TORONTO – RBC has extended its sponsorship of the Canadian Open in a multi-year agreement, the bank announced Monday.
RBC – which also extended its sponsorship of the RBC Heritage in South Carolina – has been the title sponsor of the Heritage since 2012 and the Canadian Open since 2008.
“As the title sponsor of two events on the PGA Tour schedule, RBC plays an essential role in golf, providing both critical development at the amateur level and life-changing moments for the world’s greatest players,” said PGA Tour CEO Brian Rolapp. “We are grateful to extend our relationship with RBC, Canada’s national championship at the RBC Canadian Open, as well as the RBC Heritage.”
RBC and Genesis are the only two-tournament sponsors on the PGA Tour schedule, while FedEx sponsors the season-long race to the FedExCup and the FedEx St. Jude Championship.
RBC also sponsors a collection of Canadian golfers on both the PGA and LPGA Tours along with PGA Tour winners Sam Burns, Cameron Young, and Sahith Theegala.
RBC had been on a series of one-year agreements with the PGA Tour for both tournaments (the Heritage is a Signature Event that offers a US$20-million purse) since the launch of LIV in 2022 and with plenty of questions around the future of men’s professional golf.
A multi-year agreement should signal that things have stabilized.
Mary DePaoli, RBC’s executive vice president and chief marketing officer, told Sportsnet that the bank has had a long-standing relationship with the PGA Tour and like so many other businesses and sectors, the tour has “changed and improved” its business model largely based on fan and player feedback.
“What we have seen as a result is our ability to continue to work with the PGA Tour to hold two of the most revered tournaments on their schedule and continue to make a meaningful impact on communities and economies where these tournaments take place,” DePaoli said.
The executive points to how 2025 television viewership is up across the board 12 per cent, with the RBC Heritage up 42 per cent and the Canadian Open up 16 per cent year-over-year.
“We find this trajectory of viewership going the right way, but we’ve also been very encouraged by the PGA Tour investment in its ‘Fan Forward’ initiative. Both of these dynamics indicate the sport is attracting a growing audience,” she said.
DePaoli said she has not had an opportunity to work closely with Rolapp, who just started at the PGA Tour this summer after climbing the ladder at the NFL into a senior leadership role. DePaoli said the renewal effort takes “a great amount of time” and was mostly under the stewardship of PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan, who will remain in his role until the end of 2026.
There had been some talk that the RBC Canadian Open could become a Signature Event on the PGA Tour calendar at some point in the future, but DePaoli confirmed to Sportsnet that is not the case.
“The RBC Canadian Open is not a limited-field event, it is a men’s national open. The very definition of qualification requires it to have a different criteria than what a Signature Event would have,” she explained.
Team RBC, meanwhile, is “always something” the bank looks at, DePaoli said. It is “constantly” looking at new talent, new relationships, and deepening existing relationships.
“I would say that you can expect to see some new faces (on Team RBC) over the next year or two,” she said.
The bank is involved with golf in Canada from the grassroots level all the way up to the professional level for a variety of reasons, DePaoli said, but under her leadership purview she was quick to share that RBC is the third-most recognized non-golf brand associated with golf, globally, behind Rolex and FedEx.
“We have seen strong brand awareness levels associated with golf platform. We have seen a significant amount of engagement in Canada but also the U.S. which is important growth opportunity for the bank, with 26 per cent of (the bank’s) global revenue coming from business in the U.S.,” she explained. “Golf allows us a very efficient and effective platform to reach a North American audience.”
The 2026 RBC Canadian Open will once again take place at TPC Toronto at Osprey Valley’s North Course. Ryan Fox won this year’s edition at TPC Toronto in a playoff over Sam Burns.
No venue has been announced yet for the 2027 tournament.
