CALEDON — Rory McIlroy and Robert MacIntyre don't just love playing golf, they're students of the history of the game.
That's why they're both set on once again capturing the RBC Canadian Open and blocking a Canadian from winning on home soil.
The pair have combined for three of the past four Canadian Open titles, with Northern Ireland’s McIlroy winning in 2019 and 2022, and Scotland’s MacIntyre emerging victorious last year. If McIlroy wins again, he’ll join Lee Trevino, Sam Snead and Tommy Armour as a three-time champion.
"Anytime you start to rack up multiple wins in places, especially with a trophy like the Canadian Open and the names that are on that trophy, there's not many that are on it three times," said McIlroy on Wednesday. "So yeah, it would be very cool.
"I'd love to get myself in the mix at the weekend and have an opportunity to do it."
American Leo Diegel is the only player to win the 121-year-old championship four times (1924, 1925, 1928 and 1929). Diegel, Trevino, Snead, and Armour are all in the World Golf Hall of Fame.
MacIntyre's first-ever PGA Tour title was at last year's Canadian Open at Hamilton Golf and Country Club. He followed that up six weeks later with a win at his home nation's Genesis Scottish Open.
He said on Tuesday that "national opens are huge" for him and the sport of golf.
"Being from Europe, we've got a lot of national opens: Scottish Open, French Open, Spanish Open, one event in Belgium, last week in Austria," said MacIntyre in the media centre at TPC Toronto at Osprey Valley, the host of this year's Canadian Open. "I just think it brings out more if there's one event in a specific area, like here this week.
"National opens are a massive part of the game. I just wish that we'd done more to promote a lot more national opens."
There are 24 Canadians in the field this year at TPC Toronto, with Nick Taylor of Abbotsford, B.C., front and centre. While he's not the highest-ranked Canadian on tour — that’s Corey Conners of Listowel, Ont., who sits ninth on the points list — Taylor won the Canadian Open in 2023, ending a 69-year drought for Canucks at the men's national championship.
"My game feels good. It's been a pretty consistent year," said Taylor, who is No. 16 on the FedEx Cup standings. "I haven't been trying to reinvent the wheel at all, just being more consistent off the tee, which has helped. Iron game has been strong this year, and the short game has been solid.
"It's come together nicely in some bigger tournaments, which is always the goal to start the year."
MacIntyre, for his part, is willing to play spoiler to the home fans.
"There's a lot of Canadian players here this week obviously wanting to win the Canadian Open," he said. "Everyone's wanting to win this week, but it just adds an extra incentive for the Canadian guys because it's the Canadian Open, and I think the crowd also builds on that.
"They try to get some more kind of praise and applause for good golf to the Canadians, which is — I mean, I get that in Scotland and elsewhere, wherever, like a Frenchman in France, it's the exact same stuff."
Temperatures reached 30 C during Wednesday's pro-am at TPC Toronto, with the humidex making it feel like 34.
Rain was expected overnight and into the morning as the first round tees off. The forecast calls for a mix of sun and clouds for the remaining three rounds with gusts up to 31 km/h.
"I don't know if you can call any course a typical TPC setup, but that's kind of what it's like," said McIlroy. "A little bit of room off the tee, the fairways are quite generous, but if you miss them, the rough is pretty penal. The greens are tricky, undulating, really got to hit it into the right sections.
"I think it could be a good test by the end of the week if there's no rain and it firms up a little bit and they can tuck the pins away."
This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 4, 2025.
John Chidley-Hill, The Canadian Press
