ST. ANDREWS, Scotland – Even with 155 years of history, the British Open can still serve up some strange twists at St. Andrews.

Dustin Johnson gave Saturday some semblance of order.

The second round lasted nearly 39 hours from the first tee shot to the final putt. Brooks Koepka hit one putt in 30 minutes, and he might still be on the 11th green except that he refused to keep going because his golf ball wouldn’t stay put. Jordan Spieth, who won the Masters and U.S. Open on the strength of his great short game, three-putted five times in one round and still kept alive his hopes of a Grand Slam.

If that wasn’t enough, 40 mph gusts that led to a 10 1/2-hour stoppage meant the British Open will end on Monday for the first time in 27 years.

For all the chaos on the Old Course, and for all the debate whether play should have even started Saturday because of the wind, Johnson only cared about the finish. He drove the 18th green and took two putts from 150 feet for birdie and a 3-under 69.

That gave him a one-shot lead over Danny Willett of England, who for the second straight year did not hit a single shot in the British Open on Saturday. Last year it was because he missed the cut. This time it was because he finished his second round Friday.

Not so unusual – at least not now – was Tiger Woods. He missed the cut for the third time in the last four majors.

One month after a three-putt from 12 feet cost him a shot at the U.S. Open, Johnson walked the Old Course with a swagger. He did enough damage over 13 holes Friday that even a couple of bogeys didn’t get him off track, and he showed in the short time he played Saturday he could handle the wind.

“Every aspect of your game is challenged,” said Johnson, who was at 10-under 134.

Paul Lawrie, the 46-year-old Scot who won a crazy Open at Carnoustie in 1999, played bogey-free over the final 14 holes for a 70 and was two shots behind. Louis Oosthuizen (70) and Jason Day (71) joined the large group at 7-under 137 that included Adam Scott and Zach Johnson, who finished Friday.

Spieth, going after the third leg of the Grand Slam, shot 72 and was five behind.

As gusts began to top 40 mph when the second round resumed in the morning, Johnson chose to chip up the steep slope at the front of the par-5 14th green. He didn’t hit quite hard enough. And then, the player with a reputation of being it too much of a hurry at the majors made the mistake of taking his time. An inch away from placing his coin behind the ball to mark it, a gust moved his ball and it picked up enough momentum to roll off the green and cause Spieth race toward his ball and then jump out of the way.

“My coin was about to hit the ground when it took off,” Johnson said. “Then I went to mark it again, and it took off again. And then Jordan was running to his ball. It was pretty funny. I was laughing at him. I wasn’t laughing at myself.”

Three putts later, Johnson had his second bogey of the week. One hole later, the R&A realized it was too windy to continue.

Johnson returned nearly 11 hours later, made two solid pars and finished with his birdie. It was the fourth time in the last six rounds at the majors that he has had at least a share of lead, though not when it mattered – at the end.

This might be his best chance yet.

Spieth three-putted for par on the 14th hole and swiped his putter in disgust as leaving two of those putts short. He had another three-putt from about 90 feet on the 17th hole. But he stayed in the game by driving the 18th green for a birdie.

“I believe I’m still in contention. I still believe I can win this tournament,” Spieth said.

But after spending two days playing alongside Johnson, he also realized a third straight major will require some help.

“I need a really solid round tomorrow because Dustin is not letting up,” Spieth said. “Dustin is going to shoot a good round tomorrow with less wind, and I’m going to need to shoot a great round to really give myself a chance.”

The second round didn’t finish Friday because a burst of heavy rain flooded the course. That was nothing compared with the gusts off the Eden Estuary, and the R&A knew it was going to be on the edge to play. R&A officials said they spent an hour on the 11th green – the most exposed part of the golf course – to make sure golf balls weren’t moving. And then it started, and Koepka’s ball wouldn’t stay put.

He took nearly 30 minutes to hit one putt. He kept marking his golf ball and protesting with a rules official and finally said he wouldn’t play when his ball moved a couple of inches on three occasions. A few holes ahead, Oosthuizen putted up to 3 feet on the 13th. A gust blew it a few feet away and, as the South African laughed at the absurdity, it moved about 8 feet away.

About that time, play was halted and didn’t resume until 6 p.m.

Ultimately, what mattered was the finish.

Just not for Woods. He never had a realistic chance of making the cut. Needing mostly birdies, he resumed his round with three straight bogeys and shot 75 to finish his two rounds at 7-over 151. That was his highest 36-hole ever in the British Open, one month after his highest 36-hole total ever (156) to miss the cut in the U.S. Open.

Graham DeLaet recorded a second-round 73 and sits T61 heading into the third round. David Hearn will not being teeing it up tomorrow after rounds of 74 and 73.

OPELIKA, Ala. — Playing partners Ricky Barnes and Scott Piercy started the third round with similar birdies and ended it with matching scores – and the lead.

They each shot 6-under 65 on Saturday to share the lead in the PGA Tour’s inaugural Barbasol Championship. Barnes and Piercy reached 13-under 200 on Grand National’s Lake Course, and will be paired together again while jockeying for the top spot Sunday.

The pairing worked well for both in the third round.

“We were both hitting solid shots, giving ourselves good looks,” Barnes said. “And we both got off to a great start. We both holed about an 18-20-footer on the first hole. So we saw balls going in the hole, saw good shots. Not so much competing, but kind of feeding off each other.”

Piercy birdied four of the first five holes. He has won twice on the PGA Tour.

“I’ve won a couple of times where I think a couple of the guys that are up there haven’t won yet,” Piercy. “I think that’s probably a bigger advantage is that I’ve gotten it done a couple of times. Not worried about locking up my card this week or stuff like that is another advantage.”

Count Barnes, who had birdies on Nos. 16 and 17, among the winless. He’s seeking his first PGA Tour win in 202 events.

Barnes came closest to victory with a runner-up finish in the 2009 U.S. Open. That also was the only other time he held or shared a 54-hole lead.

Second-round co-leaders Whee Kim and Mark Hensby were among five players a shot back. Both shot 68 in the event for players who failed to make the British Open field. Jason Gore had a 63, Will Wilcox a 65, and Emiliano Grillo a 67 to join the group at 12 under.

The 43-year-old Hensby, from Australia, surged with a 4-under performance over the final three holes, starting with an eagle on the par-5 16th. He had fallen to 8 under.

He has limited tour status after battling rotator cuff problems in his right shoulder. Hensby won the 2004 John Deere Classic for his only PGA Tour title.

Kim was similarly up and down. He had four birdies on the first nine holes then a five-hole span that included three bogeys and two more birdies.

Gore knocked 10 strokes off his Friday score, when he had five bogeys for a 73. He rebounded with a bogey-free round and birdies on five of the final eight holes.

“Shockingly enough, I was still pretty positive,” said Gore, whose only PGA Tour win came a decade ago. “I knew I wasn’t out of this golf tournament, I was only 5 back as bad as I played (Friday).”

Wilcox, a former UAB star from Birmingham, 6 under over the final nine holes, including an eagle on the par-5 16th. The big reason: “My putter kind of came alive,” he said.

Wilcox might have jitters before his final round but that’s nothing new.

“I’ll be nervous at the start, but I’m pretty much nervous every round I play,” he said. ” Once I get settled in, that’s when I can chill out.”

Canadian Roger Sloan posted a third-round 68 to sit T39 heading into Sunday.

ST. ANDREWS, Scotland – Tiger Woods at least enjoyed that familiar walk over the Swilcan Bridge and up the 18th fairway Saturday at St. Andrews, the gray old town in the background and a crowd six deep lining the road and watching from windows.

Not so familiar was his score.

He hasn’t had 7-over par next to his name at St. Andrews since he was a 19-year-old amateur, and that was the final round. This was only the second round, and he was headed home early for the third time in the last four majors.

“It’s one of the things I was talking about with Jason (Day). We were coming up 18, I said, `It’s the greatest walk in golf,'” Woods said after a 75 to finish two miserable days at 151, his worst 36-hole score in the British Open.

“He said, `Yeah, it’s nice when you have an eight-shot lead, too,” Woods added with a smile.

Woods won by eight shots in 2000 to complete the career Grand Slam. He won by five shots in 2005 to establish anew his dominance in the game.

Those days seem so long ago.

The former No. 1 player in the world and 14-time major champion looked tired, beaten and stressed as he made his way around one of his favorite courses. He had only three birdies over 36 holes and said he has no idea why his shots didn’t penetrate in the wind and why he couldn’t get it close enough to the hole.

“The golf course wasn’t playing that hard,” Woods said. “I just didn’t get much out of any of the two rounds.”

That’s been the story all year. For the first time, he missed the cut in the U.S. Open and the British Open in the same season, and neither was close. In those two championships he has won a combined six times, Woods beat only four players at Chambers Bay and seven players at St. Andrews.

And so the mystery continues.

Woods will fall out of the top 250 when the next world ranking is published after starting the year at No. 32. He already has had three rounds in the 80s this year after having just one for his entire career. He had hope coming off The Greenbrier, where he tied for 32nd and was six shots behind.

He looked lost on the Old Course.

“I felt like I was playing well enough to win this event,” Woods said.

He arrived on Saturday to do a junior clinic for Nike – Woods typically is all about preparations at the majors – and then after practice rounds on Sunday and Monday, he didn’t play another practice round on the Old Course until the championship started. Woods said he knew the course, practiced in both wind directions and wanted to conserve energy for what usually is a long week.

Except for the weather – rain on Friday, wind on Saturday – that made the second round take 24 hours to complete, this was a short week.

Woods plays in two weeks at his Quicken Loans National, and then he most likely closes his 2014-15 season at the PGA Championship. He said he still had designs on winning his tournament to become eligible for the Bridgestone Invitational.

He won’t see St. Andrews again until the British Open returns, likely in 2021.

“I’ll probably have less hair then,” Woods said, “and hopefully a little better game.”

ST. ANDREWS, Scotland – The British Open was stopped just 32 minutes after it resumed Saturday morning when gusts of up to 64 kph blew golf balls across the green and contributed to Dustin Johnson making bogey to fall into a share of the lead.

The second weather delay – rain on Friday, wind on Saturday – meant the first Monday finish in the British Open since 1988.

The R&A was hopeful of resuming the second round at 4 p.m. The third round is set for Sunday and the final round on Monday. The last major to end on Monday (without a playoff) was the 2009 U.S. Open at Bethpage Black won by Lucas Glover.

The R&A was criticized for even resuming the second round. Louis Oosthuizen, who got the good end of the weather when he won at St. Andrews in 2010, had a tap-in for par when a gust blew his golf ball a few feet away. As he stopped and smiled in disbelief, another gust moved it even further away.

About that time, Brooks Koepka tried to mark his ball five times on the 11th green – the most exposed on the golf course with the Eden Estuary on one side and St. Andrews Bay on the other – when play was halted.

R&A rules director David Rickman said his staff spent an hour on the 11th green without seeing a ball move, leading to the decision to try to play.

“What we weren’t expecting when we made the decision to go was the wind picked up,” he said. “We picked up 10 percent – 6.5 kph – in the half-hour after we started. We were close to the edge, anyway. That was the difference. As an administrator, my heart sank. Because I thought, `This has changed.’ It was always going to be a difficult day.”

Jordan Spieth, going after the third leg of the Grand Slam, was caught on television saying, “We never should have started.”

All it took was a half-hour for the wind to wreak havoc on the Old Course.

Johnson was at 10-under par and played his third shot from just short of the green on the par-5 14th. He chose to pitch it up a steep bank instead of using the putter, stubbed and barely reached the flat level of the green some 50 feet from the flag. His coin was a fraction away from marking his ball when it rolled away, down the slope and right toward Spieth’s ball. Spieth ran over, then quickly moved out of the way as Johnson’s ball rolled by.

Johnson putted the next one to about 15 feet and missed that for a bogey to fall into a tie at 9 under with Danny Willett, the clubhouse leader at 9-under 135. Spieth rolled his putt up to 8 feet and missed the birdie try. It was his fourth three-putt of the round. He was four shots out of the lead.

Up ahead, Brendon Todd had three holes to finish. He three-putted the 16th and 17th for bogeys and made par on the last hole to assure making the cut.

The temperature was cold in the wind. Todd was running hot, especially after play was halted right when he finished.

“I was pretty frustrated,” he said. “I three-putted 16 and 17, and then they’re going to call play. Why did we even start in the first place? Everyone is going to play in difficult conditions. With links golf, you get different draws and that’s the nature of the game. What I don’t like is when they make a bad decision to start in the first place.”

The real trouble was at the loop – holes 7-11 that are the most exposed.

The incident with Koepka was one thing. But when word came in that wind was affecting the inward holes – Oosthuizen on No. 13, for example – it was clear it had to stop.

It all added to another long day at St. Andrews, and it sure felt that way to David Duval, Stewart Cink and Ben Curtis. They woke up early to warm up and be in position at 7 a.m. They were to start on No. 11. But with Koepka’s issues on the green, they stood on the tee for more than 30 minutes without ever hitting a shot. Duval said there were three groups waiting on the tee when the siren sounded to stop.

The R&A said it was unlikely the second round would resume until 3 p.m., and the last group is still on the ninth hole. The third round was to feature threesomes, and Rickman was trying to figure out how to finish by Sunday. The forecast for the final round is for calmer conditions.

The last time the Open finished on a Monday was in 1988 at Royal Lytham & St. Annes because of rain. Seve Ballesteros won his third claret jug over Nick Price, Nick Faldo and Fred Couples, all of whom are in the Hall of Fame.

OPELIKA, Ala. — L’Australien Mark Hensby a réussi des oiselets sur trois des quatre derniers trous, vendredi, et il s’est hissé en tête du classement du Championnat Barbasol de la PGA, à égalité avec le Sud-Coréen Whee Kim.

Hensby a complété le deuxième parcours avec un score de 64, sept coups sous la normale, pour une fiche cumulative de 133, neuf coups sur le par. Kim, une recrue sur le circuit de la PGA, a signé une carte de 66.

Hensby, qui est âgé de 43 ans, vise une deuxième victoire sur le circuit de la PGA, après son triomphe lors de la Classique John Deere en 2004.

L’Argentin Emilian Grillo (66), Sam Saunders (70) et Charlie Beljan (64) accusent un coup de retard sur les comeneurs.

OAKVILLE, Ont. – Golf Canada and RBC are pleased to announce the final field of competitors vying for the US$5.8 million purse at the 2015 RBC Canadian Open, July 20-26 at Glen Abbey Golf Club.

Defending champion Tim Clark will be challenged by a stellar field of PGA TOUR stars including World No. 3 Bubba Watson, World No. 6 and two-time RBC Canadian Open champion Jim Furyk, World No. 9 Jason Day, World No. 13 J.B. Holmes, World No. 15 Matt Kuchar, World No. 22 Brooks Koepka, World No. 26 and 2013 RBC Canadian Open Champion Brandt Snedeker, World No. 30 Ryan Palmer, World No. 44 Charley Hoffman, World No. 55 Graeme McDowell and World No. 64 Luke Donald, as well as, World Golf Hall of Fame member Ernie Els.

Other notable additions to the field for the 106^th playing of Canada’s National Open Championship include 34-time PGA TOUR winner Vijay Singh, 20-time winner Davis Love III, 12-time winner Justin Leonard, 12-time winner Steve Stricker, eight-time winner K.J. Choi, seven-time winner Retief Goosen, six-time winner Rory Sabbatini and three-time winner Angel Cabrera.

Clark, who captured the 2014 RBC Canadian Open trophy at The Royal Montreal Golf Club in Île-Bizard, Que., will be joined by nine other former champions including Team RBC members Brandt Snedeker – who won in 2013 at Glen Abbey Golf Club – and Jim Furyk who claimed back-to-back championships in 2006 and 2007. Other confirmed past champions include Scott Piercy (2012), Sean O’Hair (2011), Carl Pettersson (2010), Nathan Green (2009), Chez Reavie (2008), Vijay Singh (2004), and John Rollins (2002).

In total, 156 players will compete for the US$5.8 million purse next week in Oakville when Canada’s National Open Championship returns to Glen Abbey for a record 27^th time.

14 CANADIANS CURRENTLY SET TO COMPETE FOR THE NATIONAL TITLE

Leading the Canadian contingent will be World No. 80 Graham DeLaet of Weyburn, Sask., who recorded a fourth-place finish last month at the Travelers Championship, as well as, David Hearn of Brantford, Ont., who will look to build on a playoff runner-up finish at The Greenbrier Classic.

PGA TOUR rookies and Abbotsford, B.C., natives Adam Hadwin and Nick Taylor, along with Roger Sloan of Merritt, B.C., will also be in the field alongside Web.com Tour player Brad Fritsch of Manotick, Ont.

Team Canada will be well-represented with Young Pro Squad members Corey Conners of Listowel, Ont., Taylor Pendrith of Richmond Hill, Ont. and Adam Svensson of Surrey, B.C., as well as, National Amateur Squad members Austin Connelly of Irving, Texas and Blair Hamilton of Burlington, Ont.

Connelly’s 2015 Pan Am Games Team Canada teammate Garrett Rank of Elmira, Ont., will be in the field after earning an exemption through his 2014 Canadian Men’s Mid-Amateur victory.

PGA of Canada professional Billy Walsh of Markham, Ont., earned his way into the 2015 RBC Canadian Open field as the No. 1-ranked player on the PGA of Canada Player Rankings presented by RBC.

Former Team Canada member Richard Jung of Toronto earned his exemption into the field by topping the 144-player field at the RBC Canadian Open Regional Qualifier in Ontario.

The Canadians in the field have their sights set on becoming the first Canadian to capture the national title since Pat Fletcher claimed victory in 1954.

Golf Canada also confirmed today that Canadian Golf Hall of Fame member Mike Weir of Brights Grove, Ont., has withdrawn from the event for personal reasons. Weir was slated to make his 25^th appearance at the RBC Canadian Open.

“The field is nearly set and we’re ready to tee-up the 106^th playing of Canada’s National Open Championship starting next week at Glen Abbey Golf Club,” said Tournament Director Brent McLaughlin. “We’ve got a tremendous mix of international stars and Canadian talents ready to compete and a family-friendly festival experience ready to welcome spectators of all ages to the 2015 RBC Canadian Open.”

In addition, the winner of the Toronto 2015 Pan Am Games Golf Competition will be granted an exemption into the RBC Canadian Open. The competition at Angus Glen Golf Club in Markham, Ont., began on July 16 and will conclude on July 19.

The top three players on the Mackenzie Tour-PGA Tour Canada Order of Merit following this week’s Staal Foundation Open presented by Tbaytel in Thunder Bay, Ont., will also earn exemptions into the field for the 2015 RBC Canadian Open.

The final four exemptions into the field for the 2015 RBC Canadian Open will be handed out at the Monday Final Qualifier on July 20 to be played at Heron Point Golf Links in Alberton, Ont.

Click here for the full list of competitors competing in the 2015 RBC Canadian Open at Glen Abbey Golf Club from July 20-26.

ST. ANDREWS, Scotland – The grand pursuit of Jordan Spieth, redemption for Dustin Johnson, the mystery that has become Tiger Woods. It all came to a momentary halt Friday in the gloaming of St. Andrews when Tom Watson said goodbye to the British Open.

Watson, the most prolific winner of golf’s oldest championship in the last century, finished his 129th round with lights from the Royal & Ancient clubhouse illuminating the 18th green. The five-time champion made bogey. The score was irrelevant.

“There were no tears,” Watson said. “This is a joyous occasion. I have a lot of great, great memories. And those memories filled me up.”

Everything else about this wet and wild second round remained unsettled.

A heavy downpour at dawn flooded the Old Course and disrupted the start by more than three hours. Johnson and Spieth teed off shortly before 6 p.m. and were headed in different directions when it was too dark to continue.

In swift, shifting weather – umbrellas on one hole, sunglasses on the next – Johnson made three birdies in four holes on the front nine and built a two-shot lead before he made his first bogey of the tournament. He three-putted on the par-3 11th in wind so severe he had to back off a 4-foot putt and wipe his eyes.

Johnson was at 10-under par.

Spieth three-putted for bogey three times in 11 holes to offset three birdies and was five shots behind Johnson, whom he beat by one shot in the U.S. Open last month to capture the second leg of the Grand Slam.

Both were just short on the par-5 14th hole in two shots when they chose to mark their golf balls and return at 7 a.m. Saturday to resume the round.

“I’m in a good spot,” Johnson said. “Definitely got very tricky this afternoon, all day. Even the front side, the wind was howling and it was blowing straight left-to-right pretty much. It played very tough all day.”

Danny Willett of England had to cope with the wind, too, and he had a 3-under 69 to walk off the 18th green with his name atop the leaderboard at 9-under 135.

“Yeah, I think it’s a childhood dream and looking up there it’s still a little bit surreal, but something I’m going to have to get used to,” Willett said. “Otherwise, no point in being up there. We’re going to try and rest up and then try and go out for another good weekend and hopefully, we can be up there in two days’ time.”

Watson wasn’t the only player to bid farewell to the Old Course.

Nick Faldo, the three-time Open champion regarded as Britain’s greatest champion, came out of the TV tower to play St. Andrews one last time. He switched into a sweater that he wore for his first Open title in 1987 at Muirfield, thrust his arms in the air atop the Swilcan Bridge, and saved par for a 71.

And then there was Woods, headed toward the wrong kind of history. Barring a burst of birdies when he returns Saturday morning – the kind of form he has not shown in two years – he was likely to miss the cut in the U.S. Open and the British Open for the first time in the same year. Woods was 5 over with seven holes to play.

So much attention has been on Spieth and Jordan, the main characters from the drama that played out at Chambers Bay last month. Johnson had a 12-foot eagle putt on the final hole to win the U.S. Open, and three-putted to finish one shot behind golf’s new golden child.

The wind was fierce, taxing shots with every club in the bag down to the putter.

Johnson continued to hammer away with his driver, setting up birdies, and he looked every bit like the player to beat. Spieth got in enough trouble off the tee that he often left long-range putts that led to bogeys instead of birdies.

Behind them, a long list of players lined up to take their shot on the weekend.

Jason Day, in contention at Chambers Bay even though he battled symptoms of vertigo, was at 8-under par through 11 holes. Paul Lawrie, the `99 champion at Carnoustie, also was at 8 under through 12 holes. Louis Oosthuizen, who won the claret jug the last time the Open came to St. Andrews, was at 7 under through 11 holes.

Graham DeLaet of Canada sits at even-par for the tournament and is in line to make the cut.

Among those who managed to finish was Adam Scott, a former Masters champion who is starting to feel the void of giving away the British Open at Royal Lytham & St. Annes in 2012 when he bogeyed the last four holes. Scott was in control in blustery weather, flighting his ball low and judging the bounce to perfect. He made three birdies around the loop at the far end of the course and closed with a birdie for a 67.

Scott was at 7-under 137, along with Zach Johnson (71), Marc Warren (69) and Robert Streb (71).

“The last few years at the Open has been some of my favorite golf,” Scott said. “Getting into contention at this championship and having a chance to lift the claret jug is what it’s all about. This is a great position. I’m excited for my weekend.”

OPELIKA, Ala. — Australia’s Mark Hensby birdied three of the final four holes Friday for a 7-under 64 and a share of the second-round lead in the inaugural Barbasol Championship.

Hensby matched South Korea’s Whee Kim at 9-under 133 on Grand National’s Lake Course in the PGA Tour event for players who failed to qualify for the British Open.

“I played well. I gave myself a lot of chances,” Hensby said. “I hit a couple of wayward ones, but I haven’t played in a tournament in quite some time. You get a little nervy in the middle, but then kind of settled down and hit some good shots.”

The 43-year-old Hensby won the 2004 John Deere Classic for his lone PGA Tour title. He has fought rotator cuff problems in his right shoulder and has limited tour status.

“I had some injuries and the last two years I’ve been healthy, but I missed second stage of Q-school last year, so that gives you nothing,” Hensby said. “There’s just nowhere to play. I’ve played a couple mini-tours here and there, but this is my first tournament in quite some time. It’s good to be back.”

Kim shot a 66. He’s playing his 19th event in his rookie season on the PGA Tour.

“I just tried to keep it in the fairway,” Kim said. “If I miss the fairway for tee shots, going to be really tough to get to the green. So, I just tried to focus on the fairway.”

Argentina’s Emiliano Grillo, the highest-ranked player in the field at No. 98, shot a 66 to join first-round leader Sam Saunders and Charlie Beljan at 8 under.

Saunders, Arnold Palmer’s grandson, followed his opening 64 with a 70.

“I really didn’t play a whole lot different today than I did yesterday,” Saunders said. “The angles were a little off today. Hit it over a couple greens that I thought were good shots, and then I hit a couple of good shots that ended up in some funky places. That’s golf.”

Beljan had a 64.

“I was 3 over yesterday after my first nine and kind of just kept on doing the same thing and a couple putts went in and we built some momentum and here we are at 8 under,” Beljan said.

“It’s not an easy course. You’ve got to drive it well because you have to be able to control your shots into the greens with the quadrants the way they are.”

David Toms topped the group at 7 under after a 66.

Former Masters champion Mike Weir won’t play in his 25th RBC Canadian Open and is taking an “indefinite leave of absence” from pro golf for personal reasons.

Weir said in a statement posted on Twitter and that he is taking time off to focus on his personal life and children.

I have decided to take some time off from golf competition for personal reasons. Thanks to my fans for their support. pic.twitter.com/hsfB6EXqNa

— Weirsy (@MikeWeir) July 17, 2015

He and wife Bricia divorced earlier this year. They have two teenaged daughters.

“Mike has recently endured some difficult times in his personal life,” agent Danny Fritz wrote in an email to The Canadian Press. “With everything that has been going on away from the golf course, Mike’s golf game has been impacted as a result.”

Weir withdrew from his last PGA Tour event, the John Deere Classic, earlier this month after shooting a first-round 73. He missed the cut at his previous eight tournaments.

The 45-year-old said there’s no time table for his return.

“Family is incredibly important to me,” Weir said in the statement. “I love the game and will return when the time is right.”

Weir was expected to be one of more than a dozen Canadian players in the field for the RBC Canadian Open, which is set to begin Thursday at Glen Abbey Golf Club in Oakville, Ont. He was the runner-up to Vijay Singh in 2004 when he lost in a playoff at Glen Abbey.

That second-place finish came a year after he was the first Canadian golfer to win the Masters.

Weir, a native of Bright’s Grove, Ont., said it was “extremely difficult” to decide to miss the RBC Canadian Open because he loves playing in front of home fans.

“That’s unfortunate,” Golf Canada chief championship officer Bill Paul said in a phone interview from St. Andrews, Scotland. “I understand. We’ll wish him well and be watching him, and he’ll be back for his 25th sometime.”

Weir first played the Canadian Open in 1989 and has been the top Canadian four times. He’s tied for the tournament record for most consecutive rounds under par, a mark he set from 2007-2009.

Canadians Graham DeLaet and David Hearn are set to go right from the British Open to play at Glen Abbey.

OPELIKA, Ala. — Sam Saunders, Arnold Palmer’s grandson, shot a 7-under 64 in warm conditions Thursday to take the first-round lead in the inaugural Barbasol Championship.

“It’s hot. When it’s hot like this, you’ve got to conserve energy,” Saunders said. “So, getting excited about a birdie or getting mad about a bogey just burns energy that you need to try to hit good shots. I try to walk like I’m in a daze out there all day and just stay very level.”

Saunders saved par with a 15-foot putt on the par-3 eighth hole and closed with a birdie on the par-4 ninth to cap his bogey-free round on Grand National’s Lake Course.

“I just putted a lot better,” Saunders said. “I’ve been playing really well lately, been hitting the ball as well as I’ve ever hit it in my career in the past few weeks, really last month. I just had been putting terribly. I finally just had a few putts go in today and that always turns over into a little bit of confidence and it was really just that.”

The 27-year-old former Clemson player is winless in 45 career starts on the PGA Tour, with a career best tie for second this year in the Puerto Rico Open.

“It is just the first round, yes, but it’s always nice to get off to a good start,” Saunders said. “You have to hit the ball well here and I did that today. I drove it well and I hit a lot of good iron shots. You don’t have to putt great here, I think, to shoot a good, solid score, but to shoot 7 under, I had a lot of putts go in for me today, which is nice. I haven’t seen that happen in a long time, so it was great.”

Jason Gore was a stroke back at 65. He birdied four of his last five holes.

“The golf course is just there for the taking,” Gore said. “It’s a great golf course. If these are the scoring conditions, not a breath of wind, greens were holding, you just kind of had to go out and take advantage of it.”

Stanford junior Maverick McNealy, the Jack Nicklaus Award winner as the Division I player of the year, was tied for third at 66 along with Martin Flores, Will Wilcox, Carlos Ortiz and Carlos Sainz Jr.

McNealy, playing alongside Saunders, had an eagle, five birdies and two bogeys.

“I love to play and I love to compete,” McNealy said. “To compete against the best in the world and on a golf course like this that’s in perfect condition and do all that, that’s what every kid dreams of, playing on the PGA Tour. So, I’ve just had a blast. It’s all fun for me.”

Two-time heart transplant recipient Erik Compton topped the group at 67.

Argentina’s Emiliano Grillo, the highest-ranked player in the field at No. 98, opened with a 68.

Web.com Tour money leader Patton Kizzire had a 71. He’s from Montgomery and played at nearby Auburn.

“I hit the ball really well,” Kizzire said. “My putting was pretty suspect. That was about as bad as I’ve putted in a long time. Feel like I turned a 64 or 67 to 71, which is not a whole lot of fun. But I’m encouraged by the way I’m hitting the ball and just looking forward to tomorrow.”

Canadian Roger Sloan posted an even-par 71 opening round today.