Former champion Mark Calcavecchia took advantage of rain-softened greens to birdie nine-consecutive holes in the Canadian Open and snap a long-standing PGA Tour record on Saturday.
The 49-year-old American's streak began on the par-three 12th hole and continued to the par-five No. 2. Calcavecchia began the rain-delayed second round on the 10th hole.
"That was certainly fun," said Calcavecchia who finished with a seven-under 65. "I just got on a great streak. I knew I needed to play a good round just to make the cut."
Calcavecchia combined his 65 with a opening round 71 to reach eight-under 136 as the 5.1 million dollar rain-plagued event finally lurched to its halfway point.
The tournament is headed for a 36-hole finish on Sunday because of a nearly 12 hours of rain delays over three days at the Glen Abbey Golf Club.
"This has been a crazy weekend," said Canada's Mike Weir. "At least today I was able to play 18 holes and actually get into some kind of rhythm, where the first round was play three holes, stop for seven hours, play some more.
"For me it was tough to get anything going in the first round and today at least we got the second round in."
American Jason Dufner fired a nine-under 63 Saturday morning to seize the lead at 13-under 131.
Jerry Kelly (67), Scott Verplank (67), Nathan Green (65) and Peter Tomasulo (68) are one shot adrift of Dufner.
South Africa's Retief Goosen heads the list of six players who are tied at 10-under 134.
Calcavecchia, who finished a disappointing 27th at last week's British Open, had his 15-year-old son Eric as his caddie.
"It is just fly it right to the stick," he said. "You give the guys out here no wind and greens that are plugging then you are going to see a lot of low scores."
The 2005 Canadian Open champion's streak ended on the par-four third hole which he parred before making bogey on the fourth hole.
The previous record of eight consecutive birdies was held by a half dozen players and last achieved by Kelly in 2003.
Mother Nature threw a wrench into organizers plans of getting a couple of hours of play in either the afternoon or early evening.
"They got a lot of work to do," PGA Tour tournament director Steve Carman said of the Glen Abbey grounds crew.
Copyright 2009  AFP American Edition
