Three decades ago, Chris Humeniuk’s father and uncle – Roman and Jerry, respectively – purchased the Osprey Valley property from its original owner. The media day for the 2025 RBC Canadian Open happened almost 33 years to the day when Chris, now the President of the facility, first stepped foot on the property. He recalls saying that while it was a lovely golf course, it was too far away from Toronto’s city center.

“Don’t bother,” he remembers saying.

He laughs about it now. While the plans for the now-named TPC Toronto at Osprey Valley were ambitious, he never thought anything could have prepared him for the moment of cresting over the 18th hole finisher on the North course and looking down the fairway towards the 65,000 square foot clubhouse and see the infrastructure set up to host the RBC Canadian Open.

All those associated with the course and the facility are ready. Not only is it hosting this year’s RBC Canadian Open, but 2026 as well. The course will be the 38th host venue in tournament history and the second in the last three years to debut as a host.

“We like to say,” Humeniuk said, “that we’re ‘built for this.’”

‘Built for this’ renovation

TPC Toronto’s North course underwent a significant renovation via Canadian golf course architect Ian Andrew through 2023 and into 2024 as it prepared for the best golfers in the world.

The course will now measure close to 7,400 yards and will play to a par 70.

The usual No. 8 will play as No. 17 and will be a par 4 (usually a par 5 on the card) while No. 17 will play as No. 8. No. 13 is set to be a par 4 (usually a par 5) and there will be four par 4s that can set up to play over 500 yards.

But as part of a give-and-take scoring philosophy, there will also be a couple of par 4s that can be set up as driveable, or, at minimum, a drive-and-pitch effort for the TOUR’s best. That’s an intentional choice, as Andrew’s focus was on providing players with opportunities to earn shot value versus just arbitrarily making the course difficult.

“I tried to take what Jerry and Roman were trying to see with their (original) vision all the way through to the end – and the Canadian Open is the cherry on top,” Andrew said in a recent interview. “The (North) is a golf course that had broad scale, allowing for lengthening. It was always in a better position to host something because it had the ability to have length and flexibility to move people around.

“It is cool (to host the RBC Canadian Open), and what comes with that is the nervous reaction of, well, what if they play lights out and the reviews are poor. But you do what you think is right – end, period.”

The renovated North course at TPC Toronto hosted the Fortinet Cup Championship, the season-ender on PGA TOUR Americas, last year. The winning total was just 5-under 275. It proved to be plenty tough.

Andrew said reducing par was something he had had the intention of seeing happen for the RBC Canadian Open, as he believed they were “better off” being at 70 versus 72.

“The focus for me is trying to balance out tee-to-green becoming a greater part of what is required for a player to succeed and hopefully win rather than it just becoming a putting contest,” Andrew said.

"I hope the (TOUR players) talk a little about what it asks about their longer game. If that comes out from the commentary, then we kind of achieved one of the main things we were trying to do, which is trying to balance the tee-to-green games with the putting. A lot of the TOUR players just say the courses are about scoring and putting. What we were trying to do is make this a balance.”

Public play

While Torrey Pines is likely the most iconic of public facilities on the PGA TOUR schedule (and of course, there’s Bethpage’s Black Course, the host of the Ryder Cup in 2025 but not a constant TOUR stop) it’s infrequent that the TOUR comes to public course, which is why the RBC Canadian Open at TPC Toronto is so special.

‘I’ve said it for a long time. I think it’s going to be a good challenge and an exciting finish. It’ll be a good test. It being public and people can go and try to recreate shots that they see from the week, it’ll be awesome,” said Taylor Pendrith, who is from nearby Richmond Hill, Ontario. and has played the course more than almost anyone in the field.

The facility joined the TPC Network in 2018 as its first Canadian course and when the rumours started swirling about it potentially hosting the RBC Canadian Open – not long after an initial meeting between Humeniuk and Golf Canada CEO Laurence Applebaum – and the renovation was put in the queue, Humeniuk and Andrew had a direct conversation about what was to come next.

There was an initial thought that, well, they were to redesign a public golf course that could host something a big championship. But that wasn’t entirely accurate.

“I said, ‘Ian, I want to build a championship golf course that the public can play,'” Humeniuk says.

TPC Toronto has three 18-hole layouts on its property, with the Heathlands and the Hoot courses rounding out the trio. Jerry and Roman Humeniuk acquired the Heathlands course shortly after it opened in 1992 and added the Hoot and North courses in 2001. The property is located about 45 minutes from Toronto Pearson International Airport.

The Heathlands is also no stranger to hosting big events. It has hosted U.S. Open qualifiers, and RBC Canadian Open Final Qualifying in the past and will host the Osprey Valley Open presented by Votorantim Cimentos – CBM Aggregates later this year. The Heathlands will be where the Friday and Saturday night concerts will take place, while management has created a composite "Hoot-lands" course for hospitality rounds during tournament week.

All three courses – which cost less than $175 ($235 Canadian) to play – are ranked in the top 25 in SCOREGolf Magazine’s top public courses in the country list, last released in 2023.

“One of our customers asked to speak with me and he was very emotional,” Humeniuk recalled in a recent interview. “He said, ‘I just wanted to tell you I am so excited to be playing the RBC Canadian Open course.’ For the time being, we’re the only active (RBC Canadian Open) venue the public can come play. You see people who still want to play Glen Abbey because they remember watching the event on TV.”

A scoreable 'Rink' hole

Finally.

While "The Rink" at the RBC Canadian Open has quickly become a fan favorite, and one of the more iconic things the RBC Canadian Open is known for, there has never really been much scoreable buzz around the hole, no matter where it is.

Last year in Hamilton, for example, The Rink (the par-3 13th) was the fifth-hardest hole for the week.

This year at TPC Toronto, however, there is finally a good chance for some birdies as the par-3 14th will play somewhere around 125 yards each day.

And Pendrith made a hole-in-one on it at a charity event in the fall.

“It’s a scoring club in all of our hands and will provide a lot of excitement. I’ve got some good vibes, and I think you might be able to see (an ace) this year with some of the pin positions,” Pendrith said. “That’s going to be a really exciting hole and provide a good birdie chance coming down the home stretch.”

Risk-reward finisher

TPC Toronto is a much more modern test than the recent RBC Canadian Open host venues like Oakdale Golf & Country Club, Hamilton Golf and Country Club, and St. George’s Golf and Country Club – all of which are already or very nearly 100 years old. But with modern touches comes modern opportunities – like the par-5 18th closing hole where birdie or double-bogey are both in play because of a new shaved run-off area in the front of the green near a pond.

“The margin for error,” Andrew said, “is razor thin.”

New home for Canadian golf

There has been a ton of work happening leading into the RBC Canadian Open at the TPC Toronto facility and not just on the North course, the host venue for the next two years’ tournaments.

There’s also a completely rebuilt 50,000 square foot practice area, the aforementioned 65,000 square foot clubhouse, plus another clubhouse built at the Heathlands course that boasts a five-star restaurant. Golf Canada’s headquarters (that will feature a public, and free, putting course) along with the offices of First Tee – Canada, the Golf Canada Foundation, the Club Management Association of Canada and Golf Ontario are also set to move to the property while exhibits from the Canadian Golf Hall of Fame are interspersed throughout the new main clubhouse.

“The Canadian Open is the highlight of my year,” Pendrith said. “It’s the one week of the year that everyone is cheering for us (Canadians) and we feel right at home, as we should. I’m especially excited for this one. I’ve spent a lot of time at TPC Toronto. I’ve been on the property a lot and I think the players are really going to enjoy their time on the golf course. It’s a big venue and I think it’s going to be awesome – and I’m super excited.”