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Not quite a year after a chance encounter on “Call of Duty,� Harold Varner III finally met gamer pal Arturo at the Mayakoba Golf Classic on Tuesday. Carlos Ortiz, one of seven players representing Mexico here, and Preston Lyon, Varner’s childhood friend and agent – both of whom also know Arturo through the game – were also on site. They’ve spent hundreds, maybe thousands of hours together, but this was the first time they had met in person. “I can’t believe this is happening,� said Arturo, a 22-year-old college student from Mexico, smiling through his braces. He wore jeans and a red Tommy Hilfiger sweater and admitted to being too nervous to have slept much the night before. Varner, 29, giggled like a kid at Christmas. Ortiz, a married father of two whose gaming has taken a back seat to family time, grinned and shook his head at the improbability of it all. The PGA TOUR is full of golfers lending a hand, oftentimes prioritizing the human connection above even wins and losses. As Varner put it at the BMW Championship last summer, “What’s going to matter is how we affected the people in our community and who we reached out to.� He and Arturo hugged on the practice green at El Camaleon Golf Club on Tuesday. Then came Mexico’s Ortiz. They played the video game that afternoon, and Arturo caddied for Varner in the rain-delayed pro-am Wednesday. Oh, and he’s also staying with Varner all week. All parties remain amazed at how this developed. At the start of this year, Varner and Lyon, new to “Call of Duty,� in which gamers play on squads of four, joined Jake Buchanan, a professional baseball player and another friend from their hometown of Gastonia, North Carolina.   “We needed a fourth,� Lyon said, “and ended up with Arturo.� Buchanan got ejected due to a network error, and Lyon and Varner decided to leave the game but changed their minds when they realized the kid they’d been grouped with was very, very good. “I’ve played since 2012,� Arturo said with a shrug. “I was 14 or 15.� Arturo was intrigued by his new friends, even if they weren’t as good, and mentioned them to a bilingual gamer friend named Jorge Chávez, a 31-year-old loan processor in Phoenix, Arizona. “I got home, and they’d just signed off,� Chávez said in a phone interview. “Arturo said, ‘Hey, man, I just played with a group of guys.’ He thought they were baseball players.� Soon, they formed a new four-man team: Varner, Lyon, Chávez (who translated) and Arturo. “It evolved,� Lyon said. “Arturo kind of warmed up, he started trying to speak English, which – he speaks perfect English. I think he and Harold have a lot of similarities in the way they grew up. Both come from good parents, and maybe didn’t have as much but kept a positive mindset. Arturo is in school to be an engineer; he’s got goals just like Harold had goals.� Ortiz soon began to join in, and Arturo learned that he was playing with golfers, not baseball players. He asked if Ortiz and Varner were rich. Could they, for example, order anything they wanted at restaurants? They said they could … and then contemplated the nature of the question. Sensing Arturo’s tenuous financial situation, they bought Arturo new gaming equipment and sent it to him, which was far more of a logistical challenge than a financial one. The relationship deepened in April, when on Arturo’s 22nd birthday his father had a heart attack. The youngest of four, Arturo went to the hospital to be with his dad, and temporarily withdrew from the game. For a few days, his gaming friends didn’t know where he’d gone. And then they did. “On the second day in the hospital, Harold instant-messaged me,� Arturo said. “‘Hey, bro, you good?’ I said, ‘No, I’m good.’ Because I thought I was. I never thought  …� His father spent five days in intensive care before dying at 59. “It was heartbreaking,� Lyon said. “It was tough to see it all go down.� Then, a further complication: Due to a mistake on the death certificate, his father being listed as single, Arturo’s mother couldn’t be transferred vital pension money. He asked Lyon for permission to sell the new gaming equipment to pay for funeral expenses. Lyon said not to do that and sent $800, enough to for Arturo’s family to get by while the paperwork was sorted out. “It became the thing to do right now; who cares if we’ve never seen him?� Lyon said. “That’s the way Harold is; it’s easy to do things like this and impact people. That’s how we grew up. It became a little bit bigger than ourselves; bigger than a video game. It circled back to humanity.� They made plans to meet at Mayakoba, where Arturo, who is beyond grateful, gave the golfers a gift of foods and other items from his hometown. They also gave each other the needle, like they do when they’re wearing headsets and playing the game. Arturo razzed Ortiz for never being able to play now that he has two kids; Varner jokingly complained that school is taking too much of Arturo’s time; Arturo playfully noted Varner’s physique (stout) and hairline (receding). “It’s hard to believe this,� Arturo said. “Because from one match playing with Harold, I am here. I’m a guy who was playing ‘Call of Duty.’ Now I’m here. I love Harold.� He pronounces it “Gerald,� and sometimes searches for the right words in English, but he’s made big strides at learning the language. He’s in his second year of college and aims to go to work for his family just as soon as he completes his architectural engineering degree. Ortiz’s father, who has a construction business, has said he’ll help him get a job right now. “Everyone is like, ‘If you come from here, you have this much percentage chance of making it,’� Varner said. “I don’t care what your percentage is; I just want to give you a chance.�     He, Lyon and Ortiz continue to help Arturo any way they can, even funding his nominal gaming dues (as low as $35 to re-up), which would not be quite so nominal for him. “I think we’ve learned more about life from him,� Ortiz said, “than he has from us. We want to help him. We want to see him grow.� Added Varner, “What’s cool is whenever he makes it, he’s gonna help someone else.� More than striving for trophies, that’s just the Varner way. You might even say it’s his call of duty.

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The RBC Canadian Open returns to the PGA TOUR schedule after two years of cancellations due to the COVID-19 pandemic. FedExCup leader and world No.1 Scottie Scheffler headlines the field with Rory McIlroy returning to defend his title from 2019. FIELD NOTES: Scottie Scheffler, a four-time winner already this season, will make his RBC Canadian Open debut… Sam Burns, who topped Scheffler in a playoff to win the Charles Schwab Challenge, will also make his Canadian Open debut… Rory McIlroy returns to defend… Justin Thomas is making his second-straight Canadian Open appearance… Cameron Smith, winner of THE PLAYERS Championship, returns to Canada… Other notables include Tony Finau, Matt Fitzpatrick, Shane Lowry (who finished tied for second in 2019), Justin Rose, Tyrell Hatton, and Patrick Reed… Corey Conners, the top-ranked Canadian in the FedExCup standings, leads a contingent of 21 Canadians in the field… Taylor Pendrith hopes to make his return after being on the shelf since THE PLAYERS due to a broken rib… Mike Weir makes his 29th appearance at the Canadian Open, the third-most all time… David Hearn will make his 18th start at his country’s national open… Sponsor exemptions include Albin Choi and Stuart MacDonald off the Korn Ferry Tour, plus Jared du Toit, who tied for ninth as an amateur in 2016, when he played in the final group Sunday. FEDEXCUP: Winner receives 500 FedExCup points. COURSE: St. George’s Golf and Country Club, par 70, 7,014 yards. The Stanley Thompson gem, first constructed in 1929, is consistently ranked as one of Canada’s top courses – if not its best. Located just 11 miles from the CN Tower, St. George’s has hosted the Canadian Open five times – most recently in 2010 – along with the CP Women’s Open five times. Playing up, down, and across valleys, golfers will have to contend with uneven lies, thick rough, and slopey greens (which were all re-worked in 2014 after an ice storm caused turf damage in the winter of 2013). Due to the location and size of St. George’s practice area, Islington Golf Club (just down the road) will be the home of the tournament practice area. Golfers will be shuttled from Islington to St. George’s and will tee off No.’s 1 and 9. STORYLINES: The RBC Canadian Open was the only North American-based TOUR event to miss both 2020 and 2021 and returns with plenty of excitement for the Canadian crowds. The Chief Commercial Officer of Golf Canada, John Sibley, calls this year’s effort the “largest operational undertaking” in the organization’s history… Haskins Award winner Chris Gotterup will make his debut on TOUR as a professional. Gotterup had a standout collegiate career and finished seventh in the PGA TOUR U rankings. The last golfer to make his TOUR debut as a pro at the RBC Canadian Open, in 2019, was Collin Morikawa, who tied for 14th… “The Rink” returns. The hockey-themed fan experience on the par-3 16th hole features boards along both sides of the hole… Five of the world’s top-10 golfers will be in the field. This will be the fourth consecutive TOUR event with at least three of the top five… A Canadian hasn’t won the RBC Canadian Open since 1954. Brooke Henderson won the CP Women’s Open in Regina, Saskatchewan in 2018. 72-HOLE RECORD: 258, Rory McIlroy (2019) 18-HOLE RECORD: 60, Carl Pettersson (3rd round, 2010 at St. George’s G&CC) LAST TIME: Rory McIlroy captured the 2019 RBC Canadian Open by seven shots after firing a 9-under 61 at Hamilton Golf and Country Club – flirting with a 59 for most of the day before making bogey on No’s 16 and 18. McIlroy, who was 5-under through his first seven holes Sunday, held the 54-hole lead after firing a Saturday 64 and never looked back. It was his 16th win on TOUR. Shane Lowry and Webb Simpson tied for second at 15-under while Brandt Snedeker and Matt Kuchar were two shots further back and tied for fourth. Adam Hadwin finished sixth and was low Canadian. He also earned a spot in The Open Championship with his top-8 result. The last time St. George’s Golf and Country Club hosted the RBC Canadian Open, in 2010, Carl Pettersson won by one shot over Dean Wilson. Pettersson made the cut on the number but shot a tournament-record 60 in the third round. HOW TO FOLLOW Television: Thursday-Friday, 3 p.m.-6 p.m. ET (Golf Channel). Saturday-Sunday, 1 p.m.-3 p.m. (Golf Channel), 3 p.m.-6 p.m. (CBS) Radio: Thursday-Friday, 12 p.m.–6 p.m. ET. Saturday-Sunday, 1 p.m.-6 p.m. (PGA TOUR Radio on SiriusXM and PGATOUR.com/liveaudio) For outside of the U.S., click here for GOLFTV powered by the PGA TOUR PGA TOUR LIVE PGA TOUR Live is available exclusively on ESPN+ • Main Feed: primary tournament-coverage featuring the best action from across the course • Marquee Group: new “marquee group” showcasing every shot from each player in the group • Featured Groups: traditional PGA TOUR LIVE coverage of two concurrent featured groups • Featured Holes: a combination of par-3s and iconic or pivotal holes

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