CALEDON, Ontario (AP) — Fans were headed to the exits at TPC Toronto, vendors were counting their tills and packing up for the night, but Matthew Anderson was still putting in work.
Anderson, from nearby Mississauga, Ont., fired a 6-under 64 in the last group of the day at the RBC Canadian Open to finish Thursday’s first round in a six-way tie atop the leaderboard. Anderson said he wasn’t distracted by the dwindling gallery following him around the course, instead focusing on the shot in front of him.
“Obviously, I had a few supporters out there with me, which was really nice,” said Anderson. “With the quiet golf course it was cool to hear a loud cheer when you make a birdie.
“It was interesting, but I wasn’t really too focused on that, I guess.”
Sahith Theegala of the United States scored a 6-under 64 during the morning wave at TPC Toronto to take the clubhouse lead and then Anderson, Argentina’s Emilliano Grillo, and Americans Eric Cole, Brooks Koepka, and Sam Burns matched that performance in the afternoon.
Anderson has played in 13 events on the second-tier Korn Ferry Tour this season, only making the cut five times. He didn’t see the weekend in his last five tournaments leading into this week’s Canadian men’s championship.
“Listen, you’re always working on stuff. I obviously haven’t played my best recently like on Korn Ferry,” said Anderson. “You’re always working on stuff.
“You’re always working on things you can get a little better at, and you never know when it’s going to click. It happened to kind of click today.”
Theegala said that he intended to watch the afternoon’s wave and see if anyone would mount a challenge to his early lead, even as the course firmed up after a downpour during play in the morning.
“I enjoy watching because I feel like as pro golfers we don’t watch a lot of golf,” said Theegala. “When we have a morning tee time I’ll just try to catch a little bit of coverage in dining or when I go home and recover.
“But for the most part I’ll do my own thing, get on my iPad and play some video games or some chess and go get a nice dinner.”
A heavy rainfall around 10 a.m. local time softened the North Course, but as the temperature rose in the afternoon birdies remained gettable. Grillo said that most PGA Tour golfers are so used to faster greens a softer playing surface could actually throw them off.
“When we come to slow greens, it’s hard to see more break and more speed,” said Grillo. “You’ve got to get it there.
“Sometimes you hit a little too firm on four-footers coming back on the greens. It’s not the most ideal situation.”
Koepka, a former world No. 1, was part of an exodus of players that left the PGA Tour for the upstart LIV Golf circuit in June 2022. He returned to the PGA Tour in January of this year under two conditions: he was ineligible to qualify for equity bonuses until 2030 and he agreed to make a US$5 million charitable donation.
“It’s been nice to be back. I’ve enjoyed it,” sad Koepka, who made four birdies on his last five holes. “I think the players have been very receptive.
“I haven’t heard — at least nobody has said it to my face — anything.”
Anderson was certainly happy to be tied with Koepka.
“It’s awesome,” said Anderson. “I definitely imagined being in contention this week. I had no doubts I could do it.
“Obviously feels great out there to feel the juices flowing and be in there and doing it.”
Adam Svensson of Surrey, B.C., was in a 12-way tie for second, a shot back of the leaders.
Reigning champion Ryan Fox of New Zealand shot a 4-under 66 to sit in a tie for 19th.
Fox was in the day’s marquee group with Nick Taylor of Abbotsford, B.C., who won the national men’s golf championship in 2023. Taylor was 3 under tied for 32nd.
Koepka, whose second U.S. Open title was at Shinnecock Hills in 2018, holed a 20-foot birdie putt on the 14th hole to get his big run started. It ended with a 10-foot birdie putt on the 17th and a wedge to 5 feet for birdie on the 18th.
“I don’t think the ball striking was as good as it’s been as of late … but it was nice to see the putter finally heat up,” Koepka said. “It was just a culmination of kind of freeing the mind.”
It wasn’t just bunched at the top. Twelve players were at 65 at the TPC Toronto. Among those at 65 was Tony Finau, who missed out on U.S. Open qualifying at the start of the week, and Adam Svensson of Canada.
Svensson made news for the wrong reasons during U.S. Open qualifying. He was in a playoff that ended with three players going for one spot. Once Max McGreevy made birdie, Svensson picked up his ball marker, unaware there was still a playoff to determine first and second alternate.
He became the second alternate, which is likely to cost him a spot at Shinnecock because seven positions have yet to be filled.
“Nothing but my fault,” Svensson said. “They just 3-for-1. And once he made that, I just picked it up.”
The scoring average was 68.5, and 97 players from the 147-man field broke par.
Burn had a chance at the outright lead when he found the fairway on par-5 18th hole and had an iron into the green. His 18-foot eagle putt missed and he joined the group at 64.
Burns was in a playoff last year when he closed with a 62, but he ended up missing a short putt against Ryan Fox.
“I think it’s nice to have some good memories maybe before the tournament starts, but when you tee it up, you have to be able to execute and hit the shots that the golf course requires,” Burn said.
He took only positives from that round, particularly starting the final round so far back. And it carried over to the following week when Burns led the U.S. Open until having to play in wet conditions late on Sunday which affected some of his shots.
Burns also is coming off a close call at the Memorial last week, so his game is tidy.
Koepka started out his year hopeful of doing well enough to get into signature events. There is one left, and he still hasn’t played one.
“I’ve played great this year. Like I said, it’s just the putting that’s held me back, trying to be mechanical,” Koepka said. “But it was nice today to at least turn the brain off and go from there.”
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