2023 RBC Canadian Open: Top 10 Power Rankings at Oakdale

The defending champion is back.

Rory McIlroy won his 21st of now 23 tournaments last summer at St. George’s. He fended off the likes of Justin Thomas and Tony Finau to win the RBC Canadian Open by two and four shots over the two.

It was a big moment for Rory, who was able to get in a dig at LIV Golf headman Greg Norman for surpassing his PGA Tour victory total.

McIlroy has won two more times on the PGA Tour and another on the DP World Tour, but he’s still trying to get his mojo back.

The Northern Irishman played great golf on a demanding course last week at Muirfield Village to take a 54-hole co-lead. The leaderboard was jam-packed, though, and backing up three shots on Sunday resulted in a T-7th finish.

It was the same result he posted in his previous start at the PGA Championship. It was also McIlroy’s third top-10 in the last five starts, as well as fourth in the last seven.

"“I feel a lot more positive about things today than I was two weeks ago at Oak Hill,” McIlroy was transcribed by ASAP Sports. “Even though the results might reflect that I had a better week at Oak Hill, for example. But I feel a lot more positive about everything going forward. It’s nice. I’ve got next week, get straight back on the horse again in Canada and try to take the learnings from this week and try to do a little bit better next week.”"

The 34-year-old ranks 10th on the PGA Tour in total strokes gained per round (1.602). He’s second in SG tee-to-green (1.840), sixth off-the-tee (.799), and eighth in approach-the-green (.816).

McIlroy is also tops in driving distance (326.2), though it remains to be seen how much of an advantage that will be this year at Oakdale.

It may not be the best thing for McIlroy to expend a ton of energy the week before the U.S. Open, but he’ll want to get good vibes going before taking on Los Angeles Country Club.