I pride myself on my short game in golf—particularly my lob wedge. In fact, it was so sharp last Monday that during my maiden golf outing of the season I managed to hit a tiny green 70 yards down the hill at the Hamilton G&CC driving range on my first three shots.

This proved quite fortuitous, as each of those balls was from a brand-new sleeve of Titleists I’d just walked from the putting green and unconsciously plopped down in front of me as I began to chat with fellow golf scribe Rick Young.

In a walk of shame—well, more like a sprint—I requested nearby golfers to hold their fire as I dashed down the hill to retrieve my balls and returned to my driving range station.

It was the morning of the RBC Canadian Open Media Day, where the title sponsor joined Golf Canada and the host club in showing off the exceptional Ancaster, Ontario venue, the $11.5 million reno of which was named “Best New Restoration” by Golf Digest for 2022.

The course looks wonderful, including several reworked green complexes and an essentially new par-5 17th—a longer, more heavily bunkered hole with a diabolically hard-to-hold putting surface. The removal of what seems like thousands of trees has given the layout a refreshing new look at multiple turns, inviting the wind to play a more significant factor, while better showcasing the exceptional rolling terrain that must have had golf architect Harry S. Colt salivating when he arrived to design the course 110 years ago.

The media conference included deserved praise of the layout and a video tribute and interview of last year’s champion Nick Taylor (Good luck topping that finale!). However, I also very interested in speaking with Mary DePaoli, Executive V.P. and Chief Marketing Officer at RBC. RBC has been a loyal sponsor of the PGA Tour since 2008. And they probably saved The Heritage when they stepped into the breech after the 2011 post-Masters tournament was without a financial backer. And then there’s that fleet of RBC ambassador players they sponsor, including the top six Canadian male players as well as Americans Sahith Theegala, Sam Burns and Cameron Young.

I’ve never felt that RBC gets the respect it deserves from the PGA Tour, and I’m far from alone in the sentiment. Rick Young had a great piece earlier this week addressing that very point. It has been eons since the Canadian Open was consistently positioned anything close to favourably on the Tour schedule, and this year is another case in point, immediately preceding three top-shelf tournaments, including two big-money “Signature Events” and the U.S. Open. That means that any top-tier player choosing to compete in this year’s RBC Canadian Open must be planning for an exhausting four straight weeks of competition.

And what does the future hold for the Canadian Open, given the contentious LIV Golf/PGA Tour business relationship and a potential global tour in the offing? It’s unlikely even PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan knows for sure. And that has many PGA Tour sponsors uneasy, RBC included.

So is there a deadline for RBC to decide whether it’s renewing its support of the Heritage and the Canadian Open? “There’s no set timetable,” DePaoli told me on Monday. “This is such a dynamic situation. We’re not going to commit to anything long-term until we are comfortable with what the (PGA Tour’s long-term) business model looks like and can assess it properly. I think a lot of sponsors are in the same position we are in. The sooner the PGA Tour can give sponsors and fans assurances of what the future will look like, that’s when I think you’ll see a lot of decisions made fairly swiftly.”

WILL RBC RENEW?

Would RBC sit out a year or more if they’re not soon satisfied with the stabilization of the Tour and its long-term outlook?

“The scenario of us extending short-term is a more likely scenario, which is what we’ve done this year,” said DePaoli of RBC’s reported $25 million US one-year deal for the “Signature” 2024 Heritage, with a lesser fee for the Canadian Open.

But if a global golf tour does arise from the PGA Tour/LIV Golf merger, might RBC reallocate its sponsorship funds to back one of those elite tournaments instead of watered-down PGA Tour events? (For what it’s worth, Golf Channel podcast hosts Ryan Lavner and Rex Hoggard postulated what a global super tour might look like earlier this year, with no mention of the RBC Canadian Open or the Heritage, although a February Golf Digest piece proposed the inclusion of the 120-year-old Canadian event.)

“There’s so much speculation as to what the future might be and how it might unfold,” DePaoli concedes. “I think the PGA Tour is in a situation where they’re trying to evaluate the viability of the current 2024 schedule. So we wouldn’t speculate until we have something concrete to react to. It’s really just business as usual right now.”

Speaking of LIV, does DePaoli harbour any ill will toward former Team RBC player Dustin Johnson for his pulling the chute just six days before Canadian Open week at St. George’s G&CC in 2022? Golf Canada at the time officially said they were “disappointed” with Johnson’s decision. It’s hard to believe there’s no underlying disdain for the timing of Dustin jumping ship to LIV, which forced tournament organizers to swiftly remove the signage depicting Johnson from the front gates and tournament property. Did DePaoli take it a little personally?

“No, it doesn’t feel personal,” she insists. “I think athletes, Dustin included, make decisions that are right for them and their circumstances. We had a great run with Dustin. He won the Masters with us. He won the RBC Canadian Open with us. I would say that for every day we were partners, we both benefitted. And then Dustin made a decision that was right for him, and we wish him well. Everybody moves on.”

How RBC will move on, though, remains in a wait-and-see mode.