GATINEAU – When some of the best male amateur golfers on the planet come to this country for the 120th edition of the Canadian Men’s Amateur Championship, presented by BDO, they’ll have the opportunity to tee it up at one of Canada’s most storied layouts.
The Royal Ottawa Golf Club is set to host the Canadian Men’s Amateur for the record 10th time, and this year will do so alongside nearby Rivermead Golf Club as a partner club. The event will have a full field of 264 players, and the two courses are located just across the bridge from nearby downtown Ottawa.
“From small greens with high green speeds and thick rough, coupled with the need to be accurate off the tee to score well—this top 100 rated course in Canada will provide a great challenge to even the highly-skilled players,” said Greg Richardson, general manager at The Royal Ottawa Golf Club.
“Golfers from all around the world are set to make their experience memorable.”
There will be more than a dozen countries with golfers teeing it up at Royal Ottawa including both the reigning Australian men’s amateur champion and the reigning Japanese men’s amateur champion, along with golfers from 10 provinces and one territory. The Canadian contingent is led by Justin Matthews, who is the second-highest Canadian in the World Amateur Golf Rankings (WAGR).
The last time Royal Ottawa hosted the men’s amateur, the winning score was 11 under, but since then, there have been plenty of changes to the course – especially over the first five holes. On the back nine golfers have a unique start with a short par-4 10th and then back-to-back par-3s on Nos. 11 (featuring a diabolical back-to-front sloped green) and No. 12.
Five of the closing six holes are strong par-4s before golfers face a beefy par-5 closer. Small greens are featured throughout, and club-grabbing rough will also challenge players who are inaccurate off the tee or with their irons.
This reporter had an opportunity to play 18 holes alongside Ottawa’s Michael Vivone, a 16-year-old who is in the field – and also a member of Royal Ottawa. Vivone, who grew up playing tennis, stands at least 6-foot-2 and regularly hits it further than 300 yards off the tee. He’s had a collection of solid results lately and attends the Matt DeJohn Golf Academy in Port St Lucie, Fla. as he aims to chase his pro golf dreams.
He said, with his tennis background, he’s yet to have to “chase speed” like so many other players. Golf’s talent is just getting younger and younger, and he said he’s as committed as ever to finding a process that works for him – despite acknowledging the fact that other star juniors (like Charlie Woods, whose father you may have heard of) are on “another level.”
That said, Vivone certainly has the game to compete – and maybe even contend – at Royal Ottawa, despite his age. On the front side he had a stretch of three birdies in five holes with tap-in pars the rest of the way around. An easy game.
“Something the club supports throughout so well is amateur golf,” Richardson said. “We understand that not everyone will be competing at this course (after the cut) but we want them to walk away, whether they make the cut or not, with an experience they’ll remember for the rest of their lives.”
Winners of the tournament in the past include both Nick Taylor and Mackenzie Hughes who have both, of course, gone on to win on the PGA Tour – with Taylor becoming just the first male golfer to win all of the Canadian Junior, Canadian Men’s Amateur, and Canadian Open (with Brooke Henderson doing the same on the women’s side).
When the men’s amateur was hosted by Royal Ottawa in 1991 Mike Weir finished runner up. And, in the 2016, Sahith Theegala (one of the game’s more popular players due to his appearance on the Netflix docu-series ‘Full Swing’ and part of Team RBC) was in the field at the club.
Established in 1895, the Canadian Men’s Amateur Championship is the third oldest amateur championship in the world.
This year’s event goes from July 28-31. The winner receives an exemption into the 2025 U.S. Amateur Championship, the 2026 U.S. Open Final Qualifying, and the 2026 RBC Canadian Open.
Royal Ottawa’s national championship hosting duties are also set to continue next year, as the backdrop for the 2026 World Junior Girls Golf Championship.
The post Royal Ottawa Ready for Record 10th Canadian Men’s Amateur Championship first appeared on Golf Canada.
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