Dustin Johnson had to rally Friday to grab a share of the 36-hole lead at the Canadian Open.
A pair of would-be leaders were unlucky not to be up there with him, or better than him.
First things first. Johnson literally slept his way through his first four holes of the round, going out early, he was four-over par after his first three holes, then he finally woke up and played his last 15 holes five-under par. In the end, his 71 didn’t look like much but it was good enough to share the lead with Web.com Tour grad Luke List.
“I really don’t know what happened the first four holes. Just got off to a bad start. Maybe I was still asleep,” Johnson said when he was done for the day. “I played nicely from 14 on in.”
List, like Johnson, couldn’t find the magic that led him to shoot 66 on Thursday but his 71 will put him in a pairing with Johnson for Saturday’s round.
Both Kelly Kraft and Canadian-grown amateur Jared du Toit had their moments and either could have been the solo leader.
Kraft double-bogeyed the 14th hole but fought back with a pair of birdies and had himself to seven-under going into the par five 18th. His drive found a fairway bunker and he was forced to lay up. He then made the mistake of hitting his third into a back bunker. A poor bunker shot followed by a three-putt dropped him back to six-under with John Rahm and du Toit.
Du Toit played the back nine first and was seven-under at the turn and tied for the lead. But a bad drive at the par five second set him up for a triple-bogey eight. Another bogey at the fifth dropped him all the way back to three-under par. But the rising senior at Arizona State then fought back with three straight birdies and finished a shot off the lead with Rahm and Kraft.
Defending champion Jason Day started to show some fatigue from the overseas travel to the Open Championship. Literally nothing went right for him all day and by the time he arrived at the 18th hole, he was standing at two-over par and right on the cut line. A birdie at the 18th help lift his spirits but it couldn’t save him from a round of 76.
