Nathan Green takes RBC Canadian Open in playoff over Retief Goosen

OAKVILLE, Ont. - A week full of surprises at the RBC Canadian Open managed to deliver one more with its conclusion as Nathan Green outlasted Retief Goosen in a two-hole playoff.

It was the first PGA Tour win for the 34-year-old Australian, who entered the week 27 worldwide victories and 269 places in the world rankings behind Goosen.

Green clinched the title on the 17th hole after making a par and watching Goosen fail to get up-and-down from behind the green. He wore a look of disbelief when Goosen's eight-foot putt to extend the playoff missed wide.

"It's a huge surprise to finally win," said Green.

Rain battered Glen Abbey for four days before giving way to sunshine on Monday morning, allowing golfers to complete what was left of their third round and all of the fourth round.

Fittingly, it began to rain again as the former Canadian Tour winner talked about his victory in the media tent.

"It's just been a bizarre week, a long week," said Green. "To get my first win in Canada, where I spent a lot of years playing on the Canadian Tour, is a great way to have a first one."

Green finished a third-round 69 on Monday morning before posting a bogey-free 68 in the afternoon. An eagle at the 72nd hole gave Goosen a 69 that was good enough to get him in a playoff at 18-under 270.

Anthony Kim (73) and Jason Dufner (73) finished four shots back while Lee Janzen (67), Brandt Snedeker (68) and Jerry Kelly (71) were another stroke off.

Chris Baryla of Vernon, B.C., shot a splendid final-round 66 to match Calgary's Stephen Ames (67) as the low Canadian. They each tied for eighth.

"Being (tied for) low Canadian is a huge achievement for me, absolutely," said Baryla, a regular on the Nationwide Tour. "It's the difference between thinking that I have the ability and validation, and it's nice to have that validation."

Green got some validation of his own after spending three full seasons on the PGA Tour without registering a victory.

He moved to the top of the leaderboard on Monday afternoon as Goosen and Kim - two of the top-ranked players in the field - each made mistakes on the final nine.

While Green didn't end up making a bogey over his final 21 holes, he did fail to birdie the easy par-5 18th twice within an hour - first, failing to wrap up the tournament in regulation before "dodging a bullet" on the first playoff hole when Goosen missed a six-footer for birdie that would have beaten him.

Fortune seemed to be on his side.

"This is pretty much the last thing I was expecting to do," said Green. "I came here this week hitting it not too bad; my Achilles heel has always been my driving, and I drove the ball pretty well all week, and probably the last nine holes today I started to get a bit tired.

"That's where the trouble started."

Goosen wasn't too upset with the loss.

He's been enjoying something of a renaissance since turning 40 earlier this year, registering a win at the PGA Tour's Transitions Championship in March. He's now on a run of four straight top-10 finishes worldwide.

"I've been leading or within one or two shots of the lead in the last four events and haven't been able to pull it off," said Goosen. "I need to just pray a little bit harder on Sundays - or Monday."

Green became the second straight player to emerge from a soggy week at Glen Abbey with his first career PGA Tour victory. Chez Reavie won a year ago in another Canadian Open that featured several delays.

Even more rain fell this time around, forcing the first Monday finish at the tournament since 1988.

Most of the golfers were thrilled to finally bid farewell to a course that many had visited on eight consecutive days.

"Eight (days)? Oh, I thought it was two weeks," said Ames. "Sorry. Yeah, it is a relief to get it over with - finally."

Notes: Mike Weir of Bright's Grove, Ont., shot 71 and tied for 24th while Graham Delaet of Weyburn, Sask., had a 71 and tied for 46th ... Kevin Sutherland aced the 7th on Monday, bringing the tournament total to a PGA Tour record eight holes-in-one ... The tour incorrectly listed Janzen as withdrawn on Friday night. He ended up tying for fifth ... The last time two Canadians finished in the top-10 at this event was 1989 when Dave Barr (T8) and Dan Halldorson (T10) did it ... Next year's Canadian Open will be held at nearby St. George's Golf and Country Club for the first time since 1968.