While TPC Toronto’s North Course is a new venue for the men’s national championship, Taylor Pendrith has plenty of experience on the course. The Richmond Hill, Ont., native breaks down five holes that he thinks will play a pivotal role in the tournament’s outcome.
Well, I’m very happy to be joined by Taylor Pendrith here to talk about TPC Toronto, the North Course, which this year will be hosting the RBC Canadian Open for the very first time. Yeah, I was excited. Spent a lot of time on the property. I’ve probably played there, I don’t know, 50 times maybe. Um, they’ve made some changes over the past year and a half and hopefully the weather holds up and I think it’ll be a wonderful venue for for the RBC Canadian Open. So, we asked you to pick five holes that you think are going to play a really pivotal role in the outcome of the tournament. Give us a little rundown of the first hole at TPC Toronto’s North Course. All right, so the first hole is a par five. The T-ball kind of plays a little bit of a dog leg left. So, if you can get the ball turning over a little bit, um, catch the speed slot, you can have, you know, anywhere from 200 to 250 in second shot. The green kind of plays a little bit tight and there’s a super deep bunker on the right. So, you want to either hit the green and two would be great. Uh, the bunker is not bad to most pins, but just short left is is a good spot. And I’m sure the rough will be deep that week, but um you can kind of chase something up, get it maybe just short of the green and rely on your short game. Definitely a scorable hole and um I think a good starting hole. Number 11 is a really good par three. They’ve added some length in the renovation and you know it was a a good hole before with a seven iron and now guys will be hitting you know fours and fives there. you know, has an obvious bail out on the left or short left, but um there’s that big pond that’s kind of short and right of the green, which makes it just a little bit more intimidating. Uh it’s a relatively decent sized green, but it’s got some slope in it. So, um coming in with a four iron, trying to hit the middle of the green, two putt, get out of there. There’s there’s plenty of other scoring holes, but I think that’s a very strong hole. You know, I I think the prevailing wind as I know it um would be in and off the left. So, it’s uh just makes it that much harder. Like I said, if you can play that even par for the week, I think you’ll be picking up some shots. The 14th hole is a short par three. Pretty fun hole. I think it will provide um you know, a lot of birdies, a lot of excitement for the crowd, the rink hole every year. We’ve heard the national anthem sung multiple times uh over the years. So, it’s uh it’s really cool for us. The green provides some kind of bowls, I would say. uh if the pins in the front left or front right, I think you’ll see lots of birdies on that hole depending, you know, how difficult they make the pins and and how firm the greens are. But be nice to pick a birdie up there before uh the home stretch coming down on Sunday. I think it will provide uh, you know, a good scoring opportunity and uh will provide some excitement for the fans and you got a scoring club in your hand and if you can get it on the right part of the green, you’ll have some short looks. 15 um is a really good par4. You can see the the tea box up on the other side of the railroads. That’s where the back T’s used to always be. And it’s not an easy T- ball. You got to pick a line in the in the trees. And if you miss it right, you’re in the deep woods. And uh if you pull it left, there’s some 50 60 yard fairway bunkers there that are no good. It’s a little bit visually intimidating, I’d say. But um the fairway is relatively wide from there. But yeah, I’m hoping that they move it up one of the days and and get some guys to try and hit driver around the green or on the green, maybe chip it in for two. But if the wind is down and off the left, I’ll probably give it a rip and try and get it just short of the green or even that right bunker is perfect. Um short left’s okay as well. It’s, you know, relatively short. It’s a scoring hole. You’ll get a wedge in your hands and yeah, hopefully pick one up before the last three. So the 18th hole is a par five. Beautiful backdrop coming into the green, but number one priority is getting the ball in the fairway. You can see those deep fairway bunkers on the right. There is a bit of a speed slot. If you can kind of fly it over the left center of those bunkers, you can get a big bounce and depending on the conditions and the wind, you can get it way down there. It’s a tough second shot. They shaved the the front of the the green down. used to be rough and I think there’s a maybe a bunker there before, but now if you don’t fly it on the front edge of the green, it’s coming back probably in the water. Those back bunkers are no good. The green really slopes back to front, especially to those back left pins. So, it’ll really test your short game, but yeah, hopefully it plays downwind a little bit and knock it up on or around the green and and have a chance for three. We’ll just have to see how it plays. I think it’s a wonderful finishing hole and uh will provide some good excitement.
