'No S' Johnson trying to carve own identity

text size

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.

Lyons/Getty Images

Richard Johnson sits at 4 under after the first round in Canada.

Inside the Numbers

Richard Johnson in Round 1

Eagles 1 Birdies 3 Pars 13 Bogeys 1 Double Bogeys -- Other -- Driving Accuracy 50 Driving Distance 284.0 Putts 25

• Complete scorecard, click here

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.

"What it does for me is that up till last week, he had played rather poorly all year, which is pretty much what I've done all year. So it gives us a little shot in the arm,'' Johnson said. "It's a strange game; any time you can turn it on and play half-decent and you get a couple of breaks, you can win a tournament. It happened to him last week and it gives me the belief it's going to happen for me, too.''

He won the Nationwide Tour's money title in 2007, plus two tournaments, and arrived on TOUR this year with plenty of optimism. Despite his results so far, he still believes sooner or later he's going to break through.

"At some point I'm going to play good. When it happens it happens,'' said the native of Cardiff, Wales who now lives in Fort Smith, Ark., with wife Yvette. "I'm not too worried about it. I'm having a good time and I'll see how it goes.''

It actually went pretty well for him at Glen Abbey. After three starting pars, he holed out for eagle at the par-four fourth hole, using a 52-degree wedge from 105 yards.

"I got lucky on No. 6. I could have easily lost my ball. Kevin (playing partner) Na found it in the rough on the right, then I hit it to a foot,'' he said. "After that it was fairly decent. I chipped and putted pretty well.''

"The long holes seemed to be downwind, which helped (and) the fairways were actually pretty dry, considering,'' he added. "The rough's thick enough so it sits on top and there's not much water under there.''

Even before the rain delay, Glen Abbey has absorbed eight inches of rain since Sunday, scrubbing pro-am events both Monday and Wednesday. So it was playing longer than its carded 7,222 yards. Johnson, who's 6-foot-4 and 220 pounds, figured that suited him just fine.

"I can fly it a long way and I can hack it out of the rough with the best of them,'' he said.