RBC Canadian Recap: DJ Wins by Three Strokes

Last week's Open Championship signaled that the end of the long PGA Tour season is within sight, kick-starting a grueling stretch leading to the Tour Championship.

From Carnoustie to East Lake, it's a span of nine weeks, and seven of them feature big-time tournaments: two majors, a WGC and four playoff events. There is scant time to exhale, and that is magnified this year with the Ryder Cup beginning five days after the playoffs end.

With so many of the top guys playing so often this time of year, it's important that you monitor their schedules and consider it when determining lineups. Playing week after week is a grind, even at the beginning of the season. The golfers in the top-30 in the FedEx Cup points race who will qualify for the Tour Championship probably will play the most.

That's why it was curious to see so many of them play this past week, one of the two left without a key tournament. The group included Dustin Johnson, who certainly made the most of it by winning the RBC Canadian to solidify his standing as world No. 1. He was joined at Glen Abbey by others who look like locks to stay in the top-30 – Brooks Koepka, Bubba Watson and Tony Finau – along with a couple of others on the doorstep – Tommy Fleetwood (33rd in points coming in) and Kevin Kisner (35th). Then there were four others potentially bound for Atlanta – Patrick Reed, Bryson DeChambeau, Paul Casey and Pat Perez – who played the Porsche European Open in Hamburg, Germany.

So possibly one-third of the East Lake field didn't take the week off. Now comes the WGC-Bridgestone starting Thursday, followed by the PGA Championship and then the regular-season finale at the Wyndham. Presumably, almost all the top guys will skip Greensboro, but not all of them.

Of course, there are multiple factors in play when a golfer maps out his schedule; for example, Johnson is an RBC pitchman. And nobody has to play in all four playoff events, though most who have the chance to do so, do so. Some golfers will unintentionally lighten their loads by missing a cut – Koepka, Watson, Kisner and Perez all trunk-slammed this past week. But while missing the cut does provide two extra days off, it's still a large commitment as golfers tend to get on site on Monday and also have to travel to and fro (yes, we know, NetJets ain't no flying sardine can).

Conceivably, the aforementioned 10 guys could play eight weeks out of the final nine. And so could some others who are not right now in the top-30 or on the fringe – Ian Poulter, Byeong Hun An and Gary Woodland, to name a few.

That's something to keep in mind for lineup construction, beginning right away this week at Firestone.

MONDAY BACKSPIN

Dustin Johnson
Johnson pretty much had to play the past week. RBC is his sponsor, and his relation to the Gretzkys makes him a de facto Canadian (we're kidding about that last part). It's hard to argue with the decision since Johnson won, and won easily by three strokes. The course and weakfish field combined to make a perfect setup for Johnson, as did an unexpected missed cut at Carnoustie. But the bigger events are just ahead, and bomber-happy Firestone is another ideal track for Johnson, who won there two years ago. Let's see whether he can keep firing on all cylinders this week. And then next week at the PGA.

Byeong Hun An
An used a tie for second – his second runner-up this season – to climb into the top-50 in the OWGR (No. 40) and snatch the final berth for the Bridgestone. He's a guy who excels tee to green (and is somewhat lacking on the greens). Like the other guys we've been talking about, An will play a third straight week at Firestone, and then a fourth at Bellerive. But unlike those others, An is still grinding to position into the top-30. For what it's worth, he took a long three-week break before Carnoustie.

Keegan Bradley
As we wrote in the RotoWire/DraftKings value picks at the beginning of the week, if Bradley could putt even a little bit, he'd be winning tournaments. That's how good his tee-to-green game is. Well, at Glen Abbey, he ranked fifth in the field in strokes gained: putting. And he finished solo fourth, four strokes behind Johnson. Bradley's putting was even better than the rest of his game, as he ranked ninth in strokes gained: tee to green. Bradley moved to No. 65 in the world, but that wasn't good enough to qualify for Firestone, a track that seems right in his wheelhouse.

Tommy Fleetwood
At Carnoustie, Fleetwood tied for 12th. That's a great week for many, but not so much for one of Britain's favored sons. We wondered how Fleetwood would respond after another Open disappointment. Apparently, quite well. He tied for sixth at Glen Abbey. Fleetwood now heads for Firestone, a course that aligns to his game splendidly. Last year in his debut there, he tied for 28th.

Sergio Garcia
Garcia missed the cut. Again. And now things are starting to get serious, and tempers are getting short. The Spaniard has missed six of his past seven cuts on the PGA Tour, including all three majors. The only sliver of sunshine is that Garcia has two recent top-12s on the European Tour. His missed cut at Carnoustie seemed to trigger a late decision to enter the RBC, no doubt in hopes of making the playoffs. But Garcia sits 132nd after missing the Glen Abbey cut on the number. And things came to a head for him after he flubbed a chip, as you can see below. Garcia doesn't need much to crack the top-125, but even if he does, how confident would gamers be to add him to a lineup?

A post shared by ZIRA GOLF (@ziragolf) on Jul 28, 2018 at 10:40am PDT

Bryson DeChambeau
DeChambeau probably got a nice chunk of change just for showing up at Hamburg. And he was worth every penny of it as he entered Sunday tied for the lead. Then he cratered with a 78 to tumble into a tie for 13th. DeChambeau, Reed and Casey all played great for three runs, then appeared to run out of game. DeChambeau has now played three weeks in a row, and Firestone and Bellerive will be four and five. On top of all that, he isn't far removed from withdrawing from the John Deere, a tournament that began his current streak. DeChambeau finished T51 at Carnoustie and now he has Sunday's freefall at the Porsche to overcome.

Patrick Reed
Reed notoriously plays a grueling schedule every year, skipping very few weeks while trying to maintain his playing status on both the PGA and European Tours. Plus, as he often says, he simply loves to play. Reed did it two years ago and still was Captain America at the Ryder Cup. The adrenaline rush is big enough that he'll probably be fine there again this time around; it's the rest of the PGA Tour season to watch out for. Did we get an indication on Sunday? Reed played the first three rounds at 70-66-69 before ballooning to a final-round 76.

Paul Casey
Casey may get a semi-pass for playing in Hamburg. He needs to play a certain number of Euro Tour events to qualify for consideration for the Ryder Cup. But why he chose this week to play is odd. Yes, he was already in Europe for the Open Championship, so we get that. But we'll see how this decision pays off for Casey in the coming weeks. He wound up in a tie for seventh, three shots behind unheralded winner Richard McEvoy. But after three straight 69s, the Englishman closed with a 73 when a fourth would've secured the title. Sometimes a golfer doesn't show how tired he is on Sunday.

Pat Perez
Granted, of those 10 guys mentioned, Perez is probably the least consequential in terms of fantasy play. He entered the week 21st in points, far from a guarantee to finish in the top-30. If he was going to play last week, why not Canada, where he at least could've gotten some FedEx Cup points? Perez wound up missing the Hamburg cut. By a lot. He already had made an international cash grab earlier this season instead of playing the West Coast Swing, where he traditionally excelled. Perez torpedoed his season and, based on the past week, apparently learned little from the experience.