VICTORIA, BC (February 21, 2017) – Pacific Links International and PGA TOUR Champions announced today that the 2017 Pacific Links Bear Mountain Championship is now accepting volunteer submissions. The event will once again be hosted at Bear Mountain Golf Resort in Victoria, British Columbia from September 11-17th, showcasing a field of 78 international players, and a US $2.5 million purse. 

More than 600 volunteers donated their time and worked to make the 2016 Pacific Links Bear Mountain Championship a resounding success, with approximately 500 of the volunteers coming directly from Victoria and Langford, many of whom live within the Bear Mountain – Ecoasis communities.

“The amount of support and involvement that the local community demonstrated was truly remarkable,” said Rudy Anderson, President of Pacific Links International. “With such a large-scale event as the Pacific Links Bear Mountain Championship, volunteers are the beating heart at the centre of the tournament that makes it run seamlessly. We could not have done it without everyone who was involved.” 

The Event was more than just a golf tournament for volunteers; it was a symbol of pride in their community and being part of a property that showcased their home city and province on the global stage that is PGA TOUR Champions and the Golf Channel. Volunteers were also personally thanked by 2016 Champion Colin Montgomerie and received a visit from runner-up Scott McCarron during the Volunteer Appreciation party after the final round on Sunday.

VOLUNTEER REGISTRATION

Volunteers must be at least 13 years of age to be considered for a volunteer position at the tournament. Each volunteer must commit to a minimum of three days during Event week and shift lengths vary (at least 6 hours per shift) between committees. All volunteers are required to purchase the Volunteer Package for $49, which covers a portion of the cost of the volunteer uniforms, daily volunteer food and beverage, and enables the tournament to contribute to local charities in the community. The volunteer package includes:

• Volunteer Credential allowing access to the tournament grounds from Wednesday to Sunday
• Two (2) transferable Any-One-Day Tickets allowing access to the grounds on any one day
• Official Pacific Links Championship Volunteer Golf Shirt of high quality
• Official Pacific Links Championship outerwear piece of high quality
• Official Pacific Links Championship golf cap or visor
• Souvenir program
• Complimentary parking
• Continental breakfast and lunch provided, on a voucher system, on days volunteered
• Invitation to the Volunteer Appreciation Party hosted after the conclusion of play on Sunday

The Pacific Links Bear Mountain Championship team of volunteers consist of avid golfers, fans of the game and people looking for a fun and exciting experience. To register as a volunteer simply visit the recently resigned tournament website at www.pacificlinkschampionship.com  and click on the ‘Volunteer Tab’. 

Committee placements are made on a first come first serve basis and Committee Directors will contact each volunteer and confirm which committee they have been placed into.

PRE-SALE TICKETS

Pre-Sale Tickets will also be available for the 2017 Pacific Links Bear Mountain Championship starting Friday, February 24 at 10am PT. Fans can enjoy 10% off all ticket types until March 31, 2017. Tickets for this premier event and can be purchased at www.pacificlinkschampionship.com  by clicking on the ‘Buy Tickets’  tab. Fans can choose from the following ticket options:

• WEEKLY PASS – WEDNESDAY TO SUNDAY: $99 (INCLUDES FREE PARKING & OFFICIAL PROGRAM)
• DAILY PASS – FRIDAY, SATURDAY OR SUNDAY: $40
• PRO-AM DAILY PASS – WEDNESDAY OR THURSDAY: $25
• CHAMPIONS CLUBHOUSE VIP PASS – FRIDAY THROUGH SUNDAY: $200.00

For information on corporate hospitality, sponsorship opportunities or group packages for the 2017 Pacific Links Bear Mountain Championship, please contact McKenzie Clarke at mclarke@sportboxgroup.com or (647) 468-3500.

LOS ANGELES – Dustin Johnson’s raw talent and a trophy case that keeps growing allowed him to believe he was the best player in golf.

Now he can say it.

Even if he doesn’t understand the math involved with being No. 1.

Johnson extended a remarkable run, which began with his first major at the U.S. Open last summer, with a five-shot victory in the Genesis Open that was never in doubt Sunday. That elevated the 32-year-old American to No. 1 in the world for the first time.

Johnson doesn’t spend a lot of time crunching numbers, especially the computations for the world ranking. But he said he would look at it first thing in the morning.

“I don’t really understand it,” he said. “But I can read 1-2-3. I guess that’s all that matters.”

In a 36-hole Sunday brought on by weather delays at Riviera, all it took was five holes to put Johnson in charge. He finished the third round in the morning with three straight birdies for a 7-under 64 to build a five-shot lead. He started the final round with two straight birdies and eventually stretched his lead to nine shots.

He went 49 straight holes without a bogey.

Johnson didn’t know he was in range of the 72-hole scoring record at Riviera that dates to 1985, the longest standing on the PGA Tour schedule. He wasn’t thinking about reaching No. 1 in the world. All he cared about was winning at Riviera, one of his favourite courses where he had four chances to win in the last five years.

“Winning the golf tournament … that’s what I was here to do,” he said.

Johnson, who made three meaningless bogeys over the last 10 holes for an even-par 71, became the 20th player to reach No. 1 since the world ranking began in 1986. He ended Jason Day’s 47-week stay at the top.

“He deserves it because he’s been playing great golf,” Day said.

Johnson won for the fourth time against some of golf’s strongest fields in the last eight months – the U.S. Open at Oakmont, a World Golf Championship at Firestone, a FedEx Cup playoff event at Crooked Stick and the best field so far this year at Riviera. He has finished no worse than third in eight of his last 16 tournaments.

“No surprise to us players, and I don’t think too much surprise to many others,” Jordan Spieth said.

And it’s not a surprise to Johnson.

Asked if he ever looked at himself as the best in the world even without the No. 1 ranking, Johnson smiled and said, “All the time.”

“I mean, I think I’m a good player,” he said. “Everybody has their own opinion. I believe in myself. I think I’m a great player. The best in the world? I mean, until now I probably wouldn’t have said I was the best in the world. But now I can say it.”

He heard it, too, as the gallery on the hill surrounding the 18th green began chanting, “No. 1.”

Johnson finished at 17-under 267. Lanny Wadkins won at Riviera in 1985 at 20-under 264. Johnson said he didn’t know what the record was, and once he made the turn with a seven-shot lead, he started playing away from trouble and at the middle of the greens.

“I didn’t finish the last 10 holes the way I’d like to, but I had a pretty good lead. I was on cruise control,” Johnson said.

Told the record score, he said, “Next year.”

Thomas Pieters of Belgium and Scott Brown tied in the other tournament. No one had a chance to win as soon as Johnson began the final round with two straight birdies, but Pieters closed with a 63 and Brown shot a 68 to share second place at 12-under 272.

That’s a big step for Pieters to earn a PGA Tour card, and it assured him a spot in the next two World Golf Championships. Cameron Tringale, who played the final 36 holes with Johnson, also was at 12 under until a double bogey on the final hole dropped him to a tie for eighth.

Graham DeLaet (68) of Weyburn, Sask., finished in 17th at 7 under while Adam Hadwin (69) of Abbotsford, B.C., was 34th at 4 under. Abbotsford’s Nick Taylor (73) was 55th at 1 under.

PGA Tour rookie Wesley Bryan shot a 63 in the third round Sunday morning and got within two shots of Johnson, but only until Johnson finished off the third round with his stretch of birdies. Bryan shot 72 in the afternoon and tied for fourth.

Bryan went to the same high school as Johnson – Dutch Fork in South Carolina – though he played most of his golf with Johnson’s younger brother, Austin. He has seen enough of Johnson to realize this was inevitable.

“Honestly, I’m surprised it took so long for him to get to No. 1 in the world,” Bryan said. He’s got all the talent that you could ever want in a golfer.“

Pat Perez saw it all day. He also was in the final group for the last 36 holes, and on the ninth tee, Perez stood to the side as Johnson’s tee shot was headed for a bunker. Johnson dipped his knees and urged it to cut, as if that mattered – it cleared the sand by some 20 yards.

Perez shook his head, smiled. Later in the final round, Perez was standing behind the 10th green when he said, “The guys hits it 40 yards by me, hits his short irons great and makes 30-foot putts. What do you?”

NAPLES, Fla. – Fred Couples won the Chubb Classic on Sunday for his 12th PGA Tour Champions title and first since 2014, rallying to beat Miguel Angel Jimenez at TwinEagles.

The 57-year-old Couples shot a bogey-free 5-under 67 to finish at 16-under 200 on the Talon Course, three strokes ahead of second-round leader Jimenez.

“It’s never easy to win a golf tournament,” Couples said. “This is a good course. You have to hit a lot of good shots.”

Also the 2010 event winner at The Quarry, Couples won for the first time since the 2014 Shaw Charity Classic in Alberta. The Hall of Famer, long hampered by back problems, won 15 times on the PGA Tour – his lone major coming in the 1992 Masters.

“I felt a little pressure, but I wasn’t under gobs of pressure because you’ve just got to keep making birdies,” Couples said. “Sometimes when you’re trying to make pars it’s hard to hit really, really quality shots to make pars.”

Couples had three birdies on the front nine, and matched Jimenez’s birdies on the par-4 14th and par-5 17th. Jimenez, a stroke ahead of playing partners Couples and Kevin Sutherland entering the round, shot a 71. The 53-year-old Spaniard bogeyed the par-4 18th.

“He played very well, very solid, very nice,” Jimenez said about Couples

Jerry Kelly closed with a 66 to tie for third at 11 under in his senior debut. The three-time PGA Tour winner turned 50 in November.

“We learned a few things,” Kelly said. “You’ve got to go balls out all the time. I played a shot out of the rough to the right, smart like I should have, but that’s not the way you play out here.”

Jeff Sluman (68) and Canada’s Rod Spittle (69) also were 11 under.

Sutherland followed his second-round 63 with a 73 to drop into a tie for sixth at 10 under with Bernhard Langer (69), Scott McCarron (67) and Jerry Smith (69).

Langer won in 2011 at The Quarry and 2013 and 2016 at TwinEagles. The 59-year-old German star won the season-opening event in Hawaii for his 30th tour victory. He has 29 rounds in a row under par.

McCarron won last week in Boca Raton.

Colin Montgomerie ran his under-par streak to 30, shooting a 71 to tie for 20th at 7 under.

John Daly tied for 30th at 5 under, shooting 68-74-69.

Couples opened with rounds of 68 and 65. He has broken 70 in all eight tour rounds this season, shooting 65-65 to finish second in Hawaii and 68-65-69 to tie for sixth in Boca Raton.

“I love playing golf, I really do. I like this tour,” Couples said. “So to play on it is always fun, and when you’re not playing on it, for me it’s a struggle because I know my back’s bad. So far this year I’ve felt way better than I did last year. I still hate to say it, I don’t feel perfect out there, but right now my swing is good enough that when I’m a little stiff I can get around it. And three tournaments for some people is nothing. For me, it’s a huge goal because I just don’t last that long and I feel good.”

ADELAIDE, Australia – Ha Na Jang boldly predicted she’d finish at 10-under on Saturday evening; little did she realise it would be enough to lift the Patricia Bridges Bowl in the most dramatic circumstances.

In a rollercoaster final round during which no fewer than five players held or shared the ISPS Handa Women’s Australian Open lead, Jang unleased a closing salvo that will long be remembered by all in a huge gallery at Royal Adelaide.

The Korean hadn’t made a birdie in almost three hours on a day of trying, gusty winds as the overnight leaders imploded and left 17 people within three shots of the lead as birdies became a rare commodity.

But in a truly incredible final hour from the 13^th hole, the effervescent 24-year-old from Seoul went birdie-birdie-par-par-eagle-birdie to close out a remarkable back-nine 31 that simply left the field in her wake.

Jang’s explosive finish left her a three-shot winner for her fourth career LPGA Tour title – all in the past 13 months.

Maude-Aimée Leblanc finished at 5-under par (71-68-73-75) to close with a share a seventh place – a career best for the Sherbrooke, Que., product. Fellow Canadian Alena Sharp also had a strong performance Down Under, finishing T16 at 3-under for the tournament.

Brooke Henderson had an electric front nine with five birdies to shoot 32, but would play the back nine at 3-over par to finish at 2-under for the tournament in a tie for 21st.

Unheralded Dane Nanna Madsen was one of few among the third-round leader to hold her ground and her even-par 73 was eventually good enough for seven under and second in a blanket finish for the minor placings.

World No.2 Ariya Jutanugarn came from the clouds to momentarily lead, but a three-putt bogey on the 15^th consigned her to a share of third at six under alongside defending champion Haru Nomura (73) and Australian pair Minjee Lee (70) and Sarah Jane Smith (75).

Third-round leader Lizette Salas had recovered from an early lapse and led by three shots as she strolled the 11^th fairway until four bogeys in five holes reduced her to a 78 and a share seventh.

Her playing partner, Melbourne’s Su Oh, was also flattened by three back-nine bogeys and finished T14 after carding a 77.

Hannah Green was the other Australian in the mix and briefly shared the clubhouse lead after her 71 left her at five under and her most impressive finish in her three-month professional career.

But the day belonged to Jang, whose magnetic demeanour has won a horde of Australian fans in her third visit to the national championship, including five singing fans who supported loudly throughout her 69 strokes, most notably after her breathtaking eagle on the penultimate hole.

“I’m just looking for the score board (early on the back nine) and it’s not really good scores for the other players,” Jang said.

“I said, ‘OK, you can do it, just you try simple’.

“Then on hole number 13 and 14 (I made) birdie.  I’m starting more, like my mind is more exciting and I can do it more,” she bubbled.

“I try like consultation and conversation, too, and then hole number 17, I try to think about the speed and it (was) very, very exciting.

“(The putt is) feeling good, touching (my blade) solid, looks good, `Oh my God, that one is (to) make eagle — eagle, yeah!

“So my mind is more nervous, (the) pressure is gone. Hole number 18 is easy.  It’s very exciting today.”

If that sounds excitable, it was probably only half as pumped as the crowd who’d taken her theatrics to heart, most notably the five chanting men.

“I remember fan guy (as we were) starting hole No.1, saying, `Ha Na, let’s go. Ha Na Jang, you can do it”, like that.

“I play with Haru and she said, `You know that guy, right?’ and I said, `No, I think it’s an Australian guy’. She say, `Why is he a big fan for you … I think he likes you.”

“So that’s why big fans every hole and every hole is a good shot (with shouts), `Good shot Ha Na, you can do it.  Let’s go do it’, like that.

“Thank you so much … they’re good sport.”

Jang immediately promised to return to defend her title at Kooyonga next year.

“I love Australia because food is good, people (are) really kind, I love the golf course and the weather is so good, because it’s not really hot.  Strong windy and a little dry, I like dry arid conditions, so, really good,” she beamed before leaving with one final gem about her love of Aussie golf courses.

“I like the golf course because (they’re) firm.  I like fast green and firm green. Korea’s (courses are) really soft and (have) long grass, (with) little, soft green.

“But in Australia … every hole is happy, you know why? I hit driver 300 yard, because it’s long on the fairway.  Always I’m looking, and it’s oh, 300 yards, it looks like little girl’s Bubba Watson. That’s funny.”

World No.1 Lydia Ko fired a closing 75 to finish two over, playing alongside world No.8 Brooke Henderson who threatened early in reaching five under, but fell away late to shoot 71 and finish two under, just outside the top 20.

PERTH, Australia – Brett Rumford beat Phachara Khongwatmai of Thailand 2 and 1 in the final round of match play Sunday to claim the first World Super 6 tournament title near where he grew up in West Australia.

Rumford led by five strokes at 17-under 199 after 54 holes of stroke play in the experimental golf tournament at Lake Karrinyup Country Club in Western Australia, which is being sanctioned by the European, Asian and Australasian tours.

Eliminations during three rounds of stroke play whittled the field down to 24 for five six-hole rounds of match play on Sunday. The top eight seeded players, including Nova Scotia’s Austin Connelly, had a first-round bye.

Connelly’s strong debut on the European Tour came to a close in a 2&1 loss to Australian Matthew Millar. The Team Canada graduate will take home € 25,567 for his efforts.

Favourite Louis Oosthuizen, who had a share of second spot at 12 under going into the match play, lost to Adam Bland in the quarterfinals after hitting his tee shot into a bunker on the third shootout hole and then missing a long par putt.

Rumford beat Bland in the semifinals and then was too consistent against 17-year-old Phachara.

The 39-year-old Rumford underwent surgery in 2015 to have a section of his small intestine removed after falling ill in South Africa and lost his European Tour card last year during a long winless stretch, but has earned back full status with his first win on the tour since 2013.

“All I can say it has been a really, really tough week,” Rumford said. “You’re looking at the last six holes pretty much to win a 72-hole golf tournament _ so it comes down to the nitty gritty of that same feeling of trying to win a golf tournament.

“It was a unique challenge in trying to win a golf championship and feeling that same emotions, tension and pressure for six holes in four straight matches.”

Rumford said it was great to be back, and he was happy he could win in front of his wife and twin daughters.

“It has been a pretty tough road last year and the year before that was even tougher with my surgery,” he said. “I only saw my daughters, my twin girls, for four weeks in six months and I sort of completely fell out of love with the game and my direction in life.

“But it’s really nice to get my tour card back and I feel I’ve got back my worth back as a golfer again.”

LOS ANGELES – Dustin Johnson is closing in on that elusive victory at Riviera, and a shot to reach No. 1 in the world.

And he still has a long way to go.

Johnson made two tough pars around the turn and poured it on late with three birdies over his last four holes for another 5-under 66 and a one-shot lead in the Genesis Open. It was a good place to be Saturday afternoon, except he was only halfway home at rainy Riviera.

The tournament lost an hour to fog Thursday, then seven hours when heavy rain and wind arrived in southern California on Friday, and two more hours Saturday morning to get the course cleaned up for play.

So what day is it?

“Saturday,” Johnson said. “Yeah, I think it’s Saturday.”

He was at 10-under 132 and had a one-shot lead over Pat Perez, who birdied his last two holes for a 66, and Cameron Tringale, whose wedge from 82 yards flew straight into the cup on No. 18 for a birdie and a 64.

Jhonattan Vegas finished his second round well before lunch with four pars for a 68. He was in the group at 7-under 135 along with Patrick Rodgers (67) and PGA Tour rookie J.T. Poston (69).

Graham DeLaet (68) of Weyburn, Sask., and Adam Hadwin (73) of Abbotsford, B.C., are both at 1 under after the second round. Abbotsford’s Nick Taylor (68) is even while David Hearn (73) of Brantford, Ont., is 1 over and Mackenzie Hughes (71) of Dundas, Ont., is 5 over. Hearn and Hughes missed the cut.

Sam Saunders, who opened with a 7-under 64 on Thursday and didn’t play at all on Friday, stumbled to a 77. He was right on the cut line and was in danger of becoming the first player in four years to go from leading the first round to missing the cut until a long birdie on the 17th. Saunders was nine shots behind.

The PGA Tour got a big break when 71 players made the cut, making it possible to complete 72 holes by Sunday. The third round was to begin late Saturday afternoon. Johnson, Perez and Tringale were unlikely to play again Saturday.

Johnson was in control of his game and the focus going into a marathon Sunday.

He said earlier this year that Riviera was the one tournament he wanted to win outside the majors because of his love for the course and how much he loves it, even though it has given him nothing but heartache. He has had a chance to win four times in the last five years.

Now, a victory might be enough to move him to No. 1 in the world. Johnson would have to win the Genesis Open and have world No. 1 Jason Day finish out of the top three to go to No. 1 for the first time.

“I don’t really worry about that,” Johnson said. “I want to put myself in position to win this golf tournament. That’s really all I care about is what it takes to get it done here. The rest of the stuff, the points and the world golf rankings, yeah, I would like to get there but I’m not worried about it.”

Day had another 70 and was eight shots behind and tied for 40th.

Jordan Spieth, coming off a victory at Pebble Beach, managed his 19th consecutive round under par on the PGA Tour with a 68 even though he felt as though he hit it short and crooked most of the week. He was at 5 under and in a tie for 11th.

Perez was coming off a bogey on the par-5 ninth when he drove left of the 10th green and hit what he thought was as good a shot as he could that ran onto the green toward the pin. It kept rolling into a bunker, though he hit a nifty shot from the sand to 3 feet for par.

“Another birdie,” he said as he walked off the green, paying homage to a 313-yard hole that bedevils him.

He saved his best work for the end of the round, chipping in from birdie from deep rough on the 17th and stuffing his approach into 8 feet for birdie on the 18th. Perez already has made a remarkable return from shoulder surgery, winning in his third tournament back in Mexico. Now he’s headed back to Mexico in two weeks for a World Golf Championship, and a big Sunday could set him up for another WGC at the Dell Match Play.

Perez said his shoulder pain started to return in Phoenix, but he has shortened his swing and expects no trouble over as many as 36 holes Sunday.

Tringale ran off three straight birdies on the front nine and didn’t drop a shot, saving his best for his final shot. After driving right into the eucalyptus trees on 18 and coming up short, he holed out for a 3 to get into the final group.

“Heard it hit the flag and then when people started going crazy, figured it had gone it,” he said. “It was a fun way to end.”

Now, the tournament feels as though it’s just getting started.

PERTH, Australia – Brett Rumford of Australia shot a 4-under 68 on Saturday to lead the World Super 6 tournament by five strokes and guarantee himself a bye in the first round of match play.

Rumford had a 17-under total of 199 in the tournament at Lake Karrinyup Country Club in Western Australia, which is being sanctioned by the European, Australian and Asian tours.

Tied for second on Saturday were former British Open champion Louis Oosthuizen (67), Canadian Austin Connelly (66) and Australians Jason Scrivener (66), Adam Blyth (68), Lucas Herbert (69) and Steven Jeffress (66). All will receive first-round byes in the six-hole match play on Sunday for being in the top eight after three rounds.

The tournament was cut to 24 players after the third round.

A purpose-built 90-meter (295-foot) hole has been constructed at Lake Karrinyup for the tournament, with a new tee placed adjacent to the 18th fairway and utilizing the 18th green. It will be played out once and if players remain tied at the end of match play, they will return to the new tee to hit one shot and whoever gets closest to the pin will be the winner.

ADELAIDE, Australia – American Lizette Salas shot a 2-under 71 Saturday to take a two-stroke lead over two Australians and a Thai golfer heading into the final round of the Women’s Australian Open at Royal Adelaide.

Salas, who had a 10-under total of 209, was 1 over after the front nine, but rescued her round with back-to-back birdies on the 14th and 15th holes and another on the par-5 17th.

Despite her poor start, she joked about her round later.

“I started to think whether or not I tied my hair up too tight, or whether I should take off my sweater,” Salas said. “I didn’t get a start that I wanted to but today I felt like even par literally felt like under par. I rolled in a few putts when I needed to.”

Canadian Maude-Aimée LeBlanc of Sherbrooke, Que., carded an even-par round for a two-way share of fifth at 7-under par heading into to Sunday’s final round. Countrywoman Alena Sharp recorded a 74 (+1) and sits tied for tenth at 5-under for the event.

South Korean-born Australian Su Oh had the round of the day, a 68, and was tied for second with fellow Australian and 36-hole leader Sarah Jane Smith (74) and Pornanong Phatlum of Thailand (73).

“It’s a little disappointing, I feel like I played pretty well,” Smith said. “I made a lot of soft bogeys today, where I feel like today’s the day where if you made some bogeys you’d be OK. Hopefully, we can get on top of that for tomorrow.”

Defending champion Haru Nomura of Japan had a second consecutive 69 and was in a group tied for seventh, four strokes behind.

No. 2-ranked Ariya Jutanugarn of Thailand, the LPGA’s Player of the Year and a five-time winner in 2016, shot a 71 and was at 4-under. Michelle Wie shot 76 and was at 2-under, eight strokes behind.

No. 1-ranked Lydia Ko of New Zealand was at even par after a 73 on Saturday, as was Canada’s Brooke Henderson.

Brooke and Brittany Henderson took to the course early on Saturday as the first “group” out in Round 3. Because of the odd number of players to make the cut (75) Henderson played on her own for the first time in her career and brisked through 18 holes in just over three hours, shooting even par with one birdie and one bogey.

“It took a little while to get the rhythm right because you’re normally waiting for other players and you have a little bit more time to process things, but at the end of the day it worked out really well and now I have the rest of the day to go experience Glenelg and Adelaide,” said Henderson.

Ko has a new coach, caddie and equipment.

“It takes time to get used to, but with the clubs actually, it hasn’t really taken a long time,” Ko said “Straight away I had a rough idea how far it was going and the flight itself. It’s something that I can trust, even though it’s only my first tournament with them.”

LOS ANGELES – Wind, rain and the snap of a large tree limb were enough to stop play Friday in the second round of the Genesis Open.

Sam Saunders remained atop the leaderboard without ever hitting a shot Friday at Riviera.

Jhonattan Vegas joined him at 7-under par and was all too happy to wait until Saturday morning – maybe – to complete his second round. The wind made it difficult to pick the right club. The rain made it difficult to gauge the speed on the greens.

But it was the crack of a eucalyptus tree that made PGA Tour officials sound the horn to get players – and spectators – off the course.

“We could have played a little bit more, but why? It’s going to get nothing but worse,” said Mark Russell, the PGA Tour’s vice-president of competition. “We wanted to get them out of there when the trees started snapping.”

No one was hurt, although Russell said he heard some spectators had to scramble to safety when the eucalyptus limb fell some 30 yards behind the third green.

It was tough on a few players, too, at least between the ears.

Hideki Matsuyama, who had a mathematical chance to reach No. 1 in the world this week with a victory, returned Friday morning to complete the first round and made three straight birdies for a 68. He likely will have to finish with three straight birdies Saturday just to make the cut. Matsuyama was 6 over through 15 holes on his second round, and 3 over for the tournament.

Defending champion Bubba Watson hasn’t had much go his way this week, even when they do. He couldn’t decide on a club at No. 5 and came up well short of the green, only to chip in for a birdie. Standing on the tee at the par-3 sixth, with a bunker in the middle of the green and the pin left and to the back, Watson jokingly lamented, “The one time I don’t want to hit first.”

He still had two holes to play and was 8 over, virtually assured of missing the cut.

Mackenzie Hughes of Dundas, Ont., was the lone Canadian to start his second round. He played 14 holes and is 5 over for the event.

Cameron Percy of Australia was among 24 players who finished his second round. He shot a 71 and was at 5-under 137. Zac Blair and Martin Laird each shot 68 and were finished at 4-under 138.

Graeme McDowell birdied three of his last eight holes for a 70 and was at 3 under, along with Daniel Summerhays (73) and Keegan Bradley (70).

Very much in the mix was Jordan Spieth, playing in the same group as Watson. He was the last to hit on No. 6 and had no idea what was going on when he hit his shot .

“Oh, don’t go that way,” Spieth said as the wind failed to bring it back to the right toward the green.

“No way. No way,” he said when his shot appeared to go well beyond the bunker to the left of the putting surface.

And then he heard a smattering of cheers.

The shot landed on a hill beyond the green, rode the slope back down to about 10 feet and he wound up with a birdie. He was at 5 under with two holes to play, and depending what the weather has in store, that might not be a bad place to be.

Spieth, coming off a victory at Pebble Beach last week, was headed for his 19th consecutive round under par on the PGA Tour.

“We knew it would be interesting today, and last week actually was great prep for it because we played through conditions like this that first round,” Spieth said. “Things aren’t going to always go your way on a day like today. Actually, rarely they’re going to go your way. … Tough break on this wave, but that happens, too. Go out tomorrow and play a strong last couple of holes and see if we can take advantage this weekend.”

Still to be determined was whether the rain _ and any debris _ would allow the second round to resume at 7 a.m. Saturday. Ideally, the second round would end in the mid-afternoon, making it still possible for 72 holes by Sunday.

Among those who didn’t play on Friday was Dustin Johnson, who opened with a 66. He needs a victory to have a chance to reach No. 1, depending on how Jason Day fares. The world’s No. 1 player was at 2 under for the tournament with three holes to play.

Day already had one highlight. He began his second round on No. 10, and his drive was so far to the right that it was in front of the temporary green, leaving him no shot except to bounce it up the narrow strip of turf separating two bunkers. He pulled it off perfectly, the ball stopped 8 feet away and Day walked off with a birdie.

TORONTO – The Golf Journalists Association of Canada (GJAC) and Freedom 55 Financial have awarded this year’s Freedom 55 Financial GJAC Journalism Scholarship to Hailey Salvian, a fourth-year journalism student at Ryerson University. (more…)