Open leader was lucky to make it here
The role of Relative Unknown Who Jumps to an Early Lead at the Canadian Open and Causes Everyone to Look at Each Other and Shrug will be played this year by Emiliano Grillo.
Grillo, a 22- year- old from Argentina who plays primarily on the European Tour, fired a tidy 64 on Thursday to top the leaderboard at a warm, windy and fast Glen Abbey Golf Club.
Grillo’s score of 8- under was impressive enough on a day when hard fairways were a boon to straight drivers, but firm greens penalized those trying to hold them out of the rough. It was even more impressive considering that the Argentine didn’t even know he would play here until Sunday, and then had to sweettalk his way through the border due to his pointed lack of a work visa.
“I told them I don’t have a visa,” he said, a smile on his face. “I need a permit, so I’m here to ask you for permit.”
He also needed two birdies on his last three holes at the Barbasol Championship last week just to climb into the top 10 and earn an automatic invite to the RBC Canadian Open, then drove from Alabama to Atlanta, flew to Buffalo, and discovered he couldn’t get a the appropriate papers quickly enough.
“They told me I couldn’t get a visa in time, so I kind of had to go to the Canadian border and ask for permission to play in this tournament,” he said. “I got lucky enough to spend two hours in there and they told me, hey, you can go. Just pay the permit and go ahead.”
The administrative problems solved, it was just a matter of playing golf for Grillo, who sits 30th on the European money list and lost in a playoff in the PGA’s Puerto Rico Open in March.
“The more you think about being on the leaderboard, most likely you are going to make bogeys or are not even going to make a birdie,” Grillo said. “So I just kept doing my thing and hitting good shots and good putts.”
Grillo’s presence on the leaderboard was fairly typical of the opening day of the tournament, when many of the big names played well enough to lurk a few strokes back of the unfamiliar faces who went low. South African Tyrone Van Aswegen was at 6- under, tied with Australian amateur Ryan Ruffels, while American William McGirt, the curly- haired fellow with the nickname of “Dirt,” who has finished tied for second the last two times this tournament was in greater Toronto, was a shot back of them after an opening 67. None of them would count as hotly pursued autograph subjects among the gallery at Glen Abbey.
Meanwhile, Bubba Watson, the highest- ranked player in the field, showed why that is so with an opening 31 on his first nine holes, before giving a couple back to finish at 4- under.
“( I) didn’t kill myself and I’m right there,” said the big Floridian, who started his day on the easier back nine at the Abbey. “Just bad golf,” he said in explaining the trouble on his second nine, which included two threeputts.
None of the players thought the course would get any easier, which suggests none of the early leaders are likely to run away and hide. Dry conditions — unusual for this tournament in recent years — and sunny weather had things speeding up considerably by the afternoon. The fairways approximated airplane runways on some holes: Jhonattan Vegas mashed a drive on the 16th that rolled out to 372 yards, while players on the 6th hole were hitting 3- woods that were almost rolling into the pond, 330 yards from the tee.
“The golf course is getting firm,” Watson said. “It’s fast. There are a couple holes out there that the greens are ... I wouldn’t say they’re burned out, but they’re burned out.”
Two- time Canadian Open champion Jim Furyk was tied with Watson, along with countrymen Hunter Mahan and Stewart Cink. Robert Garrigus, who led in the final round at Hamilton Golf and Country Club in 2012 before dropping to a runner- up finish, was a shot ahead of them at 5- under.
Jason Day, who arrived at Glen Abbey after missing an 18th-hole putt at St. Andrews that would have put him in the Open Championship playoff won by Zach Johnson, holed out from the fairway on his 10th hole on the way to a 4- under 68, a shot better than fellow luminary Matt Kuchar. A host of others were scattered among them. Low Canadian honours on Thursday went to David Hearn and Adam Svensson, who each shot a 69.
But all of them, for now, are chasing the guy from a town called Resistencia who barely avoided a double bogey at the border.
“It was a crazy week,” said Grillo. Now this one is just getting started.