'Saye what? Delahoussaye leads at Canadian Open
Brent Delahoussaye is hardly a marquee name in golf, but the 29-year-old put in a starry performance in Toronto yesterday.
Delahoussaye broke the course record at St George's as he came home eight-under-par 62 at in the first round of the RBC Canadian Open.
The American is yet to win on the PGA Tour, and his best performance this year has been a tie for 53rd place at the Byron Nelson Championship back in May. But Delahoussaye was in inspired form on Thursday, the player racking up seven birdies and an eagle at the five-par 9th - his first hole - as well as one bogey on the 13th, to finish two strokes ahead of the pack.
Delahoussaye is not a big hitter, but with a focus on accuracy yesterday he found he didn't need to be, the Californian hitting 13 out of the 14 fairways with his tee shot. As well as breaking the course record of 64, set by George Knudson in 1968, Delahoussaye also equalled the best round ever shot at a Canadian Open with his 62.
The player, currently ranked 851st in the world, attributed his good round down to a more relaxed attitude to the game. "Today, I was like, you know what, 'I'm just going to go out there and play,” he said. “This course doesn't set up good for me, so I'm just going to go out there with a good attitude and not worry about it.' And look where I am now."
Tied for second place were Vance Veazey and Brock McKenzie, each man on six-under, while no fewer than nine players were tied for fourth place on five-under, among them Hunter Mahan and the sole non-American in the top 10, Sweden's Daniel Chopra. One of the bigger names in the field, South Africa's Tim Clark, was tied for 13th place on four-under, while countryman Retief Goosen was a stroke further back on three-under, tied for 24th along with highest placed Canadian Stephen Ames.
England's Paul Casey, who many expected to do well here, was two-under, having carded a double bogey on the 18th to drop several places down the leaderboard, while compatriot Luke Donald was one-under after carding three birdies and a pair of bogeys on the back nine.
Perhaps more surprising was Sean O'Hair's performance. The American finished tied for seventh place at the Open last weekend, and was one of the players fancied to do well here, but he could only finish on level par after beginning his round with a moral-sapping three bogeys in the first five holes. He managed to repair the damage with four birdies, only to bogey the 18th.
It seems strange to believe anyone could be hankering for St Andrews' blustery winds and driving rain, but perhaps the elements bring out the best in O'Hair. Whatever, at least the 28-year-old had a better round than Fred Couples.
Couples has brought real excitement to the Champions Tour this year, winning three of his first four starts on the veterans circuit.But the 50-year-old looked weary yesterday, shooting four bogeys and a birdie to go three-over; radical improvement will be required today if the former Masters winner is to avoid the cut today.
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