n birdied eight
of the last 12 holes today for a 6-under 66 that put him in a tie with Trevor
Dodds after the first round of the Canadian Open.
Janzen, who failed to give Ben Crenshaw a good reason to pick him for the Ryder
Cup team, is trying to play his way into The Tour Championship with hopes of salvaging
a frustrating year.
"It's
toward the end of the year, and I really need to play well," he said. "It was
good to get off to a good start."
Dodds, a 40-year-old from Namibia who once played the Canadian Tour, felt at home
today, especially with an eagle on the par-5 18th by hitting a 4-iron from 212
yards into about 12 feet.
"I
like it here," he said. "It's my home away from home away from home. I think you
develop some kind of expectation of playing well, and good things happen."
The group at 67 included
Steve Stricker and two-time Canadian Open champion Steve Jones. Ryder Cup players
Jesper Parnevik and Jim Furyk were among those at 68.
Mike Weir, who last week became the first Canadian in 45 years to win a PGA Tour
event on home soil, took double bogey on the 11th and wound up with a 73. He has
never made the cut in seven previous starts in his national open.
The start of the 90th Canadian Open was delayed by 90 minutes because of rain,
and while the scores were indicative of the soft, soggy conditions, it still required
some shotmaking to get the birdies.
Janzen reached the 436-yard 17th hole with a driving iron, which he uses in place
of a 2-iron. Parnevik knew it was going to be a long day on his first hole, the
443-yard 10th. He usually hits driver and a 9-iron into the green. Today, he reached
for the 4-iron.
"So,
it played a lot longer," Parnevik said.
Play was suspended at 7:49 p.m. with 21 players still on the course. They will
finish the first round Friday morning.
For the first six holes, it looked as though it might be another long day for
Janzen. He was sloshing through the motions, making a rain-induced bogey on No.
12 and a three-putt bogey on the 15th to go to 2-over.
"I've
had enough rounds this year that weren't up to my expectations," Janzen said.
"Going up to 16, I thought it was time I just started trying to hit good shots
and start aiming at the pin, at least acting like I'm trying to make birdies.
And I started making birdies."
The two-time U.S. Open champion is at his best when the conditions are at their
toughest, but he showed he can thrive in a shootout, too.
He two-putted for birdie on the par-5 16th and 18th hole. The rest of the round
looked easy -- a chip-in for birdie with a 7-iron from just off the fringe at
No. 2, three 10-foot birdie putts and a 66 wrapped up nice and tidy with a 6-iron
into 20 feet on his final hole, No. 9.
Of course, starting strong hasn't been a problem for Janzen.
He has given himself numerous chances to win this year, but has had an unusually
tough time closing the deal. Janzen was tied for the lead on Sunday at The Masters
before a 40 on the back nine took him out of contention. He was 10-under -- the
winning score -- at Hilton Head until he stumbled home, and suffered a similar
fate in the Buick Classic at Westchester.
"If
you can get that far in a tournament, you should be playing pretty well," Janzen
said. "There is no reason why your game should just fall off. I guess I have to
just drive that much harder."
This would be a good time to start.
The new world of golf can require a math degree, and Janzen has a difficult equation
in front of him.
At No. 51 on the money list, he needs to play tournaments to win money to get
into the top 30 and qualify for the $5 million Tour Championship in Houston. But
he is No. 36 in the Official World Golf Ranking and about to lose points from
his top-10 finishes two years ago. So, sitting out might protect his ranking and
enable him to get to Spain for the $5 million World Golf Championship event in
November.
"I'm in
a catch-22," Janzen said. "But it's double motivation, just one more thing to
make me want to play well enough to get in."
Of course, there is one simple solution.
"Winning,"
Janzen said. "Certainly, that takes care of a lot of the chunk I have to make."
DIVOTS: Nick Faldo
is playing the Canadian Open for the first time in 10 years. Why? Having spent
most of the summer in Europe trying to make the Ryder Cup team, he has played
only 10 times on the PGA Tour. Faldo needs 15 to keep his membership. The Canadian
is the first of five straight he plans to play. "This is the busiest year I've
ever had," he said. He had a 73 today. ... Dave Stockton Jr., who had a 67, is
no stranger to the Abbey. As a teen-ager in the mid-1980s, he used to caddie for
his father. "He never let me step off the yardage," Stockton said. ... How big
is Mike Weir in his native Canada? The gallery was three-deep around the first
tee. Mark Calcavecchia looked around and said, "Who's this? Tiger Weir?"
