RBC Canadian Open teeing off amid controversy in golf world
Some of the world's top players are teeing off at the RBC Canadian Open today amid the hotly debated LIV Golf-PGA Tour controversy that shook the golf world this week.
Four-time major championship winner Rory McIlroy is looking for his third straight Canadian Open title as the tournament gets underway at the Oakdale Golf & Country Club in Toronto.
McIlroy was the PGA Tour's most outspoken golfer against LIV Golf over the past year. Now the PGA Tour, Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund, which owns LIV Golf, and the European tour are banding together to create a worldwide men's golf tour.
It's the second straight year LIV Golf controversy is at the centre of Canada's lone stop on the PGA Tour. The 34-year-old McIlroy beat the field by two strokes last year on the same weekend LIV Golf held its first event.
Corey Conners of Listowel, Ont., Mackenzie Hughes of Dundas, Ont., Nick Taylor of Abbotsford, B.C., and Adam Svensson of Surrey, B.C., are among the 19 Canadians looking to end a nearly 70-year drought of a Canadian winning the Open on home soil.
Conners, a two-time PGA Tour winner, is the highest-ranked player from Canada.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 8, 2023
CTVNews.ca Top Stories

Canada marks National Day for Truth and Reconciliation with events across country
Seas of orange flooded events across the country on Saturday as Canadians gathered to acknowledge systemic oppression of Indigenous people and observe the third annual National Day for Truth and Reconciliation.
Jury acquits delivery driver of main charge in shooting of YouTube prankster
A jury on Thursday found a delivery driver not guilty in the shooting of a YouTube prankster who followed him around a mall food court earlier this year.
W5 Ferraris worth nearly $1M seized from Edmonton men linked to Pivot Airlines drug-smuggling scandal
Two Edmonton men at the centre of an international cocaine-trafficking scandal that led to the detainment of a Canadian airline crew in the Dominican Republic last year are back in the spotlight. They're facing numerous charges after police seized a pair of stolen Ferraris worth roughly $1 million.
Nearly half of Canadians have no plans to mark National Day for Truth and Reconciliation
A new survey found that 48 per cent of Canadians say they won’t be taking any specific action to recognize National Day for Truth and Reconciliation.
U.S. government shutdown threat eases after House passes a 45-day funding plan, sending it to Senate
The threat of a federal government shutdown was suddenly easing Saturday after the House quickly approved a 45-day funding bill to keep agencies open, once Speaker Kevin McCarthy dropped demands for steep spending cuts and relied on Democratic votes for passage.
Scientist rediscover bat that hasn't been seen in 100 years
After first being captured over a century ago, scientists have re-discovered a species of bat that hasn't been seen since 1916.
'Reconciliation is a lifelong experience': Gov. Gen. Mary Simon reflects on Truth and Reconciliation
On the third annual National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, Gov. Gen. Mary Simon says that while she acknowledges the time it takes to fulfill calls to action, she also understands the frustrations that progress is too slow, and she feels 'we should speed things up.'
Almost all of Nagorno-Karabakh's people have left, Armenia's government says
An ethnic Armenian exodus has nearly emptied Nagorno-Karabakh of residents since Azerbaijan attacked and ordered the breakaway region's militants to disarm, the Armenian government said Saturday.
Putin marks anniversary of annexation of Ukrainian regions as drones attack overnight
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday insisted that the residents of four Ukrainian regions that Moscow illegally annexed a year ago 'made their choice -- to be with their Fatherland.'