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September 7, 2002
MARKHAM, Ontario -- No Tiger Woods. No traffic jams.
For at least one day in the Canadian Open, Grant Waite finally had no worries.
After two years of bad luck and bad timing in golf's third-oldest national championship, Waite made five birdie putts inside 15 feet on the back nine of Angus Glen for 8-under 64 and two-stroke lead Thursday.
"It would be nice to win in Canada because I've played well at times," said Waite, 38, who hasn't won in nine years.
Canada owes him one.
Two years ago, his 21-under 267 would have been good enough to win any of the 22 Canadian Opens held at Glen Abbey -- except that Woods was one stroke better, thanks to that outrageous 6-iron out of a fairway bunker and over the water for a birdie on the 18th.
It got even worse last year at Royal Montreal.
Waite missed his wakeup call and set his alarm for 6 p.m. -- not 6 a.m. Then he got stuck in traffic and missed his tee time in the opening round by six minutes, which was one minute too late to avoid disqualification.
Thursday was anything but that. Waite missed only three greens, took just 27 putts and got into trouble only once. That allowed him to surge past a pack of players at 66 that included 1998 champion Billy Andrade.
Per-Ulrik Johansson, Neal Lancaster and Greg Chalmers also were at 66.
Mike Weir had 69, only it felt much lower. Canada's best player has never come close to winning his national open. In fact, he missed the cut his first nine tries.
Thursday didn't hold much promise when Weir caught a plugged lie under the lip of the bunker on the par-5 14th, barely got it out and wound up making bogey. But he held it together, then had four straight birdies on the front nine.
"My history is not good here," he said. "To get off to a good start is a boost."
Angus Glen wasn't as easy as predicted, not with blustery, dry conditions in the afternoon. Waite only made it look that way.
"If you're playing good, it doesn't matter where you play," he said. "You stand on the tee, see the shot, hit it. You feel it. It's like magic."
The course was so soft earlier in the week that players predicted low scores.
That wasn't the case by the time the tournament started. The "splat" of balls hitting spongy greens turned into "thuds" as they became firm, even in the morning. Pins were tucked just over knobs.
"The pin placements ... they must have heard us because it wasn't so easy," Vijay Singh said after 67.
EUROPEAN MASTERS: Sweden's Robert Karlsson shot 6-under 65 for a one-stroke lead after the first round at Crans-Sur-Sierre, Switzerland. Nick Faldo, Paul Lawrie and Mathias Gronberg were at 66. Craig Stadler, the tournament winner in 1985, shot 71, a stroke higher than son Kevin, 22, playing his second pro event after winning the Colorado Open last weekend.
JAPAN PGA MATCH PLAY: American Dean Wilson began defense of the championship by defeating Katsuyoshi Tomori 1-up in 19 holes at Tomakomai.