CALEDON, Ontario – The Canadians aside, Rory McIlroy is unquestionably the star at this week’s RBC Canadian Open. He has developed an affinity for the country in recent years, and this marks his fifth consecutive appearance at the event where he’s a two-time winner in 2019 and 2022. Canada’s national open has become firmly entrenched in McIlroy’s schedule.

For McIlroy, the event doubles as a beneficial lead-in to the U.S. Open. He missed three straight U.S. Open cuts from 2016-18 without playing in the week prior, and he has since notched six straight top-10 finishes at the U.S. Open, playing each RBC Canadian Open in that span (the event wasn’t played in 2020 or 2021).

“I love that it’s the week leading into the U.S. Open,” McIlroy said Wednesday. “I’ve had six top 10s in a row (at the U.S. Open), so there’s something to that.”

McIlroy is the star here, but he’s playing alongside two rapidly rising stars this week at TPC Toronto at Osprey Valley, a first-time host venue for Canada’s national open. McIlroy’s grouping for the first and second rounds includes recent PGA TOUR University graduate Luke Clanton, who makes his professional debut this week, and Sweden’s Ludvig Åberg, who finished atop the 2023 PGA TOUR University Ranking.

McIlroy hasn’t spent time with Clanton previously, but the results need no introduction. With four PGA TOUR top-10 finishes in 2024, Clanton became the first amateur since Jack Nicklaus (1961) with three or more TOUR top 10s in a year. That’s no fluke.

“I think this PGA TOUR U program is so good. If it was up to me, I'd give the college kids five or 10 spots on TOUR instead of just one,” McIlroy said Wednesday. “I think to bring that new blood through each and every year I think is so important for the TOUR, and to see Luke and some of his other peers take advantage of that opportunity and get their cards and come out here and play well, it's awesome to see.

“That's the future of the TOUR.”

McIlroy and Åberg have plenty of familiarity as teammates on the 2023 European Ryder Cup Team, but this week marks a first-time meeting between McIlroy and Clanton, who just completed his junior season at Florida State and earned his PGA TOUR card by accruing 20 points on PGA TOUR University Accelerated (all between last year’s U.S. Open and this year’s Cognizant Classic in The Palm Beaches).

It's a lifelong dream in the making for Clanton, who opened his pre-tournament press conference Tuesday with a written statement (which took him about two days to write), where he thanked a litany of people who helped him to this point including his parents, coaches and Florida State teammates. Clanton’s first event as a pro would be memorable regardless but now includes an added layer in a tee time with McIlroy – whom he watched hit balls as an early week spectator at this year’s Masters and noted the “different” sound off the clubface.

Clanton’s ball also makes a unique sound, as Justin Thomas noted last month. Thomas and Clanton played two rounds together at the WM Phoenix Open, where Clanton missed the cut by one to miss his 20th PGA TOUR University Accelerated point in harrowing fashion (although he earned redemption just a couple weeks later).

In Canada, he’ll display that highly regarded game alongside a career Grand Slam champion.

Clanton has often grown emotional, as he did Tuesday, when describing his parents’ sacrifices to help him reach this point: His mom worked countless evening and weekend shifts as a flight attendant while also home-schooling Clanton and his two sisters, Ray and Abby. Meanwhile, Clanton’s dad David doubled as a landscaper and managing a glass business, working from 4 a.m. until mid-afternoon before spending the twilight hours with his son at the golf course.

McIlroy’s dad Gerry worked 10-hour shifts bartending and his mom Rosie worked nights at a 3M factory, largely to help their son chase his golf dreams. Clanton has plenty of work ahead to match McIlroy’s resume in professional golf – the Northern Irishman recently became just the sixth player to complete the career Grand Slam, after all, with a dramatic Masters victory – but his esteemed resume in amateur golf indicates that he’s capable of accomplishing many things in this game.

Clanton’s full-time pursuit of golf greatness begins Thursday in Canada alongside a fellow pro who shares a similar upbringing and gratitude for his parents’ sacrifices. It’s pleasant symmetry.

“My mom and dad are two hard-working people, and they'll never, ever take credit for it, which kind of pisses me off sometimes because they did everything they could,” Clanton said this week.

McIlroy would say the same.