Canadian Open: PGA Golf Odds And Predictions
Canadian Open PGA History
Did you know that the Canadian Open is the oldest continuously-running tournament outside of the four major championships on the PGA Tour? The first was held in 1904 and won by England’s Jack Oke with a tidy score of 16 over par. The next year, George Cumming became the first Canadian to win his national open. Arnold Palmer’s first PGA Tour win was this tournament in 1955. Two players all time have won the career Triple Crown of the Canadian Open, U.S. Open and British Open: Lee Trevino and Tiger Woods.
Speaking of the British Open, because the Canadian Open has been held the week following that major it has struggled at times to land a stellar field. Playing in the British Open is a stressful grind, so many guys like to take the following week off. Plus, there’s the whole travel factor. That won’t be an issue starting in 2019 as the Canadian Open is moving to June 6-9, the week ahead of the U.S. Open, and will be played at Hamilton Golf and Country Club. It will hold that spot on the schedule until at least 2023. The Canadian Open is taking the pre-U.S. Open date formerly held by the St. Jude Classic in Memphis.
Canadian Open Favourites
World No. 1 Dustin Johnson is the +750 favourite at Sports Interaction. DJ took a string of three straight Top-10 finishes on the PGA Tour into last week’s British Open but missed the cut. He has been a runner-up twice (2013, ’16) at this tournament and was T8 last year.
Brooks Koepka is +1250 with Tommy Fleetwood at +1700. Koepka hasn’t played this event since a T15 in 2015. The Englishman Fleetwood was in contention for a while last week as he debuts here.
The two-time defending champion is Venezuela’s Jhonattan Vegas. In 2016, he won at 12-under 276 by a shot over Johnson, Martin Laird and Jon Rahm. Last year, he beat Charley Hoffman in a playoff after both finished at 21 under. Vegas hasn’t won since, and his only other victory was in 2011 at the Bob Hope Classic. No player has won this tournament three years in a row. Vegas also missed the cut last week and is having a rough year. Thus, he’s a +4000 longer shot.
Top Canadian Golfer Odds
The last Canadian winner of this tournament was Pat Fletcher in 1954. Mike Weir should have won in 2004 but collapsed on the back nine with a three-shot lead Sunday and would lose in a playoff to Vijay Singh. David Hearn took a two-shot lead into the final round in 2015 and still was leading at the 15th hole but faded.
The highest-finishing Canadian earns the Rivermead Cup. That was Mackenzie Hughes in 2017 at T32. Ben Silverman is +7000 to win this week, Adam Hadwin +8000 with Hearn at +14000, Hughes +16000 and Nick Taylor +25000.
Canadian Open Predictions
Johnson and Tony Finau for Top 10s, but the winning pick is Matt Kuchar at +3000. He comes off a Top 10 at the British Open and has three Top-10s at the Canadian Open in his past four trips.