SCOREBOARDS FROM TWO TOURNAMENTS IN NORTH AMERICA
RBC CANADA OPEN SCOREBOARD
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NATIONWIDE TOUR SCOREBOARD
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LUMBERJACKS ARE OK IN CANADA OPEN!
FROM THE US PGA TOUR WEBSITE
VANCOUVER, British Columbia -- On a day when the course conditions favoured experienced players with major championship success, US PGA Tour rookie Michael Thompson had to learn how to fly.
The Hooters Tour just didn't prepare him for anything like this.
Facing rough so thick it forced Mike Weir to withdraw with an elbow injury, and the tightest course he's ever seen, Thompson followed up his even-par opening round with a 4-under 66 on Friday to move into a first-place tie with fellow American Chad Campbell after the second round of the Canadian Open.
"I played on the Hooters Tour last year, where there's no rough," Thompson said. "You just take your driver out and kill it."
That hasn't been the recipe for success this week, not with the long grass being compared the U.S. Open, fairways around 27 yards wide, and old growth forest lining every hole on the 7,010-yard Shaughnessy Golf and Country Club lay-out.
For Thompson, a 26-year-old from Alabama who could get from 110th to 33rd in the FedExCup standings with a win this week, the only comparison was the 2007 U.S. Amateur, where he made the finals before losing to Colt Knost, who was at even par Friday.
"What I've learned on a golf course like this is you pick your line and you get really focused in on your target," said Thompson, who has now made five straight cuts in his first US Tour season, and 10 of 17 overall.
Playing under mostly sunny skies in the afternoon, Thompson followed an early bogey with five birdies, including one on the tough 472-yard, par-4 18th.
"On top of that, just accepting where it goes," he said. "If it goes in the rough, you deal with it. There's no reason to freak out or panic."
It's a lesson many of the leaders this week had already learned.
Campbell, coming off a season-best tie for fifth at the British Open, shot 67 under cloudy skies in the morning. Playing partner Paul Goydos (69), and Lee Janzen (68), a two-time U.S. Open champion, also had shares of the lead before bogeys on their final hole dropped them to 3-under on another tough day.
"The toughness of the course I think is great, especially if you have good experience on it," said Janzen, whose last win was the 1998 U.S. Open. "We hate hitting out of high rough, but you've got to look at what the tournament is trying to accomplish. They want the Canadian Open to mean something and hopefully the leaderboard looks like the leaderboard they want."
It wasn't short on former major winners.
Current Masters champion Charl Schwartzel (67) and 2006 U.S. Open winner Geoff Ogilvy (68) were among seven players at 2-under, two strokes off the lead.
"Good players are playing well in this tournament," said Ogilvy, who wasn't a fan of the rough. "It's a quality looking leaderboard and at the end of the day that's all you can ask for. It doesn't really matter what people shoot."
Joining Ogilvy and Schwartzel at 2-under were Rickie Fowler (69), Jerry Kelly (67), first-round leader Kris Blanks (71), and Canadians David Hearn (68) and Adam Hadwin, a local playing on a sponsor's exemption who bogeyed No. 18 for a 66.
For the 23-year-old Hadwin, in his second year on the tier-3 Canadian Tour, the round was extra special because younger brother Kyle, who has had five major surgeries while battling Crohn's disease was able to leave a nearby hospital and walk the course. It was the first time since last year's Canadian Open, when Hadwin was the top Canadian, that Kyle was able to see his brother play in person.
Kyle wasn't able to travel when Adam qualified for this year's U.S. Open.
"He's a tough kid, he's been battling hard for a while," Hadwin said. "It's great that he's able to get out here and enjoy this with me."
Scott McCarron shot the lowest round of the tournament, a 65 that moved the veteran into a group of seven players at 1-under, and Tommy Gainey, who opened with a 77, matched it to move to 2-over and get below the 4-over cut line.
Despite a lack of overnight rain to soften the course like it saw early Thursday, scores were down by almost half a shot, but considering that first round was third-toughest on the US Tour this season at more than 3-over par, it was all relative.
Anthony Kim, coming off a tie for fifth at the British Open last week, was disqualified after signing for less than his 11-over 81.
"A.K. just got it going sideways a little bit and out here there's no faking it," said Fowler, who played with Kim and Lucas Glover, who is 1-under. "You've got to hit the ball in the fairway and stay out of trouble here."
The number of players under par was down -- from 21 after Day One to 18 going into the weekend -- and Campbell, Goydos, Fowler and Janzen were the only ones to stay under on both days as the thick rough claimed more than just scorecards.
Canadian favourite Weir, who won the 2003 Masters, withdrew after hitting out of the long rough and aggravating an elbow injury that cut short his 2010 season. Weir was 8-over after six holes when he pulled out.
"Very disappointing," he said. "This is our national championship. I want to play and have great fan support. But I'm just not going to re-injure it again. With this deep rough, I just can't hit it."
NOTES: Hadwin came the closest to the only bogey-free round of the tournament before his tee shot on 18 found the round and he took two shots to get out, making an 11-foot putt to save bogey. ... The scoring average Friday was 72.55 after being 73.02 on Thursday. ... Goydos, 47, would be the oldest winner in event history at almost two years older than Mark Calcavecchia, who won with a 5-under total the last time Shaughnessy hosted the event in 2005.
NATIONWIDE TOUR LEADER PETERSON HAS SIGHTS
SET ON PLAYING AT ROYAL ABERDEEN
By Joe Chemycz, Nationwide Tour staff
COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Here come the kids! Amateurs John Peterson of Louisiana State University and Harris English of Georgia University have been strutting their stuff through the first two rounds of the Nationwide Children's Hospital Invitational and find themselves holding down the top two spots on the leaderboard at this US Nationwide Tour event.
Peterson, winner of the 2011 NCAA Individual Championship, is at 11-under 131 after two trips around the Ohio State University Scarlet Course. English, winner of last week's prestigious Southern Amateur Championship in Palm Harbor, Florida, is at 10-under and one shot back.
This is the first time in 22-year history of the Nationwide Tour that amateurs have held the top two spots on the leaderboard after two rounds.
The two college rivals played a practice round early in the week and find themselves paired together for Saturday's third round, courtesy of their 1-2 standing.
"It was just the usual stuff, a lot of hunting and college football," English said of the early week topics. "It'll be fun. I saw him put up 11-under this morning. It was something to look at all day. We're good friends. We know each other's games pretty well."
Peterson, who shot a 7-under 64 to hold the first-round lead, carded a 4-under 67 early Friday and then headed to the pool to try and cool off in the sweltering heat. Temperatures were in the mid-90s and the heat index reached into triple digits.
English started late in the day and waited out a 100-minute rain delay before he birdied two of his final three holes for a second straight 5-under 66 and a 132 total.
"There's a lot of good amateurs here. It speaks highly of collegiate golf this day and age," said English, who will celebrate his 22nd birthday on Saturday. "There's just a lot of good players in college and amateur golf this year. It doesn't surprise me.
English was making a late run up the leaderboard and was at 8-under and facing a three-foot birdie putt on his 16th hole when a fast-moving storm rolled into central Ohio, forcing officials to halt play just as the clock struck 6 p.m.
"I didn't want to putt that," he admitted. "The storm was coming in, lightning was popping everywhere. I didn't want to go ahead and hit it quick. That storm was coming up fast and they were going to blow the horn any minute."
English waited and when he returned, rolled in the short birdie putt to grab solo second place. He added another 20-foot birdie putt at the par-4, 9th to cut Peterson's lead down to one.
Peterson stumbled out of the gate during the morning session with a double-bogey but rebounded quickly with back-to-back birdies and settle his nerves. He added four more birdies during the day and was up by three when he was done.
His 131 total bettered the tournament's 36-hole record by four strokes and he looked firmly in command of the event that invites a dozen top college players to tee it up with the Nationwide Tour pros. Daniel Summerhays was a senior-to-be at Brigham Young University when he won the inaugural event in 2007 to become the first amateur ever to win on the Nationwide Tour. Rickie Fowler had competed his sophomore year at Oklahoma State when he lost a playoff to Derek Lamely here in 2009.
"I'd love to turn pro and make some money this week. How much is first place, like 150-grand?" Peterson asked. "You know that'll be there in two months."
First prize is actually $144,000 but Peterson has his sights set on making the United States Walker Cup Team that will compete at Royal Aberdeen GC in mid-September.
"The chance to play for your country won't be around forever," he said. "The only thing that you can do other than that is the Ryder Cup and I'm waiting for that. I hope I make it."
San Diego's Brian Smock (68) and Cincinnati's Brett Wetterich (67) share third place at 8-under 134. Columbus native Kyle Reifers played his final eight holes in two-over par and ended the day with a 3-under 68 to reach 7-under 135. He is tied for fifth with Aaron Watkins (70) and Josh Broadaway (67).
Seven players are at 6-under 136, including Oklahoma State's Peter Uihlein, the reigning U.S. Amateur Champion.
Smock, 38, has made no secret of the fact that the suffocating heat and humidity are taking a toll.
"I can't think of any place in my golf career that has been hotter," he said after completing his morning round. "I think you can lose about 10 pounds on a day like this!"
Smock said that after his practice rounds early in the week he had a feeling he was in for a good week despite missing the cut at last week's Chiquita Classic.
"I shot even-par but I knew I was close," he said. "You have to be careful out here when you miss cuts and not get down on yourself and start changing things. You could be right there, make a wrong decision and head off in another direction where if you had just stayed on course you'd be fine."
Wetterich has been searching for the form that earned him a victory at the Chitimacha Louisiana Open in March but has since seen him fall to No. 13 on the money list with three consecutive missed cuts.
"I think I've missed every cut by a shot or so. It's a couple of bad shots some weeks and last week it was just bad putts," he said. "In putting I've always been like this. I'll go a month where I make everything I look at and they're for pars and then turn around and make everything for birdies. I'm just kind of sporadic like that."
Second-Round Notes:
• A fast-moving thunderstorm rolled through the Columbus area in the late afternoon. Heavy rain and lightning forced officials to suspend play at 6:00 p.m. with 21 players still on the course. Play resumed at 7:40 p.m.
• A total of 68 players (65 pros and 3 amateurs) made the 36-hole cut, which came at even-par 142.
• Jeff Curl withdrew during the second round due an ankle injury.
• John Riegger withdrew during the second round due to heat-related problems.
• John Peterson of LSU broke the tournament's 36-hole scoring record by four shots. The old mark of 7-under 135 was held jointly by Joe Daley, Rickie Fowler and Dave Schultz, who were tied for the second-round lead in 2009.
• Matt Hendrix closed with six birdies on his final seven holes for a 3-under 69. Hendrix birdied his final four holes and is now at 6-under and T8.
• John Peterson's 131 score is also the best single 36-hole score in tournament history. Josh Broadaway posted a 133 total (66-67) in the second and third rounds in 2008 and Derek Lamely matched that 133 (68-65) during the third and fourth rounds in 2009.
• John Peterson is T1 in greens in regulation (29 of 36).
• Harris English is 1st in putting (49 putts over 36 holes).
CLICK HERE
NATIONWIDE TOUR SCOREBOARD
CLICK HERE
LUMBERJACKS ARE OK IN CANADA OPEN!
FROM THE US PGA TOUR WEBSITE
VANCOUVER, British Columbia -- On a day when the course conditions favoured experienced players with major championship success, US PGA Tour rookie Michael Thompson had to learn how to fly.
The Hooters Tour just didn't prepare him for anything like this.
Facing rough so thick it forced Mike Weir to withdraw with an elbow injury, and the tightest course he's ever seen, Thompson followed up his even-par opening round with a 4-under 66 on Friday to move into a first-place tie with fellow American Chad Campbell after the second round of the Canadian Open.
"I played on the Hooters Tour last year, where there's no rough," Thompson said. "You just take your driver out and kill it."
That hasn't been the recipe for success this week, not with the long grass being compared the U.S. Open, fairways around 27 yards wide, and old growth forest lining every hole on the 7,010-yard Shaughnessy Golf and Country Club lay-out.
For Thompson, a 26-year-old from Alabama who could get from 110th to 33rd in the FedExCup standings with a win this week, the only comparison was the 2007 U.S. Amateur, where he made the finals before losing to Colt Knost, who was at even par Friday.
"What I've learned on a golf course like this is you pick your line and you get really focused in on your target," said Thompson, who has now made five straight cuts in his first US Tour season, and 10 of 17 overall.
Playing under mostly sunny skies in the afternoon, Thompson followed an early bogey with five birdies, including one on the tough 472-yard, par-4 18th.
"On top of that, just accepting where it goes," he said. "If it goes in the rough, you deal with it. There's no reason to freak out or panic."
It's a lesson many of the leaders this week had already learned.
Campbell, coming off a season-best tie for fifth at the British Open, shot 67 under cloudy skies in the morning. Playing partner Paul Goydos (69), and Lee Janzen (68), a two-time U.S. Open champion, also had shares of the lead before bogeys on their final hole dropped them to 3-under on another tough day.
"The toughness of the course I think is great, especially if you have good experience on it," said Janzen, whose last win was the 1998 U.S. Open. "We hate hitting out of high rough, but you've got to look at what the tournament is trying to accomplish. They want the Canadian Open to mean something and hopefully the leaderboard looks like the leaderboard they want."
It wasn't short on former major winners.
Current Masters champion Charl Schwartzel (67) and 2006 U.S. Open winner Geoff Ogilvy (68) were among seven players at 2-under, two strokes off the lead.
"Good players are playing well in this tournament," said Ogilvy, who wasn't a fan of the rough. "It's a quality looking leaderboard and at the end of the day that's all you can ask for. It doesn't really matter what people shoot."
Joining Ogilvy and Schwartzel at 2-under were Rickie Fowler (69), Jerry Kelly (67), first-round leader Kris Blanks (71), and Canadians David Hearn (68) and Adam Hadwin, a local playing on a sponsor's exemption who bogeyed No. 18 for a 66.
For the 23-year-old Hadwin, in his second year on the tier-3 Canadian Tour, the round was extra special because younger brother Kyle, who has had five major surgeries while battling Crohn's disease was able to leave a nearby hospital and walk the course. It was the first time since last year's Canadian Open, when Hadwin was the top Canadian, that Kyle was able to see his brother play in person.
Kyle wasn't able to travel when Adam qualified for this year's U.S. Open.
"He's a tough kid, he's been battling hard for a while," Hadwin said. "It's great that he's able to get out here and enjoy this with me."
Scott McCarron shot the lowest round of the tournament, a 65 that moved the veteran into a group of seven players at 1-under, and Tommy Gainey, who opened with a 77, matched it to move to 2-over and get below the 4-over cut line.
Despite a lack of overnight rain to soften the course like it saw early Thursday, scores were down by almost half a shot, but considering that first round was third-toughest on the US Tour this season at more than 3-over par, it was all relative.
Anthony Kim, coming off a tie for fifth at the British Open last week, was disqualified after signing for less than his 11-over 81.
"A.K. just got it going sideways a little bit and out here there's no faking it," said Fowler, who played with Kim and Lucas Glover, who is 1-under. "You've got to hit the ball in the fairway and stay out of trouble here."
The number of players under par was down -- from 21 after Day One to 18 going into the weekend -- and Campbell, Goydos, Fowler and Janzen were the only ones to stay under on both days as the thick rough claimed more than just scorecards.
Canadian favourite Weir, who won the 2003 Masters, withdrew after hitting out of the long rough and aggravating an elbow injury that cut short his 2010 season. Weir was 8-over after six holes when he pulled out.
"Very disappointing," he said. "This is our national championship. I want to play and have great fan support. But I'm just not going to re-injure it again. With this deep rough, I just can't hit it."
NOTES: Hadwin came the closest to the only bogey-free round of the tournament before his tee shot on 18 found the round and he took two shots to get out, making an 11-foot putt to save bogey. ... The scoring average Friday was 72.55 after being 73.02 on Thursday. ... Goydos, 47, would be the oldest winner in event history at almost two years older than Mark Calcavecchia, who won with a 5-under total the last time Shaughnessy hosted the event in 2005.
NATIONWIDE TOUR LEADER PETERSON HAS SIGHTS
SET ON PLAYING AT ROYAL ABERDEEN
By Joe Chemycz, Nationwide Tour staff
COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Here come the kids! Amateurs John Peterson of Louisiana State University and Harris English of Georgia University have been strutting their stuff through the first two rounds of the Nationwide Children's Hospital Invitational and find themselves holding down the top two spots on the leaderboard at this US Nationwide Tour event.
Peterson, winner of the 2011 NCAA Individual Championship, is at 11-under 131 after two trips around the Ohio State University Scarlet Course. English, winner of last week's prestigious Southern Amateur Championship in Palm Harbor, Florida, is at 10-under and one shot back.
This is the first time in 22-year history of the Nationwide Tour that amateurs have held the top two spots on the leaderboard after two rounds.
The two college rivals played a practice round early in the week and find themselves paired together for Saturday's third round, courtesy of their 1-2 standing.
"It was just the usual stuff, a lot of hunting and college football," English said of the early week topics. "It'll be fun. I saw him put up 11-under this morning. It was something to look at all day. We're good friends. We know each other's games pretty well."
Peterson, who shot a 7-under 64 to hold the first-round lead, carded a 4-under 67 early Friday and then headed to the pool to try and cool off in the sweltering heat. Temperatures were in the mid-90s and the heat index reached into triple digits.
English started late in the day and waited out a 100-minute rain delay before he birdied two of his final three holes for a second straight 5-under 66 and a 132 total.
"There's a lot of good amateurs here. It speaks highly of collegiate golf this day and age," said English, who will celebrate his 22nd birthday on Saturday. "There's just a lot of good players in college and amateur golf this year. It doesn't surprise me.
English was making a late run up the leaderboard and was at 8-under and facing a three-foot birdie putt on his 16th hole when a fast-moving storm rolled into central Ohio, forcing officials to halt play just as the clock struck 6 p.m.
"I didn't want to putt that," he admitted. "The storm was coming in, lightning was popping everywhere. I didn't want to go ahead and hit it quick. That storm was coming up fast and they were going to blow the horn any minute."
English waited and when he returned, rolled in the short birdie putt to grab solo second place. He added another 20-foot birdie putt at the par-4, 9th to cut Peterson's lead down to one.
Peterson stumbled out of the gate during the morning session with a double-bogey but rebounded quickly with back-to-back birdies and settle his nerves. He added four more birdies during the day and was up by three when he was done.
His 131 total bettered the tournament's 36-hole record by four strokes and he looked firmly in command of the event that invites a dozen top college players to tee it up with the Nationwide Tour pros. Daniel Summerhays was a senior-to-be at Brigham Young University when he won the inaugural event in 2007 to become the first amateur ever to win on the Nationwide Tour. Rickie Fowler had competed his sophomore year at Oklahoma State when he lost a playoff to Derek Lamely here in 2009.
"I'd love to turn pro and make some money this week. How much is first place, like 150-grand?" Peterson asked. "You know that'll be there in two months."
First prize is actually $144,000 but Peterson has his sights set on making the United States Walker Cup Team that will compete at Royal Aberdeen GC in mid-September.
"The chance to play for your country won't be around forever," he said. "The only thing that you can do other than that is the Ryder Cup and I'm waiting for that. I hope I make it."
San Diego's Brian Smock (68) and Cincinnati's Brett Wetterich (67) share third place at 8-under 134. Columbus native Kyle Reifers played his final eight holes in two-over par and ended the day with a 3-under 68 to reach 7-under 135. He is tied for fifth with Aaron Watkins (70) and Josh Broadaway (67).
Seven players are at 6-under 136, including Oklahoma State's Peter Uihlein, the reigning U.S. Amateur Champion.
Smock, 38, has made no secret of the fact that the suffocating heat and humidity are taking a toll.
"I can't think of any place in my golf career that has been hotter," he said after completing his morning round. "I think you can lose about 10 pounds on a day like this!"
Smock said that after his practice rounds early in the week he had a feeling he was in for a good week despite missing the cut at last week's Chiquita Classic.
"I shot even-par but I knew I was close," he said. "You have to be careful out here when you miss cuts and not get down on yourself and start changing things. You could be right there, make a wrong decision and head off in another direction where if you had just stayed on course you'd be fine."
Wetterich has been searching for the form that earned him a victory at the Chitimacha Louisiana Open in March but has since seen him fall to No. 13 on the money list with three consecutive missed cuts.
"I think I've missed every cut by a shot or so. It's a couple of bad shots some weeks and last week it was just bad putts," he said. "In putting I've always been like this. I'll go a month where I make everything I look at and they're for pars and then turn around and make everything for birdies. I'm just kind of sporadic like that."
Second-Round Notes:
• A fast-moving thunderstorm rolled through the Columbus area in the late afternoon. Heavy rain and lightning forced officials to suspend play at 6:00 p.m. with 21 players still on the course. Play resumed at 7:40 p.m.
• A total of 68 players (65 pros and 3 amateurs) made the 36-hole cut, which came at even-par 142.
• Jeff Curl withdrew during the second round due an ankle injury.
• John Riegger withdrew during the second round due to heat-related problems.
• John Peterson of LSU broke the tournament's 36-hole scoring record by four shots. The old mark of 7-under 135 was held jointly by Joe Daley, Rickie Fowler and Dave Schultz, who were tied for the second-round lead in 2009.
• Matt Hendrix closed with six birdies on his final seven holes for a 3-under 69. Hendrix birdied his final four holes and is now at 6-under and T8.
• John Peterson's 131 score is also the best single 36-hole score in tournament history. Josh Broadaway posted a 133 total (66-67) in the second and third rounds in 2008 and Derek Lamely matched that 133 (68-65) during the third and fourth rounds in 2009.
• John Peterson is T1 in greens in regulation (29 of 36).
• Harris English is 1st in putting (49 putts over 36 holes).
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See story on its own page | Friday, July 22, 2011
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