CALEDON, Ont. — The Canadian contingent at the RBC Canadian Open is wide, age-wise, between 18-year-old Matthew Javier and 55-year-old Mike Weir, who is playing in his record-tying 32nd national open.
But there’s a reason why the golden generation — which Weir inspired — including top-ranked Corey Conners, certified star Taylor Pendrith, and 2023 Canadian Open winner Nick Taylor, are considered the favourites amongst the bunch. For most of the Canadian crew in the field this week at TPC Toronto Osprey Valley, this week is a learning experience. For the aforementioned trio — and Mackenzie Hughes and Adam Hadwin — this is a real chance to win again on the PGA Tour.
“It’s not easy to win out here, but I keep getting myself in position. I’ve got trust in my game,” Conners said. “I’m liking where things are at.”
Conners comes into the Canadian Open ranked No. 21 in the world, just ahead of Taylor at No. 32 and Pendrith at No. 36. His body of work through the season has been amazingly consistent, as he sits ninth on the FedExCup standings on the back of five top-10s. He’s in the top 10 in strokes gained: off the tee, and he’s having one of the best putting years of his career, stats-wise.
He got off to a tremendous start in 2025, notching three top-10s in a row through the Florida swing before finding himself in the penultimate pairing at the Masters for both Saturday (with Rory McIlroy) and Sunday. The confidence was there.
Conners has also finished as the lowest Canadian at two of the last three years at this event. The only time he didn’t win that trophy was when Nick Taylor won the real trophy in 2023.
“Growing up as a young kid in Listowel, playing golf there every day, coming to watch the RBC Canadian Open — it was a childhood dream to play in this event one day, and I’ve been able to do that many times,” Conners said.
While Conners has had the best 2025, it’s Pendrith who may be the best suited for the golf course.
Pendrith has been on the property more than almost everyone in the field and even made an ace on the par-3 14th (which is ‘The Rink’ hole this week) at a charity event last fall. He knows what it takes to have success here, and all of its little intricacies. Pendrith (whose wife, Meg, is volunteering on the medical team this week as she needs to get some hours to keep up her certification and was “antsy” this morning as her husband almost made her late for her 7 a.m. shift start) walked a few holes Wednesday with Ian Andrew, the architect who was charged with the recent redesign, picking his brain about things he saw and things he wanted to do with the changes.
Andrew was excited about one particular shot Pendrith hit, too.
“On the first hole, I hit a mini-driver right against the lip of the bunkers, and he was fired up for that. I was not, but he could tell he was like, ‘Yeah, I got him,” Pendrith said with a laugh.
That opening tee ball aside, Pendrith is a perfect fit for the course — sitting second on the PGA Tour in ball-striking (he’s fifth in fairways hit and sixth in greens in regulation). He was fifth on the PGA Tour in putting last year, but is all the way down to 144th in the same statistic for 2025. His caddie, Mitch Theoret, tells Sportsnet that Pendrith’s putting is getting much better as the season is chugging along. It’s easy to get down a statistical hole, especially with how poor of a start he had on the greens. But his last two tournaments specifically — the PGA Championship and the Memorial — he was up 100 spots.
So, you combine course familiarity with some serious momentum, and you’ve got the chance for another Canadian victory on home soil.
“I feel like having a lot of experience at this golf course has made my Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday […] easier for me to kind of prepare how I want to,” Pendrith said.
But, of course, there is one Canadian who has already won this championship.
Nick Taylor, in all his playoff glory in 2023, authored one of the greatest sporting moments in Canadian history. He broke the drought. He won the tournament.
He comes into the week after a top-5 result at the Memorial at a tough, major-like venue. And he’s forever (most likely) etched into tournament history as part of the logo, too.
Wouldn’t it be amazing to have a fellow Canadian, part of this incredible group, join him as a champion?
“We all pull for each other. I think it’s really been a great five, six years of us being a close-knit group playing so often together, but also playing so well,” Taylor said. “It would be fun to be here rooting them on — like they were for me greenside. I hope to be the one trying to win again, but, again, if I were here to witness it, it would be a lot of fun.”