It would be a huge strategic mistake to encourage the "golf heritage" faction (including mayor Burton) by holding another open, despite the pressure from Golf Canada and RBC.
Story from Score Golf.
It took until mid-April last year for the 2020 RBC Canadian Open at Toronto’s St. George’s Golf and Country Club to be officially cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Some viewed it as a what-took-you-so-long decision given the closure of the Canada-U.S. border, but Golf Canada and title sponsor RBC needed to co-ordinate with the PGA Tour, which, starting with the second round of the Players Championship on March 12, first postponed or cancelled tournaments for four weeks, then through May 10, and finally, up until the second week of June, when the RBC Canadian Open was to be played. By then the plug had been pulled on the Canadian stop and the annual May tournament at Colonial Country Club in Texas filled its spot.
It’s unlikely things drag out that long this year. On Wednesday the City of Toronto extended the cancellation of “City-led and City-permitted major outdoor events” through July 1. That includes festivals, races and parades, but not, as noted by Mayor John Tory in his afternoon briefing, professional sporting events.
While the 2021 RBC Canadian Open, slotted for June 10-13, is not a city event and would take place on the private property of St. George’s, the tournament needs the City to close a portion of Islington Avenue — on which St. George’s is located — to house equipment necessary to conduct the event. The club itself does not have sufficient acreage to do so. It would be a smaller section of the busy, four-lane, north-south road than was needed in 2010, when St. George’s last hosted the tournament, but it would still require a permit.
Following the City’s decree, Golf Canada and RBC released the following statement:
“Today, the City of Toronto announced the cancellation of city event permits for events through July 1, 2021 due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Golf Canada and RBC are assessing how this decision will impact all aspects of the 2021 championship. First and foremost, we appreciate the severity of this precaution in the city’s ongoing response to this unprecedented health crisis. The health and safety of everyone connected to the tournament will always come first, and we respect the City’s decision to act in the best interest of community health. We continue to work with our partners at RBC and the PGA Tour to determine the best course of action for the 2021 RBC Canadian Open.”
As gleaned from those words, both parties are holding out some hope that the tournament can still take place; a two-year absence would be a devastating blow. However, there are more obstacles at play than the City’s co-operation, and multiple sources have indicated to SCOREGolf that a second-straight cancellation is inevitable, with a decision to come by mid-March.
Foremost is player participation. Whatever the Canadian quarantine laws are come June, they are sure to scare off PGA Tour pros, especially those competing in the U.S. Open the following week at Torrey Pines near San Diego. Even those vaccinated may be subjected to regulations by which they will not want to abide. Plus, most players set their schedules months in advance. At the same time, an open week prior to a major championship isn’t a pill the PGA Tour would swallow, which likely means a new tournament would get created before the clock strikes midnight on the Canadian Open. Sources have said the Canadian Open being contested in the United States was discussed but that will not happen.
Golf Canada and RBC will also want a timeline of future venues finalized sooner than later. Should 2021 indeed be called off, St. George’s would get first crack at taking 2022. Hamilton Golf and Country Club is currently slated for 2023, while Oakdale Golf and Country Club, in Toronto’s northwest corridor, has been targeted too. There is even speculation that former permanent host Glen Abbey Golf Club could yet make another appearance given the small number of suitable sites in the Greater Toronto Area, where RBC wants the tournament to stay. Glen Abbey’s owner, ClubLink Corp., is planning to turn the Jack Nicklaus-designed course into housing and commercial real estate, a desire that has turned into a legal battle with the Town of Oakville.
“It would be incredibly disappointing,” said Mike Weir from Tucson, Ariz., where he is readying for the PGA Tour Champions’ Cologuard Classic, when asked about the possibility of another RBC Canadian Open being scrapped. “Everybody puts so much work into that, for St. George’s two years in a row, all the work they do, Golf Canada, all the volunteers, all the moving parts to get that tournament together, to see it cancelled would be very difficult for everybody involved. Us as players obviously want to come play it, the Canadian guys especially look to that on the calendar more than every other tournament so it would be really disappointing if we can’t get up there. Fingers crossed.”