RBC Canadian Open: Round 2 notebook

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Jul. 25, 2009
By Dave Senko, PGA TOUR Staff

• Jason Dufner flirted with the tournament course record (62/-10 by Greg Norman in 1996 and 62/-9 by Leonard Thompson/1981 and Andy Bean/1983) before finishing with a 9-under-par 63. He is the 36-hole leader at 13-under-par 131. Dufner's 63 was one stroke shy of his career best as a professional. He posted a 62 at the 2003 Miccosukee Championship on the Nationwide Tour. He also owns two other 63s on the PGA TOUR. The first came in the opening round at the 2009 Bob Hope Chrysler Classic and the other came in the second round of the 2008 U.S. Bank Championship in Milwaukee.

• This is just the second time in his PGA TOUR career that Dufner has held sole possession of the lead in a PGA TOUR event. He previously was the 18-hole leader at the 2004 Chrysler Classic of Greensboro and eventually finished T8. He also shared the 36-hole lead at the Stanford St. Jude Championship with five others a year ago and finished T13.

• Mark Calcavecchia set a new PGA TOUR mark when he reeled off nine consecutive birdies (Nos. 12-2). The nine straight broke the record set in 1961 by Bob Goalby at the St. Petersburg Open and later matched by Fuzzy Zoeller (1976 Quad Cities Open), Dewey Arnette (1987 Buick Open), Edward Fryatt (2000 Doral-Ryder Open), J.P. Hayes (2002 Bob Hope Chrysler Classic) and Jerry Kelly (2003 Las Vegas Invitational). One of the other members of Calcavecchia's group today was Hayes.

• Kelly continued his recent stellar play. Kelly, who was third at last week's U.S. Bank Championship in Milwaukee, has posted rounds of 65-67 at Glen Abbey, giving his six consecutive rounds in the 60s. He is currently T2 with Scott Verplank, one stroke behind Jason Dufner.

• Two more players added their names to the list of players making hole-in-ones at the 2009 RBC Canadian Open when Leif Olson (9-iron) and Casey Wittenberg (8-iron) joined Arjun Atwal, Briny Baird, Peter Lonard and Joe Durant with the honor. Olson, Wittenberg, Atwal and Baird all aced No. 15 (132 yards) in the second round, while Lonard's came at No. 12 and Durant at No. 7 in the opening round. The six holes-in-one were the most in a tournament since there were five at the 2004 John Deere Classic. The four players making an ace on No. 15 won a new Z-4 from BMW.

• Retief Goosen has birdied all eight par-5s in the first two rounds, the only player to have done so. Goosen will begin the third round tied for sixth place. He finished T5 at last week's British Open.

• Jamie Lovemark fired a 6-under-par 66 on Saturday to make the cut in his first start as a professional. Lovemark's round included a 5-under-par on his front nine and he is currently T47.

• Jeff Maggert (wrist) and Matt Bettencourt (ribs) both withdrew during their rounds on Saturday. On Friday, Robert Garrigus, Mark Brooks, Tag Ridings, Carl Pettersson, Aaron Baddeley, Greg Owen and Brian Davis all withdrew. All except Brooks had started their second rounds.

• Stephen Ames and Mike Weir are the highest-ranked Canadian golfers on the leaderboard at T20. A total of four Canadians from a starting field of 15 players made the cut. The others were Graham Delaet and Chris Baryla.

• A total of 64 players will begin the third round on Sunday morning at 6:45 a.m. In light of rounds three and four being played on Sunday, a second cut was made from the original cut of 3-under-par 141. The 12 players who missed the second cut will share last place money.

• Among those missing the original cut was defending champion Chez Reavie, who finished at 3-under-par 141, on stroke shy of the cutline.

• Nathan Green and Martin Laird lead all players with 14 birdies.

• Tim Herron and Ames have needed just 51 putts in the first two rounds, fewest in the tournament. Colt Knost owns the longest putt so far at 83 feet, 9 inches in the opening round.

• The most difficult hole through the first 36 holes has been No. 14 with an average score of 4.265 (-.265), while No. 16 has been the easiest at 4.520 (-.480). There have been five eagles and 153 birdies. The scoring average on Saturday was 70.819. A year ago the average was 70.748 for the same round.

• So far this week, the course has received 3.50 inches of rain.