RBC Canadian Open not elevated for 2023 PGA Tour season

TSN Senior Reporter

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When the PGA Tour announced the final four elevated tournaments for 2023, the RBC Canadian Open wasn’t among them. But there’s a good chance it could be in future years.

The tour sent a letter to all players on Wednesday informing them that the WM Phoenix Open, the RBC Heritage, the Wells Fargo Championship and the Travelers Championship will join another nine previously announced tournaments that will offer $20 million purses and have all the circuit’s top players in the field.

Four additional events to have increased purse sizes for 2022-23. ⛳️ @WMPhoenixOpen ⛳️ @RBC_Heritage ⛳️ @WellsFargoGolf ⛳️ @TravelersChamp

The initial nine – the Players, the three FedEx Cup playoff events, the Genesis, the Arnold Palmer, the Memorial the WGC Dell Technologies Match Play and the Sentry Tournament of Champions – will maintain elevated status every year, while the other four will rotate each season.

The idea for the slate of elevated stops came from a cadre of high-profile players led by Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy, who gathered the group during the week of the BMW Championship to find a reply to the lucrative LIV Golf series. The plan was handed over to PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan who announced the changes not long after.

RBC, along with Golf Canada, plans to put a full-court press on the PGA Tour to ensure the national championship gets a spot as one of these premier events in coming years.

“We have been very clear with the PGA Tour that the RBC Canadian Open deserves elevated status,” said Mary DePaoli, RBC’s executive vice-president and chief marketing officer. “We have a body of evidence from the 2019 and 2022 Opens that would support the excellence of this tournament.”

The PGA Tour