Due to lingering concerns with the U.S.-Canada border tied to the COVID-19 pandemic, PGA Tour officials and event organizers announced a cancellation of the RBC Canadian Open for the second straight year three weeks ago.
The Canadian Open, which was established in 1904 and is currently the third-oldest national championship in golf behind The Open Championship and the U.S. Open, is still off in 2021 but the PGA Tour has announced a replacement event will be staged at Congaree Golf Club in Ridgeland, South Carolina, June 10-13.
Located about 30 miles northwest from Hilton Head, Congaree was built on an eighteenth-century rice plantation and ranks No. 2 on the Golfweek’s Best Courses You Can Play in South Carolina list.
Eamon Lynch: Congaree, The billionaires golf club with two members, one mission
The Tom Fazio design opened in 2017. As Eamon Lynch writes:
It opened in 2017 and has only two official members — its billionaire founders Dan Friedkin and the late Robert McNair, who owned the Houston Texans. What it has instead are invited ambassadors, people prominent in their industries who aren’t so much expected to pay cash as donate their time and mentorship. Their number includes titans of industry and golf Hall of Famers like Masters winner Mark O’Meara.
The most recent Canadian Open was in 2019 at Hamilton Golf & Country Club in Ontario, when Rory McIlroy won in his debut there. The 2021 event had been scheduled for June 9-12 at St. George’s Golf & Country Club in the Toronto suburb of Etobicoke.
