AKRON, Ohio – Jason Day wanted to expand his lead Saturday in the Bridgestone Invitational.

He was happy just to keep a share of it.

Spraying tee shots all over Firestone, Day spent most of the afternoon scrambling for par until he made a 35-foot birdie putt on the 15th hole that settled him down in a hard-earned round of 1-under 69 to share the lead with Scott Piercy.

“I felt like Mr. Haverkamp out of ‘Caddyshack’ trying to find his golf ball and not knowing where the golf hole goes,” Day said.

But he could find the bottom of the cup, including three par putts of at least 8 feet.

Piercy, coming off a runner-up finish in the U.S. Open two weeks ago at Oakmont, quickly tied Day for the lead with an eagle on the par-5 second hole and was flawless until the final hole. He had a one-shot lead until pulling his tee shot into the left rough, running a low shot through the green and into a back bunker, and having to scramble just to escape with a bogey and a 67.

They were at 5-under 205, the highest 54-hole score at this World Golf Championship since 2007.

Only nine players remained under par, and given the firm conditions of Firestone, Day believes all of them have a chance.

David Lingmerth of Sweden had a 69 and was one shot behind. The big move Saturday belonged to U.S. Open champion Dustin Johnson, who hits it a long way and has a short memory.

After warming up on the range, Johnson said he was ready for a great round of golf, adding that “I’m due.” The smile suggested he did recall that he played decently at Oakmont two weeks ago.

Johnson was 5 under through 11 holes and closing in on the lead when he played final seven holes in 1 over for a 66. Still, that was enough to get him to 2-under 208, three shots behind, along with Charl Schwartzel (67) and William McGirt (70).

Justin Thomas and Emiliano Grillo, buddies from their junior golf days, were another shot back. Thomas was in much better position until his wedge shot found the water on the par-5 16th, and his fifth shot after a penalty drop nearly went in for a par. Thomas then missed a 4-foot putt for double bogey.

The 16th also got the best of Jordan Spieth in a big way.

Spieth was starting to make putts when he debated whether to hit 3-wood on the 654-yard 16th hole, thinking he could keep it away from the water and try to make his birdie from the rough. He played it smartly instead by laying up, only it didn’t quite work out that way.

His third shot came up just short and into the water. His next shot went over the green and he couldn’t get up-and-down, making triple bogey.

Spieth said his caddie talked him out of the 3-wood, and he agreed.

“The big number only comes into play with a 3-wood,” he said. “It really was the right decision. It’s just funny how we talked about it like that.”

Spieth had another 71 and was five shots behind.

Piercy had no such issues. He holed a bunker shot on the second hole for eagle and didn’t have any stress in his round except for the 35-foot par putt he holed from the back fringe on the 14th hole. The final hole cost him the lead, but he is driving it well enough to think he has a strong chance to pick up his fourth career victory.

“I know I can do it,” Piercy said. “It’s just doing it on a consistent basis like a Jordan or a Jason and those guys.”

Day opened with a 20-foot birdie putt. He added a short birdie on the sixth hole. A three-putt bogey on the seventh was a nuisance.

What concerned him was a tee shot on the eighth that was meant to be a sweeping draw and turned into a shot deep into the trees for a bogey. And it didn’t get much better from there. He was in trouble off the tee on the next two holes and salvaged pars. He hit only three fairways in the round.

“The short game saved me, but mentally I was just trying to grind and grind and grind,” Day said.

“Because I thought if I can just somehow get something in and give myself an opportunity for tomorrow … it’s very easy, hitting the positions I hit it today, to sit there and go, ‘Well, it’s just not my day or not my week’ and kind of switch off a little bit. But didn’t want to allow myself to switch off mentally.”

SAINT-QUENTIN-EN-YVELINES, France – Thongchai Jaidee of Thailand posted a 3-under round of 68 on Saturday to move 8-under and take a two-shot lead heading into the final round of the French Open.

Northern Irishman Rory McIlroy and South Korea’s Wang Jeung-hun posted 1-under 70s, having been level with Jaidee and two other players overnight.

Jaidee played consistently with three birdies.

“I had a good game plan today … hit a lot of fairway,” the 46-year-old Jaidee said. “Three-under is an amazing round with the conditions and the wind gusting.”

By contrast, McIlroy’s third round was hugely erratic as the four-time major winner had six birdies, three bogeys and one double-bogey.

McIlroy recovered to make five birdies on the back nine.

Wang’s round was the opposite, featuring three bogeys on his way back to the clubhouse after he had set out with four birdies on the front nine.

Defending champion Bernd Wiesberger of Austria posted 70 and is one shot behind at 5-under, followed by South African Brandon Stone and four other players at 3-under.

Wiesberger is looking to become the sixth player to successfully defend the title at the Le Golf National course, which is hosting the 2018 Ryder Cup.

“I’m right up there,” said Wiesberger, who recovered from a bogey-bogey start to make three birdies. “I have played well on Sundays here, so everything is in place.”

Stone shared the overnight lead, but fell away with a 2-over 73 – including double bogey on the 18th hole.

Mikko Ilonen, the other overnight co-leader, fared even more badly.

The Finn hit a 4-over 75 – including a quadruple bogey on the fifth hole – to fall seven shots behind Jaidee and way out of contention.

There are four qualifying places for the British Open up for grabs. They will go to the leading four players, not otherwise exempt, who finish in the top 12 and ties.

PORTLAND, Ore. – Defending champion Brooke Henderson and Sweden’s Suzann Pettersen shared the lead at 11-under 133 after Friday’s second round of the LPGA Cambia Portland Classic.

Pettersen shot the day’s low score with an 8-under 64, while No. 2 Henderson, an 18-year-old Canadian who won her first LPGA Tour event last year in Portland, shot 68 at Columbia Edgewater.

Pettersen and Henderson, who have combined to win three of the past five Portland Classics, led by one stroke over Colombia’s Mariajo Uribe, who shot 67.

The No. 18 Pettersen, playing in the morning, had eight birdies on a bogey-free card. Henderson, playing in the afternoon, caught Pettersen when she rolled in a 10-foot birdie putt at the par-4, 393-yard 18th.

“I finally had a fantastic putting day today. Finally. It’s nice,” Pettersen said. “The long game is good. I feel like when I putt well I can put a good score. Today, I felt like I could make anything. That’s a nice feel.”

Henderson has shared or held Portland’s outright lead the past five rounds, dating back to last year’s second round.

“I really like this golf course. I like the Northwest. I’ve played pretty well on these courses,” said Henderson, who won the Women’s PGA Championship at Sahalee in Sammamish, Washington, three weeks ago.

Pettersen was no surprise on the Portland Classic leaderboard. She has posted top-five finishes in four of her past seven Portland tournaments, winning in 2011 and 2013.

“I just like it here. It’s a lot of hard work that is finally starting to come together,” said Pettersen, who has struggled with back problems and is looking for her first win in 13 months.

Austin Ernst, Pernilla Lindberg and Angela Stanford were five shots back at 6-under. Ernst, the 2014 Portland champion, shot 66, while Lindberg had 68 and Stanford a 71.

Lee Lopez (68), Prima Thammaraks (69) and Carlota Ciganda (71) were 5 under. Among a group of seven at 4 under are Kelly Shon, Cheyenne Wood and Jaye Marie Green. Shon made eight birdies on her way to a 66.

Pettersen was bidding to become the tournament’s second three-time winner, joining Nancy Lopez, who won in 1985, 1987 and 1992. The Portland Classic is the LPGA Tour’s longest-running non-major, now in its 45th year.

Pettersen collected her birdies in bunches. Starting on the back nine, she made four consecutive on holes No. 12-15. Pettersen finished strong, making birdies on three of her final four holes, closing with a 20-foot birdie putt at the par-4, 410-yard ninth.

Pettersen thought the difference between Thursday’s 69 and her second-round 64 might have been playing in the morning.

“Obviously there are certain courses you play well, but you can’t take anything for granted out here,” Pettersen said. “I sure did find some magic on the greens today. I felt like I played great yesterday. I tried to take advantage of the little softer greens this morning and little purer greens as well.”

Pettersen took 24 putts, which she said “for me, that’s record breaking.”

Henderson, who had five birdies and a bogey, thought she got the most out of her round.

“I didn’t hit the ball as solidly as I’m used to. On this course you kind of need to hit fairways and you need to hit greens. For the way I struck the ball, I scored extremely well,” Henderson said.

Henderson did most of her damage on the par-5s, making birdies on all four. But perhaps the best shot of Henderson’s round came at the par-4, 393-yard 18th, where she hit her drive under a tree. With a greenside lake directly between her ball and the hole, Henderson blasted a low-running 6-iron from about 165 yards to within 10 feet, then made the birdie putt.

“That was definitely the high point of today’s round,” Henderson said.

Henderson, who earned her LPGA card shortly after winning at Portland last year, plays in Pettersen’s group Saturday, just the second time the two have been paired.

“Along with Morgan Pressel, she was the one I really looked up to growing up and kind of wanted to be like,” Henderson said.

Christina Kim shot 66 to finish at 3 under, a group also included Vicky Hurst (71), Chella Choi (71) and Lee-Anne Pace (72).

No. 9 Stacy Lewis was 2 under after a 70. American Morgan Pressel shot 71 to finish at 1 under.

A 3-under 69 from Team Canada National Team member Naomi Ko moved the Victoria native into a tie for 62nd alongside Hamilton’s Alena Sharp. Lorie Kane (Charlottetown), A.J. Eathorne (Penticton, B.C.), Québec’s Anne-Catherine Tanguay and Samantha Richdale of Kelowna, B.C., will not advance to weekend-play.

Among those who didn’t make the cut at 1 over were Americans Cristie Kerr, Lizette Salas and Marina Alex.

RENO, Nev. – Greg Chalmers birdied five of his last eight holes Friday to take a two-point lead in the Barracuda Championship, the PGA Tour’s only modified Stableford scoring event.

The 42-year-old Australian had a 10-point round to reach 24 points at Montreux in the scoring system that awards eight points for double eagle, five points for an eagle, two points for a birdie and deducts a point for a bogey and three points for a double bogey or worse.

“I played OK,” Chalmers said. “It wasn’t as good as yesterday ball-striking-wise, but then I ran in a lot of really nice putts. … I stayed out of trouble on the holes I needed to and picked up some really good birdies where I needed to.”

Chalmers has only conditional tour status. He has made six starts this season on the PGA Tour, tying for 58th in the first in China in November and missing the cut in the last five. The two-time Australian Open and Australian PGA champion also has played in nine Web.com Tour events.

First-round leader Martin Laird of Scotland bogeyed three of his last six holes – finishing with a three-putt on the par-4 ninth – to drop into a tie for second with 2013 winner Gary Woodland. Laird also had five birdies in a seven-point round. Woodland had eight points with five birdies and two bogeys.

“Yesterday morning the greens were immaculate. If you hit a good putt, it was pretty much going in,” Laird said. “This afternoon, I hit two or three putts from 6 to 10 feet, felt like I hit good putts, and they wiggle around and miss. Same for everyone that plays in the afternoon. It’s just kind of the nature of these greens. Hopefully, I can have some wiggle in the next couple of days.”

Chalmers, Laird and most of the players are fighting for a spot in the British Open in two weeks at Royal Troon in Scotland. Because of the West Virginia floods that led to The Greenbrier Classic being canceled next week, a spot was transferred to the leading player not already eligible at Montreux.

“Obviously, it would be great,” Laird said. “It’s always nice for me to go back to Scotland. The Open’s my favorite golf tournament in the year. .. But it’s not really on my mind right now. I’m just trying to play good golf and keep firing away at flags and, hopefully, make some birdies.”

Woodland was one of five players already in the Open to advance to the weekend.

Colt Knost was fourth at 21 after an eight-point round.

“A lot of good and a lot of bad, honestly,” Knost said. “Yesterday, I really wasn’t happy with my ball-striking. And today, I thought I found something on the range. I hit some better ones, but kind of still a little sloppy. But it definitely plays tougher here in the afternoon and the greens get a little bumpy.”

He recently moved from Dallas to Scottsdale, Arizona.

“I was out there all winter just working on my game out at Whisper Rock and decided to make the move permanent,” Knost said. “It just really allows me to focus on golf and everything. I think it’s a big reason why I’m playing so well this year.”

Brendan Steele eagled the par-5 18th to reach 20 points. He hit a 210-yard shot to 12 feet.

“It’s always good to have an eagle anywhere in your round, but definitely nice to finish with one,” said Steele, already in the British Open. “It’s nice that they gave us a hole like 18 to finish on. It really makes it exciting for the fans and fun for us.”

Former Illinois player Charlie Danielson had 11 points in his professional debut. He eagled the 18th for the second straight day.

Graham DeLaet struggled to follow his nine-point opening round in his return from a five-week break to sort out anxiety issues with his putting. The bearded Canadian closed with a double bogey, leaving him with eight points heading into the weekend. Fellow Canadian Nick Taylor of Abbotsford, B.C., who sits T68 with seven points, will also advance to the weekend.

Camilo Villegas, tied for second with 14 points Thursday, lost seven points with two double bogeys and a bogey to make the cut on the number.

Jon Rahm and 2014 winner Geoff Ogilvy also had seven points. Rahm tied for third last week at Congressional in his pro debut to earn a British Open spot. The former Arizona State player is from Spain.

J.J. Henry, the 2012 and 2015 winner, missed the cut with three points.

AKRON, Ohio – Jason Day made a pair of late birdies on a windy afternoon at Firestone for a 1-under 69 and a one-shot lead in the Bridgestone Invitational.

Day’s objective was to get in the lead and expand it. He took care of the first part Friday, though the world’s No. 1 player lost a chance at some separation with a three-putt bogey on the final hole.

He was at 4-under 136 going into the weekend of this World Golf Championship, one shot ahead of David Lingmerth, who had a 67.

William McGirt, who started with a three-shot lead, kept in front until he made a double bogey on the final hole for a 74. He was two shots behind. Jordan Spieth had a 71 and was another shot back.

Golf Canada’s women’s participation program, Golf Fore the Cure presented by Subaru, has officially opened for registration.

Entering its 13^th season, Golf Fore the Cure presented by Subaru is aiming to pass the $365,000 mark in 2016—setting the bar higher than last year’s target with hopes of furthering support and participation from Canada’s female golf community.

From a participation standpoint, Golf Fore the Cure presented by Subaru had upwards of 10,000 women involved in 2015. For program coordinator Whitney Gorges, the buck doesn’t stop there.

“I’m very proud and impressed with the effort of all ladies involved in Golf Fore the Cure last season, and I’m hoping we can increase our generous impact even further,” said Gorges. “It’s a fantastic way to add value to a club’s already existing ladies night while contributing to a cause that has impacted all of us in some form or another.”

All funds raised by the 145-plus teams across Canada last season were donated to the Canadian Cancer Society and Quebec Breast Cancer Foundation to assist with national research efforts. Since the program’s inception, over $5.4 million has been raised collectively.

Upon (free) registration, Golf Fore the Cure teams will receive a complimentary kit to assist in their event. Site coordinators are encouraged to structure their event in any format that best suits their interests and desires. Formats that accommodate all skill levels tend to be the most popular choice, as the program is ultimately aimed at increasing participation.

In addition, all registrants are given the option to have additional support from presenting partner Subaru at their local event. The top-three fundraising teams will be flown to the Great Toronto Area (GTA) to participate in the 2016 National Event.

Click here to register.

PORTLAND, Ore. – Defending champion Brooke Henderson shot a 7-under 65 on Thursday to take a two-stroke lead after the opening round of the LPGA Cambia Portland Classic on Thursday.

Picking up where she left off from a year ago, when Henderson shot a 21-under 267 to win her first LPGA tournament, the 18-year-old from Smiths Falls, Ont., hit 16 greens and made nine birdies on a warm, cloudless day at the 6,476-yard Columbia Edgewater course.

Henderson said a combination of factors allows her to feel at home at Columbia Edgewater.

“I love tree-lined courses, and that’s very much what this course is. With the bent grass, which is kind of what I grew up on, I really like it. It suits my eye,” Henderson said. “Then winning here, that gives me those extra vibes and adrenaline, which I think will help as the week goes on. This golf course, being out here in the Northwest, in the beautiful temperature, I like wearing long sleeves and pants.”

Angela Stanford, Demi Runas and Mariajo Uribe each shot 67 to trail Henderson.

Runas, whose best career finish is a tie for 25th, and Uribe are looking for their first LPGA victories. Stanford lost in a playoff in the 2003 U.S. Women’s Open at Pumpkin Ridge, which has previously played host to the Portland Classic. Uribe and Stanford shot bogey-free rounds.

Stanford, who tied for fourth last week in Arkansas, is somewhat of a surprise among the leaders. She hasn’t had much success at the Portland Classic, her best finish a tie for eighth in 12 tries.

“Poana greens are usually not very friendly to me. It’s nice to watch the ball go in the hole here. I haven’t always played well here, so I tried to just put that on the back burner and see if I could carry it over from last week, and it did,” Stanford said.

Carlota Ciganda, Jaye Marie Green, Ayako Uehara and Daniela Iacobelli shot 68. Four strokes back at 69 are No. 18 Suzann Pettersen, Sarah Jane Smith, Lee-Anne Pace, Briana Mao and Jiayi Zhou.

Pettersen is a two-time Portland winner, claiming the 2011 and 2013 tournaments.

No. 15 Anna Nordqvist is among 12 players at 70. No. 9 Stacy Lewis shot even-par 72, as did Austin Ernst, the 2014 Portland champion.

Henderson, starting early in the morning on the back nine, was only 1-under through seven holes. But she birdied three of the next four holes, then finished on fire while playing the front nine, making consecutive birdies on holes 5 through 8. Henderson just missed a fifth consecutive birdie, sliding a 15-foot putt past the left side of the hole at the par-4 ninth.

It was a bogey at the par-4, 391-yard fourth that helped ignite Henderson’s string of four consecutive birdies.

“That was a dumb hole … a hole with my length I could have taken advantage of. The bogey bothered me a little. I knew I had two par-5s coming up, so I tried to focus on them,” Henderson said.

In her last six rounds at Columbia-Edgewater, counting last year’s Monday qualifier, Henderson is 32-under par, all six rounds in the 60s.

Last year, Henderson won the Portland Classic by eight strokes, and became the third youngest champion in LPGA Tour history. Since winning her maiden event, Henderson has soared to become No. 2 ranked, and two weeks ago won the Women’s PGA Championship.

Henderson is attempting to become Portland’s first back-to-back champion since Annika Sorenstam won the 2002 and 2003 tournaments.

Alena Sharp’s even-par round has the Hamilton native tied for 41st. A quartet of Canadians are knotted at 4-over: Team Canada National Team member Naomi Ko (Victoria), Anne-Catherine Tanguay (Québec), Lorie Kane (Charlottetown) and A.J. Eathorne (Penticton, B.C.). Samantha Richdale of Kelowna, B.C., shot 77.

The Portland Classic is normally played in late August, but moved up because the LPGA is taking three weeks off for the Olympics. The Portland stop is typically popular among the tour’s best players, but with the U.S. Open scheduled for next week in California, only 13 of the world’s top 50 entered this year.

The Portland Classic is the LPGA Tour’s longest-running non-major, now in its 45th year. The purse is $1.3 million, with $195,000 going to the winner.

RENO, Nev. – Martin Laird of Scotland made eight birdies to lead the Barracuda Championship on Thursday with more than just a PGA Tour victory on the line.

Because of the West Virginia floods that led to The Greenbrier Classic being canceled next week, a spot in the British Open has been transferred to the leading player not already eligible at the Barracuda Championship.

The British Open is at Royal Troon and Scotland.

He still has a long way to go and plenty of players, including former champion Gary Woodland, right behind him.

Laird has plenty of experience handling the high altitude of Montreux Golf and Country Club because he left Scotland to play golf at Colorado State and has been based out of America his entire professional career.

He finished with 15 points in the modified Stableford scoring that awards five points for an eagle, two points for a birdie and deducts one point for a bogey and two points for a double bogey or worse.

“I played five years at 5,000 feet, so I’m pretty comfortable with the yardages,” Laird said. “It’s hard to make yourself trust it sometimes. I almost know how far I hit my clubs anyway without having to do the adjustments. So that’s a little easier for me. … You’ve got to go with what you think it is and hit your shot.”

Woodland, who won at Reno in 2013, was tied for the lead when he missed a 10-foot birdie putt on the 17th and then hit his second shot with a 6-iron into the water on the par-5 18th, leading to a bogey that cost him a point. That put him at 14 points along with Camilo Villegas and Greg Chalmers.

“Swing like an idiot,” Woodland said. “Really the two bad golf swings I made were on the par 5s on the back.”

Villegas, playing in the same group with Woodland, missed a 7-foot birdie putt on the final hole that would have given him the lead.

“We both had a great day,” Villegas said. “I got going pretty hard from the beginning, and then Gary got going there with an eagle on No. 8.”

The scoring system awards aggressive play. Villegas made seven birdies with no bogeys (that would have been a 65), while Woodland had six birdies and an eagle, offset by three bogeys. In normal play, he would have shot 67. Chalmers also had six birdies, one eagle and three bogeys.

“Made a couple of bogeys, bounced back real quick and got going the right direction,” Chalmers said. “This format is about making a lot of birdies and eagles.”

Colt Knost was in the group at 13 points.

The group tied for 15th at 9 points includes two Canadians in Graham DeLaet (Weyburn, Sask.), who is playing for the first time in a month to sort out anxiety issues of his putting, and Abbotsford, B.C., product Nick Taylor. Carlos Ortiz of Mexico also sits within the group and needs a good week to have any chance of getting into the Olympics.

AKRON, Ohio – Golf in Ohio must bring out the best in William McGirt.

One month after his first PGA Tour victory at the Memorial, McGirt looked just as good two hours up the road at the Bridgestone Invitational. In his World Golf Championship debut, he opened with six birdies and finished with a 45-foot par for a 6-under 64 and a three-shot lead.

An Ohio sweep?

That’s only happened four times, and McGirt guessed right at the answer.

“Tiger Woods, Tiger Woods, Tiger Woods and Tiger Woods?” he said. “That would be pretty special company.”

He had some decent company behind him after an opening round of warm sunshine and fast conditions at Firestone. Jason Day, the world’s No. 1 player, was among three players at 67, while Jordan Spieth somehow managed to post a 68 despite having only one birdie attempt (he missed) in his first 10 holes.

“I wasn’t supposed to shoot 2 under today,” Spieth said.

U.S. Open champion Dustin Johnson had a U.S. Open kind of round – 15 pars, two birdies and a bogey – for a 69. His big celebration was walking off the 11th green to learn that his alma mater, Coastal Carolina, had just won the College World Series for its first national title. His golf wasn’t bad considering that he didn’t practice much last week while celebrating his first major (and his 32nd birthday) in The Bahamas.

“I didn’t expect a whole lot today,” Johnson said. “I always expect to play well, but this golf course is playing tough.”

Only 17 players of the 61-man field broke par. The first round ended with only 58 players.

Daniel Berger withdrew after his opening tee shot with a shoulder injury. Brooks Koepka withdrew after 13 holes with an ankle injury. Ryder Cup captain Davis Love III, playing at Firestone for the first time since 2009, withdrew after a 78 because of what was described as a torn labrum.

The field also was missing Rory McIlroy and Masters champion Danny Willett, among several European Tour players who opted to play the French Open this week.

McGirt had never played in a WGC until he became eligible with his playoff victory at Muirfield Village a month ago. He showed up at Firestone on Sunday, played nine holes and rode in a cart on the back nine.

“I fell in love with the place because length is not everything out here,” McGirt said. “You have to drive it in the fairway. You have to drive it in the correct spots in the fairways to be able to attack pins. I love it because you can’t stand up there and just hit it as hard as you want, go find it and hack it on the green. It’s an old, traditional style golf course, which I absolutely love.

“I don’t know, maybe it’s something with Ohio I like,” he added.

The most peculiar round belonged to Spieth, who said he has been in a lull the last month as he searches for something in his swing, particularly his wedges. It had the look of a score closer to 74 or 75, except that the former Masters and U.S. Open champion kept hanging in there with pars. One shot hit a tree and bounced forward over the water into a bunker. He whiffed on a 7-iron that left him a tough pitch, but he managed to save par from 8 feet.

He ended the front nine with par-saving putts from 20 feet and 25 feet.

It took him until the 15th hole before he had back-to-back birdie putts, and he started converting them. He holed the last four of them.

“I’m really just searching for something that isn’t far off, that’s real simple,” Spieth said. “It really is only taking place on my scoring clubs, but that’s where you need them. It’s close. It’s almost there. And when it clicks, we’re definitely in business the way the short game is.”

Emiliano Grillo and Jimmy Walker also were at 67 with Day, while Spieth was joined by Rickie Fowler, Anirban Lahiri and Charley Hoffman.

Day said he felt a burden lifted by making his announcement not to play in the Olympics because of Zika concerns, but he didn’t think that equated to his golf. It was a tidy round with only one bogey and four birdies, and a pair of tough par saves from a bunker on No. 9 and behind the green on the par-5 16th.

“It was just kind of a weird feeling of a day where I kind of made some good pars, kept the momentum going, and all of a sudden I shot 67,” Day said. “I’ve just got to keep grinding until Sunday is over.”

In 2002, a Canadian loonie buried at centre ice galvanized a nation and inspired a pair of gold medal performances. The Olympic winter games in Salt Lake City saw the Canadian men’s and women’s hockey teams top the podium and capture the titles of Olympic champions. In Rio de Janeiro – 14 years later – another lucky loonie awaits the four Canadian Olympians who will take part in golf’s return to international sport’s grandest stage following a 112-year absence.

Ian Andrew, a course architect based in Brantford, Ont., who worked on the Campo Olimpico de Golf in Rio de Janeiro, stashed the Canadian $1 coin at the heart of the 18^th green.

The hope: to once again rally Canadians from coast-to-coast behind their Olympians to successfully defend the Olympic gold medal won by Canadian George S. Lyon in 1904, the last time golf was part of the Olympic Games.

Click here to read the full story from Garry McKay in the Hamilton Spectator.

The quartet comprising Team Canada for the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro will be celebrated onsite at Glen Abbey Golf Club in Oakville, Ont., on Tuesday, July 19 during the 2016 RBC Canadian Open. Admission onto the grounds of Glen Abbey that day for spectators looking to join in the celebration of Team Canada’s Olympic golfers is FREE.