The PGA Tour heads north to Canada this week for the 2023 RBC Canadian Open. Rory McIlroy is the favorite and the defending champion. In fact, he’s looking for the three-peat. Here we tell you if he’s likely to achieve this with our latest golf betting tips.
Rory McIlroy (-21) won this event by two strokes ahead of Tony Finau (-19) twelve months ago. The win came at St George’s Golf and Country Club, and although the venue this year is the Oakdale Country Club, it is still a course that should suit the Northern Irishman.
But one other huge difference between this, and last year, is the form and mindset of McIlroy. In 2022, he was in a good place, and seemed in complete control of his game. Now, twelve months on, and where do we start?
The best online golf betting sites have made Rory McIlroy their +500 favorite to win again this week. But we’re not sure that represents good value, given his recent struggles, on and off the course.
Yes, he has won the two previous Canadian Opens, and is looking for the three-peat. There was a three-year gap between his two wins though. This was because of the event not taking place in 2020, or 2021, due to the covid-pandemic. He clearly likes this competition. Of that there can be little dispute. But where is his game really at?
McIlroy was in contention last weekend at the Memorial Tournament at Muirfield Village. On the 18th hole of the first day he scored a triple bogey, removing himself from the leaderboard.
But even after that, he played his way back into contention, before slipping away on the final day, eventually finishing T7 at -3, four shots behind winner Viktor Hovland. Can we really trust him at the moment?
Of the world’s top ranked players, only 10 of the top 30 players are here, and only two of the top 10. The two top 10 players competing this week are Rory McIlroy (3), and Matt Fitzpatrick (8).
As we’ve already mentioned. Rory McIlroy is the +500 favorite to win the 2023 RBC Canadian Open. Following McIlroy in the betting is Tyrrell Hatton at +1200, with Sam Burns and Cameron Young both at +1400. Then it’s world number eight, Matt Fitzpatrick at odds of +1600. Fitzpatrick finished 10th at the Canadian Open last year, and then went on to win the US Open the following week.
Behind Fitzpatrick is the 2013 US Open champion, Justin Rose, who is +1800. Rose finished T9 at the PGA Championship last month, and has been in good form in recent weeks.
Rose is just ahead of Canada’s Corey Conners at +2000, with Tommy Fleetwood and Shane Lowry both on +2200. More odds can be found from the best Las Vegas sportsbooks on our golf betting odds table. Now, let’s name our betting picks to win the event.
| 2023 RBC Canadian Open Winner Betting |  |  |  |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rory McIlroy | +500 | +500 | +500 |
| Tyrrell Hatton | +1200 | +1200 | +1200 |
| Sam Burns | +1400 | +1400 | +1400 |
| Cameron Young | +1400 | +1400 | +1400 |
| Matthew Fitzpatrick | +1600 | +1600 | +1600 |
| Justin Rose | +1800 | +1800 | +1800 |
| Corey Connors | +2000 | +2000 | +2000 |
| Shane Lowry | +2200 | +2200 | +2200 |
| Tommy Fleetwood | +2200 | +2200 | +2200 |
| Sahith Theegala | +3300 | +3300 | +3300 |
| Kevin Mitchell | +4000 | +4000 | +4000 |
| Adrian Meronk | +4500 | +4500 | +4500 |
| Matt Kucher | +5000 | +5000 | +5000 |
| Adam Hadwin | +5000 | +5000 | +5000 |
| Adam Svensson | +5000 | +5000 | +5000 |
| Nicolai Hojgaard | +5500 | +5500 | +5500 |
The course here at Oakdale has similarities to Quail Hollow which hosted the Wells Fargo Championship at the beginning of March. Tyrrell Hatton finished T3 at the Wells Fargo, with Tommy Fleetwood T5, and Corey Conners T8.
Rory McIlroy also has previously won the Wells Fargo on three occasions, which must be having an influence on his odds this week.
But for all the negative talk surrounding McIlroy – including Jack Nicklaus offering to help, albeit, with good intentions – he isn’t actually in bad form. He finished T7 at the Memorial last Sunday, which was also his finishing position in the PGA Championship a couple of weeks earlier.
That’s not bad. The problem is, something just seems slightly amiss. So we’re going to give Rory a swerve in the winners market this week (maybe not next, in our US Open golf betting picks), as we think there are better value bets out there. But we are still making McIlroy a pick to finish in the top 10 at -150 with BetOnline.
Moving on, and a golfer we think could give us good value for money this week is Tommy Fleetwood. The Englishman has yet to win on the PGA Tour, but does have six European Tour wins to his name,
In recent weeks he’s finished 18th at the PGA Championship, and was also T3 at the Wells Fargo. At number 23 in the world, Fleetwood is too good not to win on this side of the Atlantic. And with not too many big names in town, this could be an ideal week for him to finally get that monkey off his back.
No Canadian has won this event since 1954, but Corey Conners did manage a credible sixth place finish here 12 months ago. We’re not advising against backing Conners to win at +2000, a Canadian will win here again one day. So why not this year?
But for our final RBC Canadian Open betting pick, we are backing Corey Conners to finish in the top 10 at +200. We think that looks like a better value bet.
See below the top sportsbooks where you can wager online and choose the best one for you:
