Rory McIlroy hits his tee shot on the 11th hole during the Canadian Open Pro-Am in Toronto on Wednesday, June 7, 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette
Some of the world’s top players are teeing off at the RBC Canadian Open today amid the hotly debated LIV Golf-PGA Tour controversy that shook the golf world this week.
Four-time major championship winner Rory McIlroy is looking for his third straight Canadian Open title as the tournament gets underway at the Oakdale Golf & Country Club in Toronto.
McIlroy was the PGA Tour’s most outspoken golfer against LIV Golf over the past year. Now the PGA Tour, Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund, which owns LIV Golf, and the European tour are banding together to create a worldwide men’s golf tour.
It’s the second straight year LIV Golf controversy is at the centre of Canada’s lone stop on the PGA Tour. The 34-year-old McIlroy beat the field by two strokes last year on the same weekend LIV Golf held its first event.
Corey Conners of Listowel, Ont., Mackenzie Hughes of Dundas, Ont., Nick Taylor of Abbotsford, B.C., and Adam Svensson of Surrey, B.C., are among the 19 Canadians looking to end a nearly 70-year drought of a Canadian winning the Open on home soil.
Conners, a two-time PGA Tour winner, is the highest-ranked player from Canada.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 8, 2023.
