Winners and Losers from the 2015 RBC Canadian Open

Jason Day is obviously a good guy. So seeing the Australian take the edge of the pain of his narrow miss at St. Andrews with a win at the RBC Canadian Open had to be a welcome sight to golf fans.

The “Day’s redemption” narrative was late-developing, however, as for much of the weekend the central story looked to be one of a Canadian, David Hearn, ending his country’s 54-year drought in the national championship.

Unfortunately, Hearn wasn’t able to do that as he finished at 15 under par, two strokes behind Day and a stroke behind Bubba Watson.

Thus, Jason Day is a winner this week; David Hearn isn’t.

Who/what else won? Lost?

Read on to see.

Winner: Jason Day

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Jason Day is redeemed (sort of). Sure, he’d have rather not left a critical putt short at last week’s British Open that would have earned him a spot in the tournament-deciding playoff, but he made up for it with a big win this week.

Standing over a 20-footer at the 72nd hole, Day admonished himself not to leave the putt short (as he said in his post-round interview). He didn’t, and the Aussie bested Bubba Watson by a stroke for his second win of the season.

Loser: David Hearn

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Canadian David Hearn carried the hopes of a nation on his shoulders and ultimately wasn’t able to end the country’s drought in its national open.

Hearn entered the final round of the Canadian Open with a two-stroke lead. Unfortunately, he was merely treading water Sunday when those around him were making birdies. The Canadian finished at 15 under, two strokes behind Jason Day.

Hearn has much to be proud of, but he has to feel like a loser, unable to close the deal and coming up just short.  

Winner: Canada

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Our neighbors to the north only get one PGA Tour event a year, and unfortunately it comes the week after a major championship. Still, the RBC Canadian Open draws a relatively strong field, and RBC’s partnerships with top players ensure they’ll be in the field (Jason Day, Matt Kuchar, Luke Donald, Graeme McDowell, etc).

The real reason Canada is a winner this week, though, is that for the first time in recent memory, they actually got the chance to cheer a Canadian to victory. And as you likely heard more times than you cared to this week: No Canadian has won the Canadian Open since 1954.

Although Hearn didn’t win, at least he gave Canucks something to cheer about.

Loser: Sang-Moon Bae

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Sang-Moon Bae had a bad week that goes well beyond merely missing the cut at Glen Abbey.

Bae found out early in the week that a South Korean court had denied his request to postpone the country’s mandatory two years of military service.

The South Korean fired rounds of 73, 72 to miss the cut by two strokes. He’s now missed three of his last five cuts and hasn’t notched a top-10 finish since February.

Winner: Ollie Schniederjans

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Former top-ranked amateur and newly minted pro golfer did pretty well for himself in his professional debut, finishing tied for 22nd.

Schniederjans made a strong statement at the British Open, where he finished tied for 12th, and he is one of just three amateurs since 1960 to make the cut at both the U.S. and British Opens.

The 22-year-old has the pieces in place off the course—coach, sponsorship, management—and is doing impressive work inside the ropes.

Young Oliver is definitely winning now.

Loser: Robert Allenby

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Not for the first time, Robert Allenby dismissed a caddie mid-round.

And not surprisingly, the golfer and his caddie, Mick Middlemo, offered differing accounts of what was said and who the aggressor was.

What is clear: The pair had a dispute during the golfer’s first that culminated in Middlemo walking off the course and Allenby pulling a replacement from the crowd.

Also of note, Middlemo doesn’t believe Allenby’s January kidnapping-and-beating-in-Hawaii story.

Winner: The Royal Bank of Canada

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Title sponsor of the RBC Canadian Open (and the RBC Heritage) knows how to pick them, don’t they?

First, RBC-sponsored Jim Furyk won the Heritage in April. This week, endorsee David Hearn dominated headlines only to be overtaken by another RBC-sponsored golfer, Jason Day, down the stretch.

And Furyk, who finished fourth, got a great deal of Sunday TV time.

The fix is in!

Loser: Graham DeLaet

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Graham DeLaet came to Glen Abbey as the top-ranked Canadian golfer in the world. He left the Ontario course disappointed and nursing a thumb injury.

The Canadian most pegged as the country’s best bet to end the 61-year national open drought didn’t even have the chance to finish the tournament.

“I just can’t play golf like that, release the club and kind of puffing it out there,” DeLaet said, per Yahoo Sports. “If I was still able to hit it long and straight and kind of playing my game, I probably would have fought through it.”