First round: Three tied for lead, play suspended

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(from left to right) Eric Axley, Mike Weir and Anthony Kim all opened with 65s on a rainy Thursday.

OAKVILLE, Ontario (AP) -- Mike Weir gave fans what they came to see on another rainy day at drenched Glen Abbey in the RBC Canadian Open.

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Article: Inside the course
Video: Shot of the Day
Video: PGA TOUR Today
Video: Highlights
What they said: Archive
XM: Round 1 podcast

The Canadian icon shot a bogey-free 6-under 65 on Thursday for a share of the lead with Anthony Kim and Eric Axley during the suspended first round. Only half of the players were able to finish the round that was delayed for 5 hours, 42 minutes.

"You want to take advantage of today because it's only going to get a little firmer and faster," said Weir, his words punctuated by a clap of thunder that drew a smile and forced him to reconsider his answer. "Maybe not with what's coming. Maybe not."

Richard Johnson, J.P. Hayes, Nicholas Thompson, Ryan Armour and Jason Allred shot 67s on the course saturated by 8 inches of rain in six days. John Senden and Charley Hoffman also were 4 under. Senden played nine holes, and Hoffman completed eight.

Because of the wet conditions, players were allowed to use preferred lies.

"We're playing lift, clean and place and, if you hit fairways, you're going to have great opportunities to go at flags," Kim said. "The course isn't overly long. But if you can hit some 7-irons 15 feet and shake some of those in, you'll be in good shape. I hit every fairway and that gave me a lot of opportunities to go at some pins."

Two-time defending champion Jim Furyk, a few minutes away from teeing off when play was suspended because of lightning a little before 1 p.m., was 1 under at the turn.

A brief storm hit at about 1:30 p.m. and waves of showers followed, flooding bunkers and fairways on the course that many players thought would be unplayable after heavy rain Wednesday. Play resumed at about 6:30 p.m., and was suspended because of darkness at 8:49 p.m., leaving the course once again to the weary maintenance crew.

To read the remainder of this story, click here.

TRIVIA QUESTION

The grounds crew worked until the wee hours of the morning on Thursday to make Glen Abbey GC playable for the first round. Then Mother Nature showered the area with more rain, causing a 5-1/2 hour weather delay. Not that we're trying to jinx the tournament or anything, but when was the last time a PGA TOUR event was canceled due to weather? See the answer at the bottom of the page

Thursday's best

Round of the Day

Of the players who finished, three notched 65s to take the clubhouse lead. While Anthony Kim impressed as usual with his low round and Eric Axley closed with an eagle 3 on the par-5 18th hole, it was Mike Weir who thrilled the crowd the most with his bogey-free performance. Canada's favorite son is off to a great start at Glen Abbey, a course where he's only shot 65 once before and shot as high as 80 in 1989 and 1992.

Shot of the Day

Not only is Eric Axley tied for the clubhouse lead, he also had the day's best shot with an eagle on his final hole. Axley hit the green in two shots and slammed home his eagle putt to cap off an opening-round 65. Click here to watch Axley's eagle.

QUOTE OF THE DAY

"I heard in the locker room somebody said they were here until 3:00 in the morning last night. I'm sure they (had) a couple hours of sleep and (were) right back at it first thing. They've had their work cut out and they've done a great job. It exceeded my expectations what I thought I was going to see out there, especially getting down in the valley. I thought down there would be almost unplayable."-- Mike Weir, on how hard the grounds crew worked to prepare the soaked course for play on Thursday

RICHARD "NO S" JOHNSON FOLLOWS IN RICHARD S. JOHNSON'S FOOTSTEPS
By Dave Perkins, Special to PGATOUR.COM

OAKVILLE, Ont. -- Richard Johnson goes by the nickname "No S" and even has the golf bag to prove it, featuring one of those red circles with a line through an S that's international sign language for not allowed.

Johnson

That didn't stop one of the volunteers at the RBC Canadian Open from gushing her congratulations to him when he arrived. It was, of course, Richard S. Johnson who won at Milwaukee last weekend, not the Richard -- No S -- Johnson who shot a four-under-par 67 today at Glen Abbey, putting him in contention on a leaderboard led early by Canadian crowd favourite Mike Weir, Eric Axley and Anthony Kim at six-under 65 when play was suspended by incoming weather at 12:51 p.m. EDT.

"You mean it wasn't me? I'm being congratulated and I assumed it was me, but I haven't got the check yet,'' Johnson cracked.

He said he hadn't received any mistaken text messages, "but the first person I met in Canada was like, 'Hey congraulations.' I said, For what?

"I mean, he's 3-foot-1 and I'm 6-foot-4, so you can tell us apart.''

He said he put that "No S" sign on his bag "to stop the TOUR from mistaking us. They struggled for the first few months of the year.''

Jokes aside, this Johnson seeing the other Johnson win at least sends out a message of hope. His top finish this year on the PGA TOUR has been a 30th-place tie at the FBR Open. He's a distant 194th in the FedEx Cup standings and in need of a high finish or two.

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FROM THE BRITISH OPEN TO THE RBC CANADIAN OPEN

From Royal Birkdale GC to Glen Abbey GC, it's about 3,405 miles as the crow -- or, as was the case this week, the private jet chartered by the Royal Canadian Golf Association -- flies.

Kim

The golfers who participated in Great Britain's national championship last week had to cross five time zones for Canada's equivalent, but did so in "first-class" style, said Anthony Kim, who took the RCGA's chartered plane.

Still, the quick cross-ocean trip can affect a player. Not only that, it takes a few days to acclimate to the links style of golf played at the British Open, then a few more days to get re-adjusted for the RBC Canadian Open.

"It's been three days, it's taken me (to re-acclimatize)," Anthony Kim said, as he made his first trip to Canada for this week's event after his first foray at the British Open. "I really didn't feel comfortable until today. And yesterday playing 15 holes, my game was a little bit off. My putter was off. Everything was just a little bit rusty it felt like.

"I definitely feel like I have my legs under me now, and I'm ready to go. But I definitely feel like a little rest would do me some good."

Mike Weir, who participated in his first Canadian Open in 1989 (four years after Kim was born), agreed.

"I'm still on that other time zone. I can't stay awake past about 9:00," Weir said, though he and Kim were tied for the lead with Eric Axley when play was suspended and not struggling too much from the time change.

"So yeah, maybe that's the age, too," Weir quickly followed.

FOLLOW THE CANADIANS

Mike Weir and Stephen Ames are the most well-known Canadians in the field but there are 17 others competing at Glen Abbey as well. Though the first round hasn't wrapped yet, check out how they're doing so far:

THINGS TO WATCH ON FRIDAY

1. The weather. By Wednesday, over seven inches of rain had fallen on Glen Abbey GC since the prior Saturday and, when more rain fell, the Pro-Am was canceled. Even more rain came during the first round, which was the last thing the already saturated course needed. But DTN Meteorlogix says Friday should be a dry day, which should eliminate any standing water on the course.

2. Charley Hoffman. Hoffman has to be one player who wasn't happy that play was suspended for the night. He was 4 under through eight holes and will have to resume on Friday morning.

3. John Senden. How's this for an impressive stretch of holes? Senden went eagle, birdie, birdie on Nos. 5-7 and was 4 under after nine holes. Can he continue to play that well tomorrow?

TRIVIA ANSWER

The 1996 AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am. The RBC Canadian Open staff can breathe a little easier -- it's been more than 12 years since a tournament was canceled. That famous "Crosby weather" was such a problem at Pebble Beach in 1996 that the tournament was halted after two rounds due to unplayable conditions and not rescheduled. All you weather buffs will get a kick out of this other stat -- the last time it snowed at a tournament was the 2005 BellSouth Classic. At least that shouldn't be a problem this week.