CANADIAN UPSTART ON A ROLL
Du Toit sits 2nd at Canadian Open
Oh, what might have been.
But, more importantly, which might still be.
With Spaniard Jon Rahm in and cooled with a second-round 67 and his college teammate, Canadian amateur sensation Jared du Toit, lurking near the top of the RBC Canadian Open leaderboard, it looked like the two friends would, unbelievably, get to play the third round together.
Rahm held up his end of the bargain, hanging around the topfive with a 6-under total. Du Toit, who appeared to have crashed and burned with a triple-bogey on the par-5 second hole, came within an eyelash of making it happen.
But better yet, du Toit, who hails from Calgary, can still win this thing.
Showing guts and the ability to come back well beyond his years, du Toit overcame the near disaster to finish one stroke better than where he started the day and remain in the hunt for the championship.
A 1-under 71 left him in a threeway tie for second and only a PGA ruling prevented him from starting Saturday’s round with his college buddy. He was that close.
“(This) feels pretty good,” du Toit said. “I mean, I’m a little surprised. I knew I could play well but, yeah, on this stage with the best guys in the world, it definitely feels pretty good. Everything from now (on) is just cream on top. I’ve had a lot of fun so far these last few days.”
Instead of the old Arizona State pairing, Rahm will play with Kelly Kraft and du Toit will pair up with American Ricky Barnes.
But that didn’t stop Rahm pon- dering what it would have been like to play with du Toit on the big stage.
“That would be extremely weird, I don’t know,” Rahm said after carding a 1-under 71 to keep him near the top of the leaderboard Friday at Glen Abbey. “I feel like it would be kind of hard to get serious at some point. Actually, it would be great. To be able to tee it up with a friend in a PGA Tour event would be more than an honour.
“It would be extremely fun for both of us.”
Alas, a stumble on the par-5 second hole, left du Toit scrambling to avoid a big number, never mind positioning himself to play with Rahm. A triple-bogey 8 effectively put the kibosh on those plans.
It’s not like it’s been years since Rahm and du Toit played together. Sheesh, it’s only been a few months since they played together at Arizona State, the alma mater of Phil Mickelson.
But the two 21-year-olds are obviously tight, having been road roomies with the Sun Devils. As Rahm said, getting the chance to play with du Toit at an event like the Canadian Open would have been, well, pretty cool.
“We became really good friends,” said Rahm, a former world No. 1 amateur who turned pro less than a month ago at the Quicken Loans National. “I don’t think there is anyone on the (Arizona State) team who doesn’t like Jared. He’s just a genuine guy. Probably one of the most fun people I’ve ever met. We became really good friends.”
While Rahm and Calgary-born and B.C.-raised du Toit were doing what they could to arrange weekend tee times, Americans Dustin Johnson and Luke List got the job done and took a share of first place at 7-under.
American Kelly Kraft had a bogey on the final hole to fall into a tie with Rahm and du Toit a stroke back while Ricky Barnes (68), Ben Crane (70), Tyler Aldridge (70), Brendon de Jonge (71) are all in a group at 5-under.
Three other Canadians made the cut including Adam Hadwin of Abbotsford, B.C. (T21 at 142), amateur Garrett Rank of Elmira, Ont. (T36 at 144) and Corey Conners of Listowel, Ont. (T61 at 146). Notable Canadians to miss the cut were Nick Taylor of Abbotsford, Graham DeLaet and Dave Hearn of Brantford, Ont., all with 5-over 149 totals, and Brad Fritsch of Ottawa with 151.
While Rahm has quietly gone about his business in his second pro start and given himself a chance to win it, du Toit has made plenty of noise in his national championship.
Playing on a sponsor’s exemption, he opened with a stunning 5-under 67 Thursday. Then Friday, he spent some time atop the leaderboard. Two birdies, on 17 and 18, got him to 7-under, tying him with Johnson, and the disbelievers started to change their tune.
Then ... disaster. Or, what looked like disaster at the time. A triple bogey after an adventure in the woods at No. 2 dropped him back to 4-under. A bogey three holes later seemed to stick a knife in du Toit’s chances of contending.
But dammit, the kid is resilient, if not talented. Three straight birdies brought him back to 6-under and a par on the ninth, his final hole, closed it out.
“Taking an eight always hurts but I just kind of stayed patient,” du Toit said. “The putter heated up at the right time and, yeah, it was all good. Nothing but good things to say.”
Now, incredibly, du Toit has a legitimate chance to make Canadian golf history, to finally put an end to the notion that a homegrown player can’t win this tournament.
Two days ago, few would have given him a chance to just make the cut at the Canadian Open, never mind win it?
So how is he going to prepare for the big moment? Make a stop at Tim Hortons, natch.
“I could go for some Tim’s,” du Toit said.
How Canadian is that?
Taking an eight always hurts but I just kind of stayed patient. The putter heated up at the right time and ... it was all good.