Round 1, RBC Canadian Open

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Mike Weir is trying to become the first Canadian in more than 50 years to win the Canadian Open.

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RBC Canadian Open

PGATOUR.COM's The Live Report has all the news and notes from the RBC Canadian Open, and we'll be providing updates from Glen Abbey all day long for each round, so check back often. (All timestamps are Eastern Time.)

Jul. 23, 2009
By PGATOUR.COM Staff

NINE IS ENOUGH (8:46 p.m.): Just when it looked like 7 under would hold up, Kevin Na sped past Retief Goosen and Scott Verplank and into the lead.

Na did it by making birdie on the last five holes of his round and seven in total on the front nine for a 28 over his last nine holes for a 9-under 63 total. On the day, Na hit 15 of 18 greens in regulation and took just 24 putts. Of those putts, Na only had three attempts over 15 feet all day and one of those was over by two inches. Na has seven top-10s this year and when he plays like this it's easy to see why.

Joe Durant was headed into Na territory as well, making a hole-in-one on the par-3 seventh to go with two other birdies in a four-hole stretch, but a bogey on No. 9 dropped him back to 7 under for the day along with Goosen and Verplank. Still, he had an impressive run of his own with five birdies in a six-hole stretch on the front nine (his back nine). Durant missed just one green in regulation all day.

And with that, the first round has been suspended for the rest of the day (the horn blew at 8:46 p.m.) with darkness descending on Glen Abbey. They'll be back at it early tomorrow morning to complete the first round. -- Brian Wacker

Below is a look at Na's scorecard from today:

Below is a look at Durant's scorecard from today:

SUPER 7s (8:05 p.m.): They were accomplished differently, but still much the same. Scott Verplank and Retief Goosen both shot 7-under 65s Thursday at Glen Abbey with Verplank tearing up the front nine and Goosen doing most of his damage on the back. Between them, though, they missed just four greens in regulation (Gossen 3, Verplank 1). That's some serious ballstriking.

The result was Verplank and Goosen being tied for the clubhouse lead as the opening round of the RBC Canadian Open winds down. We say clubhouse lead because Kevin Na and Joe Durant also just reached 7 under with two holes to play in their rounds. -- Brian Wacker

GOOSEN GOES LOWER (7:35 p.m.): Retief Goosen just drained his fifth birdie of the day (to go with one eagle) to get to 7 under with two holes to play in his round.

Goosen has been dead on all day, hitting 14 of 16 greens in regulation and when you make just two putts over 10 feet with that many birdies, you know your ballstriking is good. -- Brian Wacker

IT'S AN OFFICIAL BIRDIE-FEST (7:20 p.m.): Add Scott Verplank's name to the list of early contenders thanks to birdies on 5 of his last 6 holes and six in all. That has Verplank even with Retief Goosen atop the leaderboard.

That run by Verplank, by the way, came on not exactly the easiest stretch of holes. As mentioned earlier, the first six holes at Glen Abbey have been switched around and the first, third, fourth and fifth holes rank ninth, fourth, eighth and sixth.

Verplank, however, does come into this week playing well. He tied for ninth at the John Deere Classic, where he shot a second-round 64 and closed with a 69. Two weeks before that, Verplank went really low in Hartford, shooting a final-round 62 to finish in a tie for ninth at the Travelers Championship. -- Brian Wacker

HARRISON IN THE HUNT (6:55 p.m.): A wet Glen Abbey is apparently a good Glen Abbey, at least judging by the scores so far today. Retief Goosen is the leader right now at 6 under through 13 holes, but he's hardly the only player taking it low.

Harrison Frazar had four birdies in a five-hole stretch at one point and has seven birdies in all as he nears the end of his round. Unfortunately, he also has a bogey and a double bogey. Still, his 4 under has him in the hunt.

In fact, nearly two-thirds of the field that is on the golf course is currently under par with a dozen players within three shots of Goosen's lead. That includes Kevin Na, who has birdied 4 of his last 5 holes. -- Brian Wacker

FROM ONE OF THE TOUGHEST TO THE EASIEST (6:30 p.m.): Lengthening out and changing the 516-yard 16th hole from a par-4 last year to a par-5 this year has resulted in one thing so far -- it playing as the easiest hole on the golf course today.

So far, No. 16 is playing to a stroke average of 4.394 with 22 birdies, nine pars and just two bogeys. Last year, it was the sixth-toughest holes on the course as a 485-yard par-4 with a stroke average of 4.091. -- Brian Wacker

WEIR PLAYING WELL (6:10 p.m.): This is an extremely busy week for Mike Weir with him basically being the unofficial host of Canada's national championship, but those distractions haven't been a problem so far. Weir is 4 under through his first 11 holes with birdies on 4 of his last 5 holes.

"The little things that I have to do this week compared to last week is a significant difference," Weir said. "It's our national championship, and all us Canadians, we want to put to rest that it's been so long since one of us has won one. "

Indeed -- 1954, in fact. Weir is off to a good start, however, and that could go a long way toward changing that. -- Brian Wacker

IMMELMAN MAKING A MOVE (5:45 p.m.): So much for Trevor Immelman being rusty from a two-month layoff. He just chipped in for eagle on the par-5 18th hole to make the turn in 3 under and near the top of the leaderboard.

As mentioned below, this is Immelman's first tournament since the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial two months ago. Somewhere, instructor Sean Foley is smiling, too. Foley has helped fix the games of Sean O'Hair, Hunter Mahan and now Immelman. -- Brian Wacker

LEADER UPDATE (5:30 p.m.): Thanks to a lengthy weather delay earlier, the first round of the RBC Canadian Open won't be completed today, though if it were up to Retief Goosen he might well wish they were playing into the night. Goosen is 4 under thanks to an eagle and two birdies through his first eight holes.

Goosen chipped in for eagle on the par-5 13th and added a birdie on the par-5 16th, which was a par-4 last year, before making one more birdie on the par-4 17th.

That Goosen is playing well shouldn't come as any surprise. He's missed just two cuts all year, hasn't finished outside the top 30 since the Masters and is coming off a strong performance at the British Open, where he's coming off a tie for fifth. Goosen also ranks ninth on the PGA TOUR in scoring average before the cut. -- Brian Wacker

THE RAIN HAS RETURNED (5:10 p.m.): The rain has returned at Glen Abbey, where play was held up for nearly 8 hours earlier today because of inclement weather. While there doesn't appear to be any electricity in the air, if heavy rain persists we could see another delay. Well over an inch of rain has fallen in the last 24 hours and the golf course can only take on so much water. It's not Bethpage wet, but it's pretty wet. For now, though, we play on. -- Brian Wacker

COURSE CHANGES (4:50 p.m.): There have been a number of changes made to Glen Abbey for this year's tournament -- most notably on the first six holes. The first six holes this year were previously Nos. 4 through 9 and the last three holes on the front were previously Nos. 3, 1 and 2. The other big change was changing the par-4 16th back into a par-5, not that players will be able to take much advantage of that in today's soft and soggy conditions.

"I think it probably saves us a few hundred yards of a walk from 9 to 10, which probably maybe keeps the flow of the tournament going," Mike Weir said. " We just come off the range there, and head over to the right, and we're on the first tee. I think that was a very difficult opening hole the old way. Now you seem to be more in the flow of the round, and that's now No. 8. It seems to be nice to have hit a few tee shots before you hit that one because that's a pretty tough one." -- Brian Wacker

CANADIAN INFLUENCE (4:35 p.m.): There are 15 Canadians competing in the RBC Canadian Open, including sponsor exemptions Nick Taylor and Matt Hill.

Ranked as the world's No. 1 amateur, Taylor recently finished T36 at the U.S. Open. Hill, who is ranked No. 2, recently won the NCAA Championship.

Taylor finished in a tie for 53rd in last year's RBC Canadian Open, the best finish by a Canadian amateur in this event since Nick Weslock finished in a tie for 34th in 1972. Hill is competing in his first RBC Canadian Open. -- Doug Milne

IMMELMAN BACK (4:20 p.m.): Trevor Immelman, who has been sidelined the last two months with a wrist injury, is playing again for the first time since Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial, but don't expect too much from the South African.

"Unfortunately, I've been struggling with my injury, so I haven't been able to hit many balls," Immelman told Toronto's Globe and Mail.

Immelman, even par through his first three holes today, also admitted to a lack of confidence recently and that led him to instructor Sean Foley, who is quickly becoming Mr. Fix-It for a few guys on the PGA TOUR -- Foley also works with Stephen Ames, Sean O'Hair, Hunter Mahan, Parker McLachlin and Justin Rose.

Immelman, who is a little more than a year removed from a Masters victory, comes into this week 135th on the money list and 145th on the FedEx list with a season-best finish of T19 at the Transitions Championship.

"When you work with instructors, sometimes they try to mould you into swinging their way, and it can either work or it doesn't," Immelman added. "Sometimes it's difficult to track down what happened.

"I grew up playing in strong winds, and my nemesis has always been holding on too long [through impact] with my wrists," he said. "I'm trying to get to the point in my backswing where my swing can flow from there and where I don't have to manipulate the club."

Can Foley fix that? Given his work with others, one would think so.

As for other injury news, Steve Flesch withdrew before his round with a neck injury, while Bob Tway withdrew midway through his round for personal reasons. -- Brian Wacker

PLAY HAS RESUMED (4:10 p.m.): The opening round of the RBC Canadian Open is finally under way after a nearly 8-hour delay because of heavy rains in the area. That's the good news. The bad news is there is more rain in the forecast. For now, however, they are playing again.

When last there was golf at Glen Abbey, John Merrick was in the very early lead at 2 under through his first six holes. Mike Weir, certainly the most popular guy in the field this week, was even par through his first three hole. Earlier in the week, though, Weir shot a 28 on the back nine.

"Just one of those things that I got on a nice roll," Weir said. "Birdied 13 through 15, eagled 16, birdied 17, eagled 18. I wish I could do that in a tournament."

Maybe he'll get a chance to with everyone playing lift, clean and place, which was put into effect prior to the start of play. That marks the second time in as many years officials have been forced to use that rule here and it's the fifth time we've seen it this year. The other tournaments it was used at include: the third round of the Buick Invitational, the first three rounds of the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am, the final round of the St. Jude Classic and the second round of the John Deere Classic. -- Brian Wacker

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