RBC Canadian Open: Monday
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By PGATOUR.COM Staff
GREEN WINS FIRST TOUR EVENT (4:44 p.m.): Nathan Green, with his playoff win over Retief Goosen to claim the RBC Canadian Open, is the fifth first-time winner on the TOUR this year. He joins Pat Perez (The 50th Bob Hope Classic hosted by Arnold Palmer), Y.E. Yang (The Honda Classic), Paul Casey (Shell Houston Open) and Bo Van Pelt (U.S. Bank Championship in Milwaukee) in the first-time winner's club.
"It's a huge surprise to finally win," Green said. "I'm over the moon."
With the win and the 500 FedExCup points, Green jumped 99 spots in the FedExCup standings and has a firm grasp on a Playoff spot. He's now 37th in points after starting the tournament outside the top 125 cut line in 136th place.
Despite the playoff loss, Goosen moved up to 10th in the FedExCup standings.
Incidentally, Green and Goosen were the only two players in the field this week to record all four rounds in the 60s.
RBC CANADIAN OPEN PLAYOFFS: We've got stroke-by-stroke coverage of the playoff between Retief Goosen and Nathan Green:
| Playoffs play-by-play: Goosen vs. Green | ||
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YES, IT'S A PLAYOFF (3:51 p.m.): Nathan Green had to settle for par at the par-5 18th. As a result, once the remaining players finish their rounds, we'll have a playoff between Green and Retief Goosen for the 2009 RBC Canadian Open title.
This will be the 19th playoff in the 100-year history of the RBC Canadian Open, and the first since Vijay Singh defeated Mike Weir in 2004.
It's also the eighth playoff on the PGA TOUR this year, and the third straight, with the British Open and U.S. Bank Championship in Milwaukee both ending in playoffs last week.
Goosen and Green have each participated in just one previous playoff in his PGA TOUR event. Here are their playoff records::
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| Nathan Green's playoff record (0-1) | ||||||
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IF WE HAVE A PLAYOFF (3:42 p.m.): If the tournament ends in a sudden-death playoff, the first hole will be the par-5 18th. Then it will to the par-4 17th, then back to 18, and keep rotating as necessary.
A playoff looks like a distinct possibility unless Green can chip in from off the green at the 18th for birdie. Green sailed his approach shot at the 18th into the crowd past the hole, then had to chip back, with his ball landing on the hazard line just short of the water that protects the 18th green.
GREEN ON 18 (3:33 p.m.): Nathan Green has just tee off on the 72nd hole, safely finding the fairway on the par-5 15th. He'll need birdie or better to take the lead and avoid a playoff with Retief Goosen.
Green has two birdies and an eagle at the 18th in his first three rounds this week.
WEIR'S CRAZY WEEK (3:30 p.m.): As his country's best golfer, Mike Weir has to shoulder the pressure and expectations of trying to end the drought of Canadian golfers at the RBC Canadian Open. While his finish at 10 under certainly is a respectable showing, it was not the week Weir had hoped for -- especially on the greens. Consider that on the back nine of his final round, he lipped out putts on hole Nos. 11, 12, 16, 17 and 18.
"I played great," said Weir, who wasl in the top 25 on the leaderboard when he finished his round. "I just -- I've never seen so many putts lip out. It was just a crazy week that way."
With the weather issues and start/stop scheduling, Weir knows it was a long week for everybody, one in which it was "tough to get any flow," he said. Weir could never really build any momentum. He was 3 under for his round Monday after 10 holes before his putts began finding the rim of the cup instead of the bottom.
"And you know, it didn't really play like a Canadian Open championship," Weir said. "It was a dart contest out there, and it's too bad because they did have the golf course in really good condition earlier in the week, and Mother Nature didn't cooperate, so it played quite a bit easier than probably the way it should have."
For more on Weir's round, check out his scorecard on ShotTracker.
GOOSE CLOSES WITH EAGLE (3:20 p.m.): So Retief Goosen has posted the number to beat -- 18 under -- after nailing a 16-foot eagle putt at the par-5 18th. He's now the clubhouse leader and is tied for Nathan Green, who still has two holes to play.
TOUGH LUCK FOR KIM (3:05 p.m.): Any chance that Anthony Kim had of catching the leaders ended when he found the water with his approach shot at the 72nd hole.
After bombing a 338-yard drive on the par-5 18th -- the longest drive of the day at that hole -- Kim appeared to have played a nice approach to set up an eagle possibility. But when his ball landed on the green. instead of bouncing toward the pin, it spun hard to the right off the green and into the water.
Kim was 15 under at the time, just two shots off the lead. He eventually settled for bogey to finish at 14 under.
NICE SHOWING BY SNEDS (2:48 p.m.): Looks like Brandt Snedeker will post his third top-10 finish in his last four starts after carding a final-round 68 that leaves him at 13 under for the tournament. He's currently tied for fifth.
Snedeker, who struggled earlier this year with a rib injury, tied for fifth at the AT&T National and tied for second at the John Deere Classic. He missed the cut at the British Open but seems to be back in form now that he's returned to American soil.
Snedeker is in the field for this week's Buick Open. For the complete field list, click here.
GREEN IN THE LEAD (2:28 p.m.): Back-to-back bogeys by Retief Goosen have elevated Nathan Green into the lead. Goosen followed his bogey at the 14th with another bogey at the par-3 15th when his tee shot landed right of the green and he failed to get up and down.
Goosen is playing two groups ahead of Green, so if he can convert on the remaining two par 5s and post a number, Green may still need to be aggressive down the stretch.
TOUGHEST HOLE (2:18 p.m.): The toughest hole this week has been the par-4 14th, and it certainly derailed Retief Goosen, who bogeyed to fall back into a tie for the lead with Nathan Green.
Green, however, is just now approaching the 14th. And remember, each player still has two par 5s to play (the 16th and 18th), so you can expect a few more swings in the leaderboard.
KODAK CHALLENGE UPDATE (2:08 p.m.): All players have now completed play on this week's Kodak Challenge hole, the par-4, 452-yard 11th at Glen Abbey.
Kevin Streelman remains the Kodak Challenge leader at 11 under, followed by Nathan Green, Michael Letzig and Nicholas Thompson at 10 under. Green, of course, is challenging for the lead down the stretch Monday.
For the week, the 11th yielded two eagles (by Jeff Klauk and John Merrick), 76 birdies, 250 pars, 85 bogeys and 1 double-bogeys, playing to a stroke average of 4.064, which currently ranks it tied for the fourth most difficult on the course.
For more on this year's Kodak Challenge, which offers a $1 million prize to the winner of the season-long event, click here. -- Mike McAllister
GOOSE BACK ON TOP (1:55 p.m.): Thanks to a 33-foot, 3-inch birdie putt on the par-5 13th, Retief Goosen has jumped back on top at 18 under, one stroke ahead of Nathan Green.
Goosen has now rolled in two putts in excess of 30 feet in the final round. He also sank a putt of 32 feet, 4 inches for birdie on the par-4 fifth.
Goosen is now 5 under on the 558-yard 13th this week, with three birdies and an eagle.
LAIRD'S LAMENT (1:40 p.m.): Through 36 holes, Martin Laird was in excellent shape to make a run at his first PGA TOUR win, having reached the halfway mark at 10 under.
Then came the third round ... and a six-over 78 that dashed his hopes of victory.
But give Laird credit for bouncing back from that disappointment. Laird is now 7 under through his first 11 holes and is 10 under for the tournament.
If he can hold it together, Laird would post his best finish in a season that has been just as disappointing as that third-round 78. In his first 17 starts, Laird has missed the cut 11 times, with his best finish a T24 at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans. -- Mike McAllister
FOUR IN THE 60S (1:23 p.m.): A year ago at the RBC Canadian Open, 11 players entered the final round having carded rounds in the 60s in each of the previous three rounds. But only Billy Mayfair completed the tournament with four rounds in the 60s (he finished second behind Chez Reavie).
Going into Monday's final round, five players had carded rounds in the 60s for the first three rounds at the par-72 Glen Abbey course -- Retief Goosen, Nathan Green, Anthony Kim, Bob Estes and Michael Letzig.
In the history of the tournament -- which goes all the way back to 1904 -- just 39 players have accomplished the feat of carding all four rounds in the 60s. -- Mike McAllister
BACK NINE (1:15 p.m.): With the leaders now on the back nine, who has the edge? Well, in the first three rounds, Retief Goosen is a collective 9 under while Nathan Green is a collective 5 under.
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JANZEN MAKES MOVE (1:02 p.m.): Looks like Lee Janzen will head to the Buick Open with confidence. He's 4 under through 11 holes and inching toward the top 10 on the leaderboard.
And once he gets to Flint, Mich., Janzen will be doing something else that is sure to make him feel good. The two-time U.S. Open champion is hosting a food distribution Tuesday on behalf of Feed The Children, an international hunger relief organization.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics May 2009 report, Flint reported a 16.5 percent unemployment rate. In conjunction with Orchard Children's Services, Feed The Children will provide a box of food and personal care items to the families.
Janzen helps with the food drops on a regular basis in conjunction with his PGA TOUR schedule. -- Helen Ross
QUICK FACTS ON GREEN (12:56 p.m.): Three things you should know about current tournament co-leader Nathan Green of Australia:
1) While he has never won on either the PGA TOUR (in 110 starts) or the Nationwide Tour (in 71 starts), he has three international victories -- one each on the Australasian, Canadian and European tours.
2) He once worked in a crematorium that his parents managed in Australia.
3) After being introduced to golf by his brother, he used his grandmother's clubs.
NOW WE'RE TIED (12:48 p.m.): Retief Goosen's first bogey in his last 31 holes played and Nathan Green's birdie at the eighth now leaves both players tied for the lead at 17 under.
Green is looking for his first top-10 finish this year; his best finish on TOUR is a tie for second at the 2006 Buick Invitational when he and Jose Maria Olazabal lost in a playoff to eventual winner Tiger Woods.
DRIVING GOOSE (12:40 p.m.): Retief Goosen joked two weeks ago in Scotland that he isn't one of the straighter hitters on the PGA TOUR, but he's been near-perfect this week, and it's a big reason he heads into the back nine looking for his second win in 2009.
Wild driving has plagued Goosen this year -- he entered the RBC Canadian Open ranked 147th in driving accuracy, lagging behind such big hitters as Nick Watney and Davis Love III.
But this week, Goosen has also hit 75 percent of the fairways, which ranks him tied for fifth
In addition, Goosen has led the field in driving distance this week, averaging 299.9 yards a poke, which is impressive considering the fairways have afforded no roll due to heavy rain. He entered this week ranked 155th in TOUR in Total Driving, which combines distance and accuracy. -- Ryan Smithson
CURSE OF THE 63s (12:33 p.m.): Camilo Villegas and Kevin Na torched Glen Abbey in the first round with 9-under 63s, but the two young guns haven't made much noise since then.
Villegas shot 71-72 in the next two rounds and is 1 over for his final round, but still 9 under for the tournament.
Meanwhile, Na -- who entered the tournament 20th in the FedExCup rankings, shot 71-74 in the middle two rounds and is 4 over for his final round, falling back to 4 under for the tournament. -- Mike McAllister
MORE ON SIMPSON (12:20 p.m.): Webb Simpson just eagled the 18th hole (he teed off on the back nine) for his second eagle in three holes. Simpson also eagled the par-5 16th after sticking his approach to two feet. The pair of eagles moved him to 14 under, four shots behind leader Retief Goosen.
Simpson reached the par-5 18th in two and drained a 27-footer, his seventh eagle of the year, which moves him into the top 15 in TOUR in that catagory.
Simpson only has nine more holes in which to catch Goosen, but win or lose, the rookie is closing in on securing his TOUR card for next year. He entered Glen Abbey with nearly $700,000 for the year. Last year, Martin Laird was 125th on the money list with $852,752. -- Ryan Smithson
GOOSEN PULLING AWAY? (12:19 p.m.): Retief Goosen has birdied three of his first six holes -- but not the par-5 second -- and now has a two-shot lead. Goosen started the tournament 16th in FedExCup points, but should he win and claim the 500 points this week, he could move up to as high as sixth.
Meanwhile, Anthony Kim is losing ground to Goosen, having bogeyed three of his first seven holes. He's now 13 under, five strokes behind Goosen.
SIMPSON MOVING UP (12:02 p.m.): Webb Simpson is currently climbing the leaderboard. The PGA TOUR rookie has moved up five spots from a tie for 13th at the start of the fourth round after playing his first eight holes in 2 under. He's five strokes behind leader Retief Goosen.
The former Wake Forest standout began his first year on TOUR with top-10s in his first two events. Simpson added a tie for 11th at the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by MasterCard but hasn't finished higher than 26th since, so a good finish in Canada could be a momentum-builder at the PGA TOUR Playoffs for the FedExCup loom. He's 74th in the standings right now.
To follow Simpson's round on ShotTracker, click here. -- Helen Ross
ANOTHER ACE (11:33 a.m.): Kevin Sutherland has just recorded the eighth hole-in-one this week by acing the 156-yard seventh hole. The eight aces are the most at one PGA TOUR event since the TOUR began keeping extensive records in 1971. It's also the 29th hole-in-one on TOUR this year.
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FIRST-TIMERS (11:26 a.m.): Five of the 13 players currently tied for 10th or better at Glen Abbey are looking for the first wins of their PGA TOUR careers. Those players are Jeff Quinney, Briny Baird, Jason Dufner, Nathan Green and Michael Letzig.
Green and Letzig both have runner-up finishes on their resume, as do Quinney and Baird while Dufner's best is a tie for fifth earlier this year. There have been four first-time winners in 2009 -- Pat Perez (The 50th Bob Hope Classic hosted by Arnold Palmer), Y.E. Yang (The Honda Classic), Paul Casey (Shell Houston Open) and Bo Van Pelt (U.S. Bank Championship in MIlwaukee). -- Helen Ross
AMES ON HOT STREAK (11:13 a.m.): Stephen Ames may have started the final round too far back from the leaders, but he's certainly making up ground fast. Ames has birdied his first four holes and is now 11 under for the tournament, four shots off the lead. He started the final round eight shots back.
If Ames could pull off the unlikely comeback, he would be the first Canadian since Pat Fletcher in 1954 to win the RBC Canadian Open. As it is, he's currently the low Canadian, one stroke ahead of Mike Weir. -- Mike McAllister
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DUFNER'S BIG OPPORTUNITY (11:08 a.m.): Jason Dufner, who matched his career-low with a 63 in the second round, cooled off considerably in the third. But he made a putt when it counted, though -- sinking an 11-footer for eagle at the 18th hole that left him tied for the lead at 15 under with Retief Goosen.
Dufner, a 32-year-old journeyman who has never finished higher than a tie for fifth on the PGA TOUR, shot a 70 in the third round. He had a quick turnaround, too, teeing off for what could be the biggest day of his career at 11 a.m.
Dufner has already earned $1 million this year -- nearly as much as in four previous seasons combined. He has four top-10 finishes including that tie for fifth at the Quail Hollow Championship.
Michael Letzig has also joined the group at 15 under with birdies on Nos. 2 and 3. Anthony Kim started the final round tied at the top of the leaderboard but he bogeyed his first hole. -- Helen Ross
QUINNEY GOES LOWEST (10:56 a.m.): With the third round now in the books, Jeff Quinney's 7-under 65 was the lowest posted in the round. Quinney's bogey-free round consisted of five birdies and an eagle.
Four other players posted bogey-free rounds in the third round -- Retief Goosen, Luke Donald, Darron Stiles and Jamie Lovemark, the former top-ranked amateur in the world who is making his pro debut this week.
Lovemark, in fact, has been quite impressive. After opening with a 2-over 74, he bounced back to shoot 66-69, with 10 birdies and just one bogey in the second and third rounds. He started the final round at 7 under, 8 shots off the lead. -- Mike McAllister
GOOSEN'S RARE PAR (10:33 a.m.): Retief Goosen won't go into the final round with the outright lead because he failed to birdie the par-5 18th in the third round.
So what's the big deal, you ask? Well, until that point, Goosen had birdied 10 of the first 11 par 5s that he had played this week. And the only one he didn't birdie ... was an eagle. Thus, he was 12 under on the par 5s going into the last hole of the third round.
The par he made at the 18th on Monday morning was his first par on a par 5 this week. That left him in a tie for the 54-hole lead with Anthony Kim and Jason Dufner at 15 under.
Below is Goosen's scores on the par 5s. For more information, check out his ShotTracker card. -- Mike McAllister
| Goosen on the par 5s | ||||||||||||||||||||
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WINDY PAR 5s (10:08 a.m.): Windy conditions at Glen Abbey will certainly be a big factor Monday, especially on the par 5s.
Bob Stevens of the PGA TOUR Network said that the 516-yard 16th and the 524-yard 18th are both "dead downwind" while the 527-yard second and the 558-yard 13th are "into the wind."
With those last two par 5s playing shorter because of the wind, and three par 5s in the last six holes, the opportunity to see some back-nine fireworks is a real possibility.
"I think you can stand on the 13th tee five shots behind and still win the tournament," Stevens said.
Larry Rinker, also covering the tournament for the PGA TOUR Network, noted that the only hole down the stretch that's difficult is the par-4 17th that's playing "right into the wind. You'd certainly be happy to walk off the green there with par."
Rinker considers 20 under to be a target score. Stevens said 18 or 19 under "might actually win it." -- Mike McAllister
KIM FINISHES WILD ROUND (9:58 a.m.): If Anthony Kim goes on to win the RBC Canadian Open on Monday afternoon he'll likely look to the roller-coaster third round as one of the keys.
First of all, Kim got himself squarely into the mix by playing the first seven holes in 5 under. That was the good news. Then he bogeyed the ninth and 10th and doubled No. 12 to nearly undo all his good work.
A pair of eagles at Nos. 13 and 15, though, coupled with birdies at No. 15 and 18 enabled Kim to finish with a hard-fought 66. He'll have a quick turnaround of about 20 minutes before teeing on in the fourth round, tied for the lead at 15 under with Retief Goosen.
Check out his scorecard below and click here for more details on ShotTracker. -- Helen Ross
NO RE-PAIRING FOR FINAL ROUND (9:45 a.m.): Just a reminder that as we get started in the final round, there will be no-repairing from the third round. That means the leaders may not necessarily be in the final groups. In addition, the pairings will be threesomes going off the first and 10th tees. For the final-round tee times, click here.
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