Johnson, the U.S. Open and WGC-Bridgestone Invitational victor, is looking for his third win in his last four starts.
Advertisement
U.S. Open champion Dustin Johnson sleep-walked through his first four holes before snapping to attention to fashion a one-under-par 71 and remain tied for the lead after the second round at the RBC Canadian Open on Friday.
Dustin Johnson is tied for the lead with Luke List at the RBC Canadian Open after the first round.
That bogey at the penultimate hole opened the door for List, who birdied his final shot, having gained a stroke at the 16th, following a hard spell which saw him bogey the 11th, 13th and 14th. In all, the winds led to massive drives-defending Canadian Open champion Jason Day drove a ball into the pond on the 18 hole, 404 yards off the tee-but also shots that rolled to places rarely seen on the course. He closed with two pars to sign for a 3-under 69. If I can play them four under every day all week, that would be great.
“It’s a little tough with how dry everything is, it’s nearly better to get up there around the greens with a wedge in your hand”, Day said.
Noah Goodwin outlasted John Pak with a conceded eagle on the 20th hole Friday to advance to the U.S. Junior Amateur championship match. Just got off to a bad start. He saved par from a greenside bunker at the ninth, capping with an 11’3″ par putt. du Toit found half (of 14) fairways and hit 10 greens in regulation, posting 1.500 putts per GIR and 3.770 in SG: “Putting. Hopefully I can stop it with a wedge in my hand. Probably one of the most fun people I’ve ever met. “I didn’t hit a ton of greens today but I kind of missed in the right spots”.
“I really don’t know what happened the first four holes”.
After his round, Chalmers spoke about the ride he has been on since winning his first Tour event and the importance of not letting slip the opportunities now presented to him.
“The dust will settle on all these things”.
“Real happy the way I finished up”, said List, winless on the PGA Tour.
List birdied all four par-5s.
The world number two recovered from a double bogey at the 14th to roll in a 12-foot eagle putt at sun-baked Glen Abbey Golf Club outside Toronto.
Johnson got off to a wonky start – he joked afterwards that he might have still been asleep thanks to an 8:10 am start time – and dropped four shots in a three-hole stretch.
“And like I say, most of the guys will tell you they’re pretty good until they hit somebody”.
While he thought his game was on, Johnson acknowledged that the windy weather and firm course made for a challenging day.
Advertisement
With his confidence high in the wake of his first major triumph at the US Open, Johnson said he didn’t panic. He threatened to top List, getting to 5-under with five holes to play, but gave back two shots on the 14th before closing with an eagle on the 18th to get to 6-under. Im definitely driving the ball nicely. I’ve got a lot of confidence in the driver. “I’ve had a really good frame of mind the last couple days”. “I don’t think there is anyone on the (Arizona State) team who doesn’t like Jared”. “With my length, I just try to get it in play off the tee and have a scoring iron into the par-fives”. “So when conditions are like that, it makes it a lot tougher”.
