tune-up on the PGA TOUR before the second major of the season will take a full field of 156 players north of the border. Oakdale Golf and Country Club, located outside Toronto, will host Canada's national championship, the RBC Canadian Open, for the first time in 112 years of playing. The Par-72 will be played as a composite course, using holes from all three nine-hole courses on the property, and will tip at 7,246 yards.

With a victory this week, Rory McIlroy (+400) should be considered an honorary Canadian citizen, if he isn't already. The world No. 3 will try and make it three wins from his last three in Ontario. There have only been two RBC CO played since 2018. McIlroy has won both events on two different courses posting 40-under. Another new venue this week will keep him sharp as he looks for the big payoff of his recent swing changes. His return to form has produced back-to-back top-10 paydays in his last two events, T7 at Memorial and T7 at Oak Hill.

Continuing a run of excellent play, Englishman Tyrrell Hatton (+1100) checks in as the second choice. In the first RBC event of the year, RBC Heritage the week after the Masters, his T19 kicked off a fantastic spring run. The mercurial Englishman followed with T3 at Wells Fargo, T5 at AT&T Byron Nelson before adding T15 at Oak Hill, and T12 last week at Memorial. Only Scheffler and Rahm have gained more strokes this season.

Matt Fitzpatrick (+1400) will be the man of the hour next week in Los Angeles as the reigning US Open champion. His time will be in high demand at LACC, so I expect this to be a busy workweek in the Great White North. It's not surprising the Englishman returns this season. Posting T10 last year appeared to be the perfect springboard he was looking for heading into the US Open. Already a winner at RBC Heritage in April, he'll look to pull the RBC double. Playing the final 54 holes at a difficult Memorial in 6-under suggests to cash T9 suggests he's ready to go!

Sam Burns (+1400) will look to build on his excellent spring at Oakdale as he makes his second visit in two years to Canada. The winner at WGC-Match Play has cashed T16 or better in five of his last six, including T16 last week, and T6 in defense at Colonial two weeks ago. The excellent putter roared home 65-65 last year at St George's to share fourth in his first northern visit.

The strength of field this week shows ten players in the top 30 OWGR entered as of Monday morning. Stretching to just 11 in the top 50 suggests the field is top-heavy. Cameron Young (+1600) will be looking to create momentum this week after MC in his last two TOUR events. The streak is four straight outings without a top-10 payday since finishing runner-up to Burns at Match Play and securing T7 at the Masters. The big-hitter is still searching for his first TOUR victory and will look to dial in his game on this new track.

Every year it is brought to the forefront that a Canadian has not won this event since Pat Fletcher in 1954. Corey Conners (+1600) will wear the maple leaf flag proudly this week as he looks to join that exclusive club. The Listowel, Ontario, native will have a full gallery roaring him on if he's in the later tee times come the weekend. Last year he bullied his way home with 62 on Sunday to take solo sixth. Interestingly that was only the second time from seven starts he's made the cut in his national open.

The English are well represented at the top of the board this week. The senior member of the contingent, Justin Rose (+1600), shouldn't be flying under the radar. Cashing in his last six, he took last week off after a top 10 (T9) at Oak Hill and T12 at Colonial. Sits 12th in SG: Total and has already won on a tight track in Pebble Beach earlier this season.

Tommy Fleetwood (+2000) has posted seven wins globally, but zero on the PGA TOUR. Leading the TOUR in SG: Around the Green, the Englishman has scrambled into the top 10 just once in 2023 (T5, WFC). Sitting in the top 10 in SG: Total and SG: Tee to Green, the feeling is he should be contending more often. Cashed a check for T6 in 2018 in his only other visit.

Shane Lowry (+2000) makes it seven from nine at the top of the board from outside the USA. The 2019 Open Champion, similarly to Fleetwood, has only graced the top 10 once in 2023 (T5, Honda Classic). Signs of life appeared his last time out. Playing his final three rounds at the PGA Championship in three-under cashed T12, his best finish since Honda in late February. The fairway finder from Ireland always enjoys a tight driving track, and this week should qualify.

Others to consider:

+3300: Sahith Theegala

+4000: Keith Mitchell, Matt Kuchar

+4500: Adam Hadwin

+5000: Adrian Meronk

+5500: Adam Svensson

+6600: Alex Smalley, Brendon Todd, Nick Taylor, Eric Cole, Joseph Bramlett, Michael Kim

+8000: Aaron Rai, Aaron Wise, Brandon Wu, David Lipsky, Harry Hall, Lee Hodges, Ludvig Aberg, Mackenzie Hughes, Mark Hubbard, Nicolai Hojgaard, Taylor Pendrith

+9000: Sam Stevens

+10000: CT Pan, Doug Ghim, Dylan Wu, Luke List, Maverick McNealy, Nate Lashley, Vincent Norrman

How it works:

Field of 156 players

Top 65 and ties will play the final two rounds.

On the line is a prize pool of $9 million, with the winner receiving $1.62 million plus 500 FedExCup Points.

Circle back tomorrow as I post more details in Horses for Courses plus the Betting Stat Pack.

-Odds courtesy of BETMGM.COM-

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