6 Choose our experts love

Welcome to our weekly PGA Tour Gambling Competition column, which includes the draft picks of Golf.com’s expert prophet Brady Kannon. Kannon is an experienced golf pitcher and commentator, host and regular guest at Sportsgrid, a joint voice network dedicated to sports and sports betting and is a golf betting analyst at CBS Sportsline. You can follow Brady on Twitter @lasvegasgolferyou can read his draft pick below, the 2025 Canadian Canadian Open, which took place in Toronto on Thursday. Together with the drama recommended by Kannon, you will also see data from Chirp Golf, a mobile app that features both free matches and daily fantasy golf matches and wins cash and prizes in every round and match.

As we flipped the calendar to June, the PGA Tour started the national Open. We opened the U.S. Open this week at the RCMP Open in the North of the border, next week, then crossed the pond open Scottish Open next month, followed by a Open Championship at Royal Patrush in Northern Ireland.

The Canadian Open is one of the oldest golf competitions in the world, and it dates back to 1904. However, the song will be held this year at TPC Toronto in Osprey Valley. The golf course, which opened in 2001 and undergoes a major redesign in 2023, debuted on the tour and will host the 2026 Canadian Open. At nearly 7,400 yards, it’s a very long 70. The fairway is relatively wide and is caught by thick and roughness. The vegetables are large and have a mixture of Bentgrass and Poa Annua.

With the golf courses long and the fairways wide, I believe we can point out that this is a driver’s track. So I looked at the strokes I got: The T-shirts of the week were one of my key stats. Three of four 3s are close to 200 yards long or higher. Most of the 4S poles are between 450-500 yards. I’ve seen these two areas and the 175-200 yards close to the hole. Finally, I looked at the strokes: approach, scramble and stroke got: place (bend/poa).

This is mainly speculation when trying to pinpoint golf courses similar to or related to TPC Toronto, because we have never seen courses on the PGA Tour before, so it will take a while before we can see any cross-success may develop. I used the Colonial Country Club (Charles Schwab Challenge) because of the similarities in length and they are both 70 poles. Many golf courses in the TPC network have similar characteristics. TPC San Antonio (Valero Open, Texas) and TPC Craig Ranch (CJ Cup Byron Nelson) are both driver-heavy courses. The Craig Ranch has large Bentgrass greens and wide fairways. Memorial Park (Houston Open) was another driver with a 70 stroke and in the end I used the Rocket Mortgage Classic’s Detroit Golf Club. This is another course with wide trees, fairways, and Bentrgass/POA Annua-Blend green.

Mackenzie Hughes (45-1)

Nick Taylor was the first Canadian to win the Canadian Open 54 years ago. The pressure to win locally is very high, so I don’t want to be too heavy on the Canadians on the card, but I do like the way Hughes plays, he has had a very good success in this match, ranking seventh, 14th and 8th in past matches. It is also worth noting that the Americans have not won the event since 2018. Hughes played long enough to get good results in related courses and had one of the best short games in the field. Hughes has two top ten and runner-up in the last seven games. I believe he will perform well this week.

Alex Noren (55-1)

Noren resumed his movements after he recovered from a serious hamstring injury of seven months training four weeks ago. He kept playing well when he came back and I believe he was ready to win. He has two top ten in Detroit, two top 15 in TPC San Antonio, third in Byron Nelson and 11th and 4th in Houston. SG: Tee to Green Game has been very good lately, and he has been a successful putter on this green surface. If you’re also going to see where he’s doing well in his return – last week’s Truist Champion, PGA Champion and Memorial – these are the three most difficult golf courses we’ve seen throughout the season. I think he can be ready to fall in Toronto this week.

Matti Schmid (80-1)

Schmid finished second in the long 70-shot course at Colonial Country Club two weeks ago. Prior to that, he has won three more top ten in the past two months. His irons are excellent, ranking seventh in the past 24 rounds in SG: Approach and number one in the hole close to 175-200 yards.

Davis Riley (86-1)

This is another player who has been successful in Texas – a win and fourth place in the Charles Schwab Challenge and a ninth place in Byron Nelson. Just three weeks ago, Riley finished second in the PGA Championship. Riley has ranked 10th in SG:Tee to Green and SG: Putting (Bent/POA) in the field in the last 24 rounds.

Justin Rose (95-1)

Another winner of the Colonial received our card this week. Ross is also in the top 10 in Houston, and his last two visits to the Canadian Open led to eighth and fourth. He is this ostensible putter, ranking 28th in the past 24 rounds. I believe the timing of this week will be good for the British. He had to withdraw from the Truist title and then missed the PGA Championship layoffs. Last week, at the Memorial, he had won the game before, and he played two bad rounds and two very good rounds. Now he is attending an event he loves and next week he goes to the U.S. Open, a major champion he deserves to be praised. I expect to be ranked eighth in Bay Hill this season at Pebble Beach and second in Augusta National.

Ricky Castillo (120-1)

The young rookie at the University of Florida is very solid this season. Castillo has ranked fourth in SG:Tee to Green in the field in the past 24 rounds. He ranked 30th in the fourth post of 450-500 yards and 27th in SG:PUTTING (BENT/POA). Also interesting is that Castillo finished fifth last month on one of our related courses, TPC Craig Ranch (Bentgrass Greens), and earlier this season, 15th place in Torrey Pines (Poa Annua Greens) for farmers to open for insurance.