Mikes Blog - First Round - 2008 RBC Canadian Open

Fri, 27 Feb 2009 01:29:42

I couldn't have asked for a better way to start the RBC Canadian Open than my round on Thursday. I really wanted to get out of the gate fast and I did just that. So far this year I haven't been really pleased with my opening rounds. For some reason, I always seem to be stuck in neutral on Thursdays and that means I'm always fighting back. I wanted to try and avoid that this week and the bogey-free 65 I posted at Glen Abbey was a great opening 18. As you can imagine, after all the rain we've had this week, the course played very soft. To be honest, I'm really surprised we were even playing. When I left on Wednesday the course was absolutely soaked. The grounds crew must have worked miracles to get things into shape. I heard they were there until 3 a.m. working so I tip my hat to them.

Of course, with all the moisture the ball wasn't running at all and we were playing lift, clean and place. The greens were also soft, which meant you could attack the pins. I did that well and as a result didn't have too many long putts.

So while my distance control was very good, I'd say I was even more pleased with my driving. I really only missed one fairway, that being the first (my 10th hole of the day) where I hit it in the bunker but still made par. I know the stats show me missing three, but the other two were just barely into the first cut so I was very happy with the way I hit it off the tee.

My preparation coming into this week was a little different than in past years. I really didn't hit a lot of balls - I just went out and played golf. I played on Monday at St. George's and then had a game with some friends at The National on Tuesday. Both times I played well, felt good and was relaxed. I was really trying to keep the momentum going from my last round at Royal Birkdale, which wasn't that good a scoring round, but one where I felt I hit the ball solid. So rather then get technical on the range and spend a lot of time thinking about my swing and such, I just played golf and I think that helped me a great deal Thursday.

One big benefit to playing early was that I was able to finish my round before the rain stopped play. I avoided having to sit through the long delay and I won't have to come back Friday to finish off any portion of my round - I'll just start my second one when that happens. That will allow me to rest a little more than a lot of the field. That's good as I'm still feeling the effects of some jet lag.

Thursday night I had planned on going to the MLS All-Star Game which is going on in Toronto, but I passed on that and instead will just take it easy and spend the night with my family. I'd like to stay rested for the remainder of this week and see if I can keep building on the momentum from my first round.

I also have to thank the fans who came out and followed my on Thursday - the support was fantastic and I hope it keeps up for me and all the Canadians in the field the rest of the week.

Thanks for reading.

Mike