Calcavecchia and Glover share Canadian Open lead

By Steve Keating

VANCOUVER, British Columbia (Reuters) – Former British Open
champion Mark Calcavecchia and unheralded Lucas Glover grabbed
a share of the first round lead at the Canadian Open on
Thursday while title holder Vijay Singh made an unsteady return
from a back injury.

Calcavecchia, in his 20th season on the U.S. PGA Tour and
Glover, in just his second, took advantage of ideal afternoon
conditions at the Shaughnessy Golf Club to card matching
five-under 65s.

Lurking one shot back of the two Americans is Sweden’s
Jesper Parnevik (66) with Brandt Jobe, Scott Dunlap, Ted Purdy
and 2004 British Open champion Todd Hamilton all one-stroke
further adrift at three-under 67.

Chasing his first win since 2001, Calcavecchia, the 1989
British Open winner, mixed six birdies with a single bogey to
reach his 65 on the tree-lined layout.

Glover, who has six top 10s this season but has also missed
the cut in 11 of 21 events, had a much more volatile day with
eight birdies offset by a double-bogey and a bogey.

“You can’t be disappointed with a 65 around here,” said
Glover. “This is a major type course you know everyone is going
to have some foul ups.”

Singh, returning to action after ruling himself out of last
week’s title defence at the Deutsche Bank Championship with a
sore back, never found his rhythm, returning a three-over 73 to
sit eight shots off the pace.

The world number two, a four-time winner this season,
finished his round without a birdie.

The hardworking Fijian, however, refused to use his back
problems as an excuse for his poor effort.

“The back is fine,” said Singh. “I mean, it’s not great,
but it’s not bad.

“It’s no worse than it was during the PGA or during the
NEC.

“It’s a little stiff but I had some back spasms at home, it
could have happened to me sleeping.

“It just happened at the wrong time and had an MRI done,
there may be a slight herniated disk, but at my age, the guy
says everybody has that.

“It was just a process of playing too many tournaments and
doing too many exercises and doing some wrong kind of
activities.

“But it’s fine now. I took a week off and practised for
three days before coming here. Everything’s fine and I am ready
to play.”

Local favourite Mike Weir, who lost the Canadian title last
year to Singh in a playoff, got his round off to the worst
possible start going five-over on a front nine that included
five bogeys and a double bogey offset by a pair of birdies.

The 2003 Masters champion, however, staged a dramatic
comeback on his closing nine with birdies on four of his final
five holes to get to one-over 71.

“It’s just resilience,” said Weir. “I’ve done that since I
played the Canadian Tour, since I played in Asia, since I
played wherever.

“You’ve just got to battle back, you’ve got to get up in
this game and shake the dust off and get back to work.

“Each shot is a new challenge and that’s the way I try to
look at it.”