PGA Tour RBC Canadian Open leaderboard http://www.pgatour.com/tournaments/rbc-canadian-open/leaderboard.html
Monday's are always so anti climatic when you are at a course that has just hosted a championship, I know as I have played on them many times as that is when they hold the volunteer or media rounds.
The stands are empty and being dismantled, there is garbage blowing around, of course the players, and fans are all gone, the storylines have all been told, it's kind of haunting..
In the end the young Venezuelan Jhonattan Vegas emerged from the pack with 5 birdies on the front nine and three in a row to finish for a -8 64 -12 total to become this year's champion. He earned US$1,062,000 and a spot in the PGA Championship next week at Baltusrol in New Jersey and also received a two-year tour exemption and a spot in the Masters next year. Jon Rahm 67, Martin Laird 67 and Dustin Johnson 69 all finished T2 at -11.
However this year's winner was the kid, Jarad du Toit who didn't have his A game, battled to a 71 -9 total, good enough to T9, just 3 shots from history.
The weather change didn't help him. It dawned cloudy with a cooler easterly wind which made the Abbey more receptive, more gettable and early 63's by George Coetzee and Brian Harmon told us that all the guys in the pack around du Toit were going to be able to go flag hunting.
Also a note here that the pros don't play the early holes on the front nine in the same order we do. Our #1 is #10 for them. Our #4 is #1 for them and so on.
du Toit caught a bad break when his 3 wood at the first went into the fairway bunker. He saved par with a neat little chip, stiff. Then he caught his second bad break when his bombed drive on the par 5 2nd drew into the semi rough and he was partial blocked by an overhanging tree. He smacked a low draw down the fairway but it ran right up under the lip of a greenside bunker and he had to come out sideways, but again managed to 2 putt to save par when birdie was more likely.
So not the smoothest of starts and so he battled all day, out in 1 over, back in 2 under for his 71. What you might not know is he was suffering from bronchitis, and his coach Coach Derek Ingram had to take him to Oakville Trafalgar Memorial Hospital where he spent much of his Saturday evening getting only five hours of sleep.
He left the Abbey "on cloud nine" as he put it, full of confidence, better for the experience to return to Arizona State to complete his final year, where I'm sure the tournaments he plays in will come much easier after this week in Toronto.
It was awesome,” said du Toit . “I probably could have shot a hundred out here and they would have been behind my back all day. Honestly unbelievable"
The fans who packed the 18th green gave him, all decked out in his Team Canada red and black, a standing ovation when he birdied the last, and as he was given the Gary Cowan medal as the lowest scoring amateur player he got the loudest cheer of the ceremonies.
For the record Adam Hadwin (71) T49th at -1, amateur Garrett Rank (76) was in a group T77th +8 and Corey Conners (78) finished at +12, 80th.
Nobody knew the kid on Thursday, only 15 friends followed him, but that's not the case now, this championship will always be remembered as the one he didn't quite win, but still emerged as the winner !
Bryan Angus
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