Late yesterday the PGA Tour board ratified changes to their designated events for 2024 which could have a dramatic effect on the RBC Canadian Open.
* Fields limited to 78 with no cut after 36 holes. Top 50 players who qualify for the BMW Championship during the previous seasons FedEx Cup playoffs, top 10 players not otherwise eligible on the current Fed Ex Cup points race. Also 5 spots for the top 5 places in money earned in non designated events. There are also places available for sponsor exemptions (Tiger Woods) and consideration the OWGR top 30.
* Majors, the Players Championship and the Fed Ex Cup playoffs will remain the same.
This week at the Honda Classic I wrote earlier about them being caught in the designated event sandwich. Only 2 players in the top 30 showed up, the top players using it as a rest week between the WM Phoenix Open and this weeks AP Invitational.
This year the non designated RBC Canadian Open is in the same boat June 8-11, caught between the Memorial June 1-4 and the US Open in LA June 15-18, then the Travelers June 22 -25.
Rory McIlroy was last year's winner at a glorious sold out St George's GC, with Justin Thomas and Tony Finau in the final pairing... great news for the RBC sponsors.
None of them will be here this year, in fact none of the top players will be here.
Sooner rather than later RBC will decide they are not getting a bang for their buck unless they get designated status in 2024.
Cadence : The Tour Committee has decided to schedule the tournaments like this..two designated back to back, then three non designated where the top 5 performers can elevate into the top 70 for the designated events.
History : Before RBC stepped up to be a great sponsor in 2009, after Bell had withdrawn in 2006. The RCGA scrambled to have a consortium of 6 non title sponsors to help costs but lost $3m running the event in 2008.
Since they own RBC Centura in the US southeast, and the National BanCorporation the parent company of 11 US smaller banks means RBC were excited to expose their brand there, as the Canadian Open was televised nationally in the US on CBS.
So it follows that the future of the RBC Canadian Open could not survive under it's present form unless it becomes designated.
However if it does get status it will then exclude all of the non eligible Canadians who get invited every year under the present system
Also in my opinion, and many other media colleagues, this is not really a Canadian National Championship, rather a PGA Tour event in Canada.
A national championship would be a full field of all Canadian pros, which would not be a PGA Tour event.
I expect the rank and file players 80-125 will not be pleased with the new designation. However they are all making millions but really do nothing to increase the value of the PGA Tour.
Remember Nick Taylor barely kept his card for this year at #123, and nearly won the WM Phoenix Open weeks ago, pocketing $2.18m for 2nd in the process. He would not have even been in the field under next year's regulations !
As I've said before, none of this would be happening if not for the spin off from the LIV. The PGA Tour had to respond and it has done so quickly.
How it affects the future of the RBC Canadian Open hangs in the balance.
Stay tuned...
Bryan Angus
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