Featured Groups: RBC Canadian Open

FedExCup leader Dustin Johnson and No. 4 Bubba Watson will headline this week’s RBC Canadian Open, where change is in the air.

Although this year the tournament will once again be held at Glen Abbey the week after The Open Championship, next year it moves to Hamilton Golf & Country Club in early June, the week before the U.S. Open.

Scheduling aside, the biggest story in Canada is that no Canadian has won the tournament since Pat Fletcher in 1954. It hasn’t been for a lack of trying, and this year’s field features the top three in the Mackenzie Tour Order of Merit, 2013 Mackenzie Tour Player of the Year Mackenzie Hughes, Adam Hadwin, and others hoping to break the nearly 75-year dry spell. All told, there are 21 Canadians in the field.

Four former FedExCup champions are also playing: Billy Horschel, who won it in 2014 and on Monday tied for second at the Barbasol Championship; Brandt Snedeker (’12), Bill Haas (’11) and Jim Furyk (’10). Troy Merritt, coming off his win at the Barbasol, will also be at Glen Abbey.

Merritt went from 131st to 65th in the FedExCup at the Barbasol, but in this, the 40th of 44 events in the PGA TOUR regular season, the pressure is on to make the top 125 in time for the FedExCup Playoffs.

PGA TOUR LIVE will offer streaming coverage of the Featured Groups in the first two rounds starting at 7 a.m. ET, then will flip to afternoon Featured Holes coverage at 3 p.m. ET. Featured Holes consist of the par-3 15th hole, where club selection is tricky thanks to swirling winds and a multi-tiered green, and par-4 17th, which features a horseshoe-shaped green surrounded by copious bunkering. Weekend Featured Holes coverage starts at 1 p.m. ET.

Facebook Watch will provide weekend coverage of selected groups determined after the previous day’s action. Saturday and Sunday Featured Groups starts at 8:30 a.m. ET while Featured Holes start at 1 p.m. ET.

MORE: Tee times | FACEBOOK WATCH: Saturday morning | Saturday afternoon | Sunday morning | Sunday afternoon

Here’s a look at the four Featured Groups for the first two rounds this week at the RBC Canadian Open (current FedExCup rankings in parentheses):

THURSDAY

Kevin Kisner (35), Tony Finau (10), Matt Kuchar (64)

The popular Kisner spent a bit of time in the lead at The Open at Carnoustie last week before fading to a final-round 74 and a T2 finish. Meanwhile, Presidents Cup teammate Kuchar, who was runner-up to Jordan Spieth at The Open in 2017 but mired in a strangely unproductive 2018 campaign, also acquitted himself well with an encouraging T9 at Carnoustie. This week could be even better; he has three top-10s at Glen Abbey since 2013. The long-hitting Finau, also T9 at The Open last week, is knocking on the door for his second PGA TOUR victory after top-10 finishes in the first three majors of the season. He plays well at Glen Abbey, where he was T5 last year. 

Tee time: 8 a.m. ET

Bubba Watson (4), Dustin Johnson (1), Adam Hadwin (61)

This group features three clear headliners, and two guys who have gotten one hand on the trophy. FedExCup No. 1 Johnson is a two-time runner-up in this tournament, and was T8 a year ago. Fellow long-ball hitter Watson, No. 4 in the FedExCup standings and the only three-time winner on TOUR this season, was runner-up in Canada in 2015. Each should feast on Glen Abbey’s four par 5s, and each is due for a bounce-back at the birdie-friendly Jack Nicklaus design after missing the cut at The Open. Hadwin, meanwhile, might be the country’s best hope for the first Canadian winner of the RBC Canadian Open since 1954.

Tee time: 8:10 a.m. ET

FRIDAY

Brooks Koepka (13), Jhonattan Vegas (123), Tommy Fleetwood (33)

After successfully defending his title at the U.S. Open, Koepka might have been in the mix at The Open, too, were it not for a third-round 75 en route to a T39 finish. Much like his pal Johnson and Watson, he’s looking for a bounce-back at Glen Abbey. Two-time defending RBC Canadian Open champion Vegas barely made his opening-round tee time and played with borrowed clubs at The Open, ultimately missing the cut, but loves Canada. (Steve Stricker was the last player to three-peat on TOUR, at the John Deere Classic, 2009-2011.) Fleetwood, runner-up at the U.S. Open, T12 at The Open, hasn’t played this tournament but is clearly a threat to win anywhere. 

Tee time: 8 a.m. ET

Sergio Garcia (132), Charley Hoffman (92), Brandt Snedeker (90)

Garcia rallied at the BMW Championship to make it all the way to the 30-man, season-ending TOUR Championship last season. This season he may need to turn it on at the end yet again, but there’s no better time than now, and perhaps no better course than Glen Abbey, a ball-striker’s paradise. He missed the cut by a shot at The Open. The streaky Hoffman, who lost a playoff to Vegas at the RBC Canadian Open a year ago, is heating up again after a T17 at The Open. Snedeker, the 2013 champ here, missed the cut at Carnoustie and is looking to catch fire and move up in the FedExCup standings in time for a deep run into the FedExCup Playoffs.

Tee time: 8:10 a.m. ET

Staff  |  PGATour.com