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Canuck du Toit one off lead at Canadian Open

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OAKVILLE, Ont. — Oh, what might have been.

But, more importantly, what might still be.

With Spaniard Jon Rahm in and cooled with a second-round 67 and his college teammate, Canadian amateur sensation Jared du Toit, lurking near the top of the RBC Canadian Open leaderboard at Glen Abbey, it looked like the two friends would, unbelievably, get to play the third round together.

Rahm held up his end of the bargain, hanging around with a six-under total. Du Toit, who appeared to have crashed and burned with a triple-bogey on the par-5 second hole, came within an eyelash of making it happen.

But better yet, du Toit can still win this thing.

Showing guts and the ability to come back well beyond his years, du Toit overcame the near disaster early in his second nine to finish one stroke better than where he started the day and remain in the hunt for the championship.

A one-under 71 left him in a three-way tie for third and only a PGA ruling prevented him from starting Saturday’s round with his college buddy. He was that close.

“(This) feels pretty good,” du Toit said. “I mean, I’m a little surprised. I knew I could play well but, yeah, on this stage with the best guys in the world, it definitely feels pretty good. Everything from now (on) is just cream on top. I’ve had a lot of fun so far these last few days.”

Instead of the old Arizona State pairing, Rahm will play with Kelly Kraft and du Toit will pair up with Ricky Barnes.

But that didn’t stop Rahm from pondering what it would have been like to play with du Toit on the big stage.

“That would be extremely weird, I don’t know,” Rahm said. “I feel like it would be kind of hard to get serious at some point. Actually, it would be great. To be able to tee it up with a friend in a PGA Tour event would be more than an honour.

“It would be extremely fun for both of us.”

Alas, a stumble on the par-5 second hole, left du Toit scrambling to avoid a big number, never mind positioning himself to play with Rahm.

It’s not like it’s been years since Rahm and du Toit played together. Sheesh, it’s only been a few months since they teed it up together at Arizona State, the alma mater of Phil Mickelson.

But the two 21-year-olds obviously are tight, having been road roomies with the Sun Devils. As Rahm said, getting the chance to play with du Toit at an event like the Canadian Open would have been, well, pretty cool.

“We became really good friends,” said Rahm, a former world No. 1 amateur who turned pro less than a month ago at the Quicken Loans National. “I don’t think there is anyone on the (Arizona State) team who doesn’t like Jared. He’s just a genuine guy. Probably one of the most fun people I’ve ever met. We became really good friends.”

While Rahm and Calgary-born and B.C.-raised du Toit were doing what they could to arrange weekend tee times, Dustin Johnson, Luke List and Kelly Kraft got the job done and took a share of first place at seven under.

Rahm is a shot behind that threesome while Ricky Barnes (68), Ben Crane (70), Tyler Aldridge (70), Brendon de Jonge (71) and du Toit (72) are all in a group at five under.

While Rahm has quietly gone about his business in his second pro start and given himself a chance to win it, du Toit has made plenty of noise in his national championship.

Playing on a sponsor’s exemption, he opened with a stunning five-under 67 Thursday. Then Friday, he spent some time atop the leaderboard. Two birdies, on 17 and 18, got him to seven under, tying him with Johnson, and the disbelievers started to change their tune.

Then ... disaster. Or, what looked like disaster at the time. A triple-bogey after an adventure in the woods at No. 2 dropped him back to four under. A bogey three holes later seemed to stick a knife in du Toit’s chances of contending.

But dammit, the kid is resilient, if not talented. Three straight birdies brought him back to six under and a par on the ninth, his final hole, closed it out.

“Taking an eight always hurts but I just kind of stayed patient,” du Toit said. “The putter heated up at the right time and, yeah, it was all good. Nothing but good things to say.”

Now, incredibly, du Toit has a legitimate chance to make Canadian golf history, to finally put an end to the notion that a homegrown player can’t win this tournament.

Two days ago, few would have given him a chance to just make the cut at the Canadian Open, never mind win it?

So how is he going to prepare for the big moment? Make a stop at Tim Hortons, natch.

“I could go for some Tim’s,” du Toit said.

How Canadian is that?

JOHNSON SHARES LEAD

Dustin Johnson couldn’t replicate his first-round 66 Friday at the RBC Canadian Open.

But the world No. 2 and leader in the FedEx Cup standings didn’t need to go six under again to hang on to a share of first place at Glen Abbey.

No, a 1-under par 71 in hot, dry and windy conditions Friday that put a premium on driving accuracy and length was plenty good enough to get that done.

“Obviously I’d like to play a little better,” said Johnson, who went out in the early-morning wave. “I feel like I played better than (a 71).”

Late in the day, first-round co-leader Luke List came in with a 71 to leave the two again tied in first place. List offset three bogeys with four birdies to guarantee a spot with Johnson in the final pairing Saturday.

Johnson got off to a wonky start – he joked afterwards that he might have still been asleep thanks to an 8:10 am start time – and dropped four shots in a three-hole stretch.

“I don’t know what happened the first four holes,” Johnson admitted. “Just got off to a bad start. I hit in a couple awkward spots, made some bad bogeys.”

But birdies on the two 500-plus yard par-5s, the 16th and 18th, turned it around he grabbed those four strokes back in a red-hot stretch of four holes. Believe it or not, Johnson’s drives on the two par 5s were so long he was able to hit a lob wedge into the 16th and a sand wedge into 18.

Back-to-back birdies late in his round took Johnson to eight under but he gave one back on his final hole, the ninth to take some of the shine off his round.

“I fought back and turned it around and felt like I played really nicely from 14 on in,” Johnson said. “I think (the course) was a little tougher (than Thursday).”

With the way Johnson has played in recent weeks, he has positioned himself as the clear favourite to win the RBC Canadian Open and take home the winner’s check of $1.062 million.

He played “OK” at the British Open — “especially compared Phil (Mickelson) and (Henrik) Stenson, it was definitely just OK,” he said earlier this week — but before that he won-back-to back at the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational and the U.S. Open, his first major championship. And he had top-five finishes in the two events before that.

So he’s been on quite the, ahem, roll even before he got to sun-baked Glen Abbey. Factor in his savvy and experience and, well, Johnson is sitting pretty.

“Yeah, I’m happy with my position and I’m looking forward to getting out there (Saturday),” Johnson said.

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