OAKVILLE, Ontario — Mark Calcavecchia birdied nine straight holes Saturday in the Canadian Open to break the PGA Tour record.
In perfect scoring conditions at rain-softened Glen Abbey, Calcavecchia opened the delayed second round with two pars, then reeled off the nine straight birdies. His nine birdie putts were from 15 feet or closer.
With 15-year-old son Eric working as his caddie, Calcavecchia shot a 7-under-par 65 to finish two rounds at 8-under. He was five strokes behind leader Jason Dufner entering the third round, postponed until today after heavy afternoon rain.
In an attempt to get 36 holes in today, the tour cut to the low 60 and ties instead of the usual low 70 and ties, leaving 64 players in the tournament. The players will go off in threesomes and won’t be regrouped for the fourth round.
“It’s just fly it right to the stick,” Calcavecchia said. “You give the guys out here no wind and greens that are plugging, you’re going to see a lot of low scores. It wouldn’t surprise me if some guy whips out 10 birdies in a row sometime this weekend. These guys are good.”
At 13-under, Dufner had a one-stroke lead over Jerry Kelly (67) and 2001 winner Scott Verplank (67). Nathan Green (65), Peter Tomasulo (68), former Colorado State standout Martin Laird (69), Pat Perez (67), Bob Estes (67), Retief Goosen (69), Camilo Villegas (71) and Kevin Na (71) were 10-under.
Norman leads by one
SUNNINGDALE, England — Greg Norman shot a bogey-free 6-under 64 to grab the lead by a stroke heading into the last round of the Senior British Open. Norman was at 10-under 200, a stroke ahead of Fred Funk (72) and Loren Roberts (67).
Tom Watson’s hopes of improving on his runner-up spot in the British Open last week took a hit after a 70 that left him six shots behind Norman.
Footnotes.
Becky Brewerton of Wales shot a 3-under 69 to grab a share of the Evian Masters lead in Evian-Les-Bains, France, for the third consecutive round. Brewerton heads into today’s final round tied with Sophie Gustafson (67) of Sweden and In-Kyung Kim (68) of South Korea at 12-under 204.
• Kimberly Kim, an incoming freshman at the University of Denver from Hilo, Hawaii, lost to Amy Anderson of Oxbow, N.D., 6 and 5 in the 36-hole final of the U.S. Junior Amateur Championships in Bedminster, N.J.
Jordan Spieth of Dallas defeated Jay Hwang of San Diego 4 and 3 for the boys title.
The Associated Press
