Waite takes opening two shot lead

No Tiger Woods. No traffic jams. For at least one day in the Canadian Open, Grant Waite finally had no worries.

After two years of bad luck and bad timing in golf's third-oldest national championship, Waite made five birdie putts inside 15 feet on the back nine of Angus Glen for an 8-under 64 to build a two-stroke lead Thursday.

"It would be nice to win in Canada because I've played well at times," said Waite, a 38-year-old from New Zealand who hasn't won in nine years.

Canada owes him one.

Two years ago, his 21-under 267 would have been good enough to win any of the 22 Canadian Opens held at Glen Abbey - except that Woods was one stroke better, thanks to that outrageous 6-iron out of a fairway bunker and over the water for a birdie on the 18th.

It got even worse last year at Royal Montreal.

Waite missed his wake-up call and set his alarm for 6 p.m. - not 6 a.m. Then he got stuck in traffic and missed his tee time in the opening round by six minutes, which was one minute too late to avoid disqualification.

"A comedy of errors," Waite called it.

Thursday was anything but that. Waite missed only three greens, took just 27 putts and got into trouble only once for a 64 that allowed him to surge past a pack of players at 66 that included '98 champion Billy Andrade.

Angus Glen wasn't as easy as predicted, not with blustery, dry conditions in the afternoon. Waite only made it look that way.

"If you're playing good, it doesn't matter where you play," he said. "You stand on the tee, see the shot, hit it. You feel it. It's like magic."

The course was so soft earlier in the week that players predicted low scores. Richard Zokol of Canada said it was the easiest track on the PGA Tour, and suggested someone might break 60.

That wasn't the case by the time the tournament started. The "splat" of balls hitting spongy greens turned into "thuds" as they became firm, even in the morning. Pins were tucked just over knobs on the putting surface.

"The pin placements ... they must have heard us, because it wasn't so easy," Vijay Singh said after a 67.

Andrade, who won at Glen Abbey in a strange finish - he purposely chipped into a bunker to avoid the water and beat Bob Friend in a playoff - also played mistake-free for a 66.

Andrade was on the verge of returning to Q-school two years ago when he won the Las Vegas Invitational. This time, his motivation is top 30 on the money list - he's at No. 63 - to get into the Tour Championship at East Lake in Atlanta, where he's a member.

"You've got to set some sort of goals for yourself," Andrade said. "I'm really good mentally when I have something I need to attain. A couple of years ago, it was my job."

Per-Ulrik Johansson, Neal Lancaster and Greg Chalmers were also at 66.

Mike Weir had a 69, only it felt much lower. Canada's best player has never come close to winning his national open. In fact, he missed the cut his first nine tries.

Thursday didn't hold much promise when Weir caught a plugged lie under the lip of the bunker on the par-5 14th, barely got it out and wound up making bogey. But he held it together, then strung together four straight birdies on the front nine.

"My history is not good here," he said. "To get off to a good start is a boost."

Waite is not about to get overly excited about one round, especially considering he opened with a 64 in the PGA Championship last year in Atlanta, and finished in a tie for 59th.

"All you're doing in the first round is giving yourself a good start," he said. "If I get into another good rhythm tomorrow, I'll have a chance to be there on the weekend."

He's been there a lot in Canada.

Waite finished second in Vancouver two years ago and thought he had a good chance at the Canadian Open a week later until Woods hit "the shot of the year to beat me."

He played in the final group at Vancouver last year, and came to Royal Montreal with good vibes and bad luck - the alarm clock fiasco, followed by traffic problems created by Woods' early tee time that day.

Waite tees off at 8:42 a.m. Friday. And Woods isn't around, having decided to skip the Canadian Open this year.

"I've got three alarm clocks," Waite said. "I'm not the smartest guy in the world, but I think I can get one of them to work." barely cleared a hazard. "I don't know how I did it," he said. ... Lancaster gets an early tee time Friday when conditions should be calm. He's not excited about that. "Seven-thirty in the morning is no time to play golf," he said. "The only time you play golf then is because you can't get a tee time, or you have a wife you have to get away from." ... Singh is playing his sixth straight PGA Tour event. He'll play almost exclusively in Europe the rest of the year, except for the Tour Championship in Atlanta.

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