Calcavecchia & Glover share lead

Former British Open champion Mark Calcavecchia and unheralded Lucas Glover grabbed a share of the first round lead at the Canadian Open on Thursday while title holder Vijay Singh made an unsteady return from a back injury.

Calcavecchia, in his 20th season on the U.S. PGA Tour and Glover, in just his second, took advantage of ideal afternoon conditions at the Shaughnessy Golf Club to card matching five-under 65s.

Lurking one shot back of the two Americans is Sweden's Jesper Parnevik (66) with Brandt Jobe, Scott Dunlap, Ted Purdy and 2004 British Open champion Todd Hamilton all one-stroke further adrift at three-under 67.

Chasing his first win since 2001, Calcavecchia, the 1989 British Open winner, mixed six birdies with a single bogey to reach his 65 on the tree-lined layout.

Glover, who has six top 10s this season but has also missed the cut in 11 of 21 events, had a much more volatile day with eight birdies offset by a double-bogey and a bogey.

"You can't be disappointed with a 65 around here," said Glover. "This is a major type course you know everyone is going to have some foul ups."

Singh, returning to action after ruling himself out of last week's title defence at the Deutsche Bank Championship with a sore back, never found his rhythm, returning a three-over 73 to sit eight shots off the pace.

The world number two, a four-time winner this season, finished his round without a birdie.

The hardworking Fijian, however, refused to use his back problems as an excuse for his poor effort.

"The back is fine," said Singh. "I mean, it's not great, but it's not bad.

"It's no worse than it was during the PGA or during the NEC.

"It's a little stiff but I had some back spasms at home, it could have happened to me sleeping.

"It just happened at the wrong time and had an MRI done, there may be a slight herniated disk, but at my age, the guy says everybody has that.

"It was just a process of playing too many tournaments and doing too many exercises and doing some wrong kind of activities.

"But it's fine now. I took a week off and practiced for three days before coming here. Everything's fine and I am ready to play."

Local favourite Mike Weir, who lost the Canadian title last year to Singh in a playoff, got his round off to the worst possible start going five-over on a front nine that included five bogeys and a double bogey offset by a pair of birdies.

The 2003 Masters champion, however, staged a dramatic comeback on his closing nine with birdies on four of his final five holes to get to one-over 71.

"It's just resilience," said Weir. "I've done that since I played the Canadian Tour, since I played in Asia, since I played wherever.

"You've just got to battle back, you've got to get up in this game and shake the dust off and get back to work.

"Each shot is a new challenge and that's the way I try to look at it."

Email this page to a friend | Return to top of page