Complete first-round notes at RBC Canadian Open

text size

Round 1 resumed at 7:30 a.m. and ended at 12:24 p.m. as 98 players returned to complete their round.

• The 2009 RBC Canadian Open is the fifth event of the season to be played with preferred lies. The others:

• This is the 11th event of the 2009 season to suspend play. Most recently, the John Deere Classic suspended the entire second-round because of a dangerous weather situation.

• When play resumed Friday morning, Camilo Villegas picked up where Kevin Na left off, matching Na's 9-under 63 to grab a share of the lead with Na, who finished Round 1 on Thursday. The 63 matched his career-best round.

• Villegas put on quite the grand finale in Round 1, finishing birdie-par-birdie-birdie-birdie-eagle. He was the ninth and final player to eagle No. 18 in the first round.

• Villegas has previously held at least a share of the first-round lead three times. The one of those three he parlayed into victory was the 2008 BMW Championship.

• Villegas is playing in his fifth RBC Canadian Open. He missed the cut in 2004, but rebounded nicely with back-to-back top-10s in 2006 and 2007, a T5 and T10 respectively. He missed the cut in 2008.

• Villegas has missed just two cuts in 15 starts this year and has amassed three top-10s along the way. His best finish of the year is a T3 at the Buick Invitational. Villegas also had a good finish at last week's British Open, finishing T13.

• When play resumed at 4:08 p.m. Thursday, Na took the then-best advantage of the benign conditions, shooting a career-tying best 9-under 63 to take the clubhouse lead Thursday by two over Joe Durant, Retief Goosen and Scott Verplank.

• Na birdied seven holes on the front-side (his back-nine), including five consecutive at Nos. 5-9 to finish his round.

• Na's first-round share of the lead marks the second time he has held at least a share of the 18-hole lead. He previously held a share of the first-round lead at the 2007 Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial before ultimately finishing T7.

• Na is competing in his third RBC Canadian Open, with a best finish being a T8 last year.

• Na is in the midst of his best year since joining the PGA TOUR in 2004. He has seven top-10s to his credit this year, including a T3 at THE PLAYERS and a T7 at last week's U.S. Bank Championship in Milwaukee.

• Joe Durant, who shares a tie for second, had the highlight of the day Thursday by making an ace at the 147-yard, par-3 seventh using an 8-iron to spin it back into the hole.

• Jamie Lovemark, who was scheduled to tee it up yesterday in his first PGA TOUR event as a professional had to wait one more day to do so as he had an original starting time of 2:05 p.m. He teed off at 1:40 p.m. Friday.

• As an amateur, Lovemark has previously played in eight PGA TOUR events, spanning back to 2006. His best finish of those eight was a T39 at the 2008 Buick Invitational. The 2009 RBC Canadian Open will mark his first start on the PGA TOUR this season.

• There are 15 Canadians competing in the 2009 RBC Canadian Open, including sponsor exemptions Nick Taylor and Matt Hill. Ranked as the world's No. 1 amateur, Nick Taylor recently finished T36 at the U.S. Open.

• Hill, who is the second highest-ranked amateur in the world, recently won the NCAA Championship.

• Taylor finished T53 in last year's RBC Canadian Open, the best finish by a Canadian amateur in this event since Nick Weslock finished T34 in 1972. Hill is competing in his first RBC Canadian Open.

• The players arrived at Glen Abbey this year to a series of welcomed changes to the course. Players will start on the fourth hole and play through nine (new Nos. 1-6). Players then play holes 3-1-2, in that order, as holes 7-8-9. The other change was re-converting the par-4 16th back into a par 5.

• Steve Flesch withdrew before his round Thursday with a neck injury. Bob Tway withdrew midway through his round Thursday for personal reasons.