This article is part of our Nightery Gaming series.
RBC CANADIAN OPEN
RotoWire has partnered with Nightery Gaming to host contests for each PGA Tour event over the next couple months.
Thanks to a strong lineup from top to bottom, user LenRW claimed first place in last week's contest!
While I couldn't match the best score, you can bet I was paying close attention to the Nightery leaderboard all weekend as I tried to take down the top spot.
This week's contest is limited to 50 entries at $5 per entry. It should be a fun one, as this is the first Canadian Open in a while and the U.S. Open is on deck.
In order to join in on the fun, follow these simple steps:
- Download the Nightery App and create an account: RotoWire on Nightery
- Search invitations for: RotoWire
You're encouraged to host a game of your own and invite your network, friends and co-workers. Nightery has a couple formats for PGA Tour events and takes the all hassle out of trying to run games for real money.
THE BREAKDOWN
After a two-year hiatus due to COVID-19, the Canadian Open is back. This year it will be held at St. George's Golf and Country Club for the fifth time in the event's history with the most recent coming back in 2010. The 2022 edition will look drastically different, however, after a massive restoration effort was put in place back in 2014. All of the greens were redone with bentgrass and changes to the fairways, bunkers, and runoffs were made to reflect the original 1929 design by Stanley Thompson. Rory McIlroy will serve as the defending champion this week dating back to his incredible performance in 2019 at Hamilton Golf and Country Club when he set the tournament stroke aggregate record of 258 behind a nine-under 61 in the final round to win by seven strokes.
St. George's is short by PGA Tour standards at just over 7,000 yards on the scorecard, but there is plenty that will test the best in the world this week. It has been described as a "second shot golf course," which makes sense given the relatively generous fairways. Similar to the Muirfield Village last week, if you do miss the wide landing areas the rough is thick and quite penal. The setup this week has next week's U.S. Open in the back of their minds, so scoring will likely not be as good as we have seen in recent editions of the RBC Canadian Open. The greens at St. George's are narrow and are extremely well defended by bunkers and thick rough. When you add in the fact that players will face a ton of uneven lies in the fairways, you can see why there will be such a tremendous emphasis on approach play numbers this week. The putting surfaces are projected to run around 12.5 on the Stimpmeter, which is much faster than players faced back in 2010 when there was a lot more slope in play on the greens.
With the expected importance on strong approach play at St. George's, a deep sleeper that has my attention is Austin Smotherman. The 28-year-old ranks 26th in SG: Approach, 44th in GIR percentage and 10th in proximity to the hole on the season. Smotherman is also 29th in SG: Off-the-Tee and 19th in total driving. He has had some up-and-down results this season but has made his last four cuts with two top-25s in that stretch. This seems like a prime course for Smotherman to notch his first top-10.
THE DETAILS
The construct for the RotoWire game on Nightery is simple: Select 10 golfers from the field, which is grouped into different tiers. The best five golfers in your lineup add up to create your total score, with the remaining five counting as tiebreakers.
To enter, take the following steps.
- Download the Nightery mobile app: RotoWire on Nightery
- Open the app and create an account
- Search Invitations: RotoWire
- Deposit funds and purchase a $5 entry
- Make your picks prior to the first tee time Thursday
- Invite your friends to play too!
Lineups are available to be selected once the full field is announced, which is typically Tuesdays around lunchtime.
Anyone can host a game. To purchase an entry, you must be 18 years or older and physically located in one of the following states: AK, CA, CO, DC, FL, GA, IL, KS, MD, ME, MI, MN, NC, ND, NM, NY, OH, OK, OR, RI, SC, SD, TX, UT, WI, WV, WY.
