Up this week is golf’s fifth major the RBC Canadian Open coming to us from Glen Abbey in Ontario. Here’s a scorecard and a hole-by-hole tour if you want to get a feel for the course. The Canadian Open is similar to the U.S. Open in that it rotates amongst different courses year-to-year, so don’t rely on last year’s results if you’re looking for course history. These are the previous four winners at Glen Abbey (click their name for full leaderboards):
Brandt Snedeker (2013)
Nathan Green (2009)
Chez Reavie (2008)
Vijay Singh (2004)
Looking through those results, you’ll notice two things: 1) the fields aren’t all that deep/tough and 2) there are more ball strikers at the top than straight bombers. Glen Abbey is more of a target course with relatively small greens and lots of bunkers. Distance will always help (there are four fairly short par 5s, and distance will certainly help there); but to win this week, you’ll need to hit fairways and greens. With that in mind, there are six stats the experts think you should be focusing on: GIR, Par 5 Scoring, Proximity, Sand Save %, Strokes Gained: Tee-to-Green, and Total Driving. I’m throwing in Strokes Gained: Putting as a bonus; it’s something you should always at least be cognizant of.
GIR Leaders
- Stewart Cink 72.65%
- Jim Herman 72.38%
- J.J. Henry 70.48%
- Alex Prugh 70.32%
- Jim Furyk 70.20%
Par 5 Scoring Leaders
- Bubba Watson 4.45
- Brooks Koepka 4.52
- Matt Kuchar 4.55
- Aaron Baddeley 4.57
- Morgan Hoffmann 4.57
Proximity Leaders
- Jim Furyk 31.67′
- Jason Gore 32.17′
- Lucas Glover 32.58′
- Chez Reavie 32.58′
- Stewart Cink 32.83′
- Hudson Swafford 32.83′
Sand Save % Leaders
- S.J. Park 66.10%
- Luke Donald 65.00%
- Chad Collins 62.86%
- Matt Kuchar 61.68%
- Jonathan Byrd 61.36%
Strokes Gained: Putting Leaders
- Aaron Baddeley .854
- Matt Kuchar .633
- Brooks Koepka .588
- Matt Every .580
- Daniel Summerhays .565
Strokes Gained: Tee-to-Green Leaders
- Bubba Watson 1.588
- Jim Furyk 1.419
- J.B. Holmes 1.197
- Lucas Glover 1.09
- Ryan Palmer 1.025
Total Driving Leaders
- Graham DeLaet
- Charlie Beljan
- Hudson Swafford
- Derek Ernst
- Davis Love III
Using those stats in conjunction with current form and course history, these are the names the experts believe you should be targeting:
- Adam Hadwin
- Brooks Koepka
- Bubba Watson
- Chez Reavie
- Chris Stroud
- Graham DeLaet
- Greg Owen
- Hunter Mahan
- Jason Day
- Jerry Kelly
- Jim Furyk
- Kevin Chappell
- Luke Donald
- Matt Kuchar
- Ollie Schniederjans
- Scott Piercy
That about does it for the preview. Hopefully there’s some info here that can help you win some cash. As always, best of luck this week!
