First-round notebook – RBC Canadian Open
* Two-time PGA TOUR winner in 2008, Anthony Kim, fired a six-under 65 in round-one of the RBC Canadian Open lead with seven birdies and one bogey.* Anthony Kim won his first PGA TOUR event at the Wachovia Championship in convincing style by five-shots earlier this year. His second win came earlier this month at the AT&T National when he came from three-strokes behind in the final round to win by two.
* Anthony Kim, who was the youngest rookie on the PGA TOUR in 2007, is playing in his first RBC Canadian Open.
* Should the six-under lead hold up, it would mark the second time Anthony Kim has held a share of the 18-hole lead. In the 2007 Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial, an opening-round seven-under-par 63 gave him a share of the lead with Kevin Na. He ultimately finished T18 in Ft. Worth.
* Due to the amount of rain that fell on Glen Abbey earlier in the week, the first-round of the RBC Canadian Open was played with preferred lies. The last time a round was played on the PGA TOUR with the preferred lies option was in round-three of the 2008 John Deere Classic.
* Play was suspended at 12:51 p.m. due to a dangerous situation and resumed at 6:33 p.m. totaling for a 5-hour 42-minute delay. At the time of the delay, 31 players completed their round, 61 players had begun their rounds and 63 players had not started their rounds.
* Playing in his 18th RBC Canadian Open dating back to 1989, Mike Weir opened with a bogey-free, six-under-par 65, his best RBC Canadian Open first-round score. Weir has never been a leader/co-leader at the RBC Canadian after the first-round. The only time he has held an over-night lead at the RBC Canadian Open was after round-three in 2004, when he held a three-stroke lead over Cliff Kresge, Vijay Singh and Jesper Parnevik.
* Should six-under-par hold up as the lead, it would be the fourth time Mike Weir has held at least a share of the first-round lead. Here are the others:
Tournament 1st round position After final round
2006 Buick Open 1-shot lead T-20
2002 Mercedes-Benz Champ. 3-shot lead T-14
2001 Genuity Championship 2-shot lead 2
* Coming into the RBC Canadian Open, Mike Weir was ranked 101st in Driving Accuracy, with an average of 62.82%. However, that average improved after round-one when he hit 11 of 14 fairways, an average of 78.6%. His Greens in Regulation average also improved in round-one. With an average of 72.2% for hitting 13 of 18 greens, he bettered on his year-to-date average of 63.33% which has him ranked 95th.
* The last time the RBC Canadian Open was contested at Glen Abbey (2004), Mike Weir shot 68-65-70-72 to lead the Canadian contingent with a second-place finish to Vijay Singh. Previous to 2004, the RBC Canadian Open was contested at Glen Abbey in 2000, where rounds of 74-69-73-74 earned him a 70th place finish.
* Two weeks after T4 honors at the John Deere Classic, Eric Axley fired an opening-round six-under 65 to take a share of the lead with Anthony Kim and Mike Weir.
* Axley, who won the 2006 Valero Texas Open, held a three-way share of the 18-hole lead earlier this year at the EDS Byron Nelson Championship, the only other time in his PGA TOUR career where he has held at least a share of the lead after round-one.
* Florida native Nicholas Thompson got off to the hottest start of the day by holing his second-shot from 162-yards on the par-four first with a 9-iron. Thompson finished with a four-under 67.
* On the next hole, the par-four second, Webb Simpson holed an 8-iron from 153-yards.
* On the par-four fourth hole, Richard Johnson, not to be confused with Richard S. Johnson, who won last week’s U.S. Bank Championship in Milwaukee also carded a front-side eagle two with a pitching wedge. Johnson finished with a four-under 67.
* Here is a history of previous weather delays at the RBC Canadian Open:
1983 - Friday suspended
1985 - Saturday ""
1986- Sunday ""
1987- Friday ""
1989 - Thurs ""
1990 - Friday ""
1993 - Friday ""
1996 - Saturday "" (and shortened to 54 holes)
1999 -Thursday ""
2000 - Fog delay on Sunday
2001 - Friday
2004 - Thursday
2006 - Saturday
* When play for the day ended at 8:49 p.m. because of darkness, 78 players had not completed round-one. Play will resume Friday morning at 8:00am with approximate start times for round-two being between 10:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. and 3:45 p.m. – 5:45 p.m.
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