Final round: Rookie Reavie closes like seasoned veteran
OAKVILLE, Ontario (AP) -- The Small Unit came up big in the RBC Canadian Open.
Chez Reavie, proudly sporting an Arizona Diamondbacks logo on his light blue shirt, won the national championship Sunday for his first PGA TOUR title, closing with a 1-under 70 in near-perfect conditions for a three-stroke victory over Billy Mayfair.
"Oh, man. I'm just so excited," Reavie said. "I don't think a lot of people understand when you're growing up and you're practicing and you're working so hard, this is, obviously, your goal. But there are no guarantees."
At a generously listed 5-foot-9, the 26-year-old former Arizona State player picked up the Small Unit moniker in a joking reference to Randy Johnson, the 6-foot-10 Diamondbacks pitcher known as the Big Unit.
Also in contrast to Johnson, Reavie relies on finesse rather than power. The short-hitter was on the mark in the wire-to-wire win at rain-softened Glen Abbey, hitting 44 of 56 fairways and 54 of 72 greens in regulation. The accurate play was a big factor, with the players allowed to use preferred lies in the fairways all four days.
"It was crucial to hit fairways so you could lift and clean your ball and place it in a good lie, especially when you don't hit it as far as some of the other guys do," Reavie said. "So, it really played into my hands.
"It was like the U.S. Open out there. The rough was long and the greens were tough. I guess that's a good, style of golf for me, putting a premium on hitting fairways."
Playing for the sixth straight week, Reavie finished at 17-under 267. He earned $900,000 and spots in the World Golf Championships-Bridgestone Invitational and PGA Championship the next two weeks along with the 2009 Masters.
After entering the week with career earnings of $746,414 in 27 PGA TOUR starts and 52 Nationwide Tour events, he was amazed when told that he had made $900,000.
"How much? $900,000. That's unbelievable, really," the 26-year-old PGA TOUR rookie said. "Yeah, wow! That's all I can say is wow to that."
Mayfair, also a former Arizona State player, shot a 68.
"He's a good kid and a hard worker," Mayfair said. "I'm really happy for him."
Sean O'Hair (68) and Steve Marino (70) were 13 under, and Canadian star Mike Weir (69) was another stroke back along with Nicholas Thompson (69) and Scott McCarron (71).
"I enjoyed it. I played well this week," said Weir, skipping the World Golf Championships event next week after a tiring two-week stretch at the British Open and Glen Abbey.
"It has been exhausting," Weir said.
Anthony Kim, a two-time winner this year, began the round a stroke back, but followed his third-round 64 with a 75 to tie for eighth at 11 under. The 23-year-old American would have moved into the top 10 in the world rankings with a victory.
"I played terrible," Kim said.
After finishing off a third-round 68 early Sunday to take a one-stroke lead, Reavie got off to a slow start in the afternoon with bogeys on Nos. 1 and 3. He birdied No. 4 and broke away from the field in the middle of the round.
Reavie made a 9-foot birdie putt on the par-4 ninth after Kim holed a 15-footer.
"When I made it right on top of him, I killed his momentum," Reavie said.
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| Sunday's Best |
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The par-5, 524-yard 18th was the easiest with a Sunday scoring
average of 4.338.
The par-4, 436-yard 17th was the toughest with a Sunday scoring
average of 4.465.
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Billy Mayfair's birdie chip-in on the par-4, eighth hole, helped cap off a fine round of 3-under-par 68 and left him with a runner-up finish in Canada. 
Kent Jones shot a 4-under 67 in the final round, which was Sunday's best score. It helped Jones leap from a tie for 41st to a tie for 22nd at 7-under 277. | QUOTE OF THE DAY | ||
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REAVIE FOLLOWS ROUTINE... TWICE
By Dave Perkins, Special to PGATOUR.COM
OAKVILLE, Ont. -- Chez Reavie says he will draw the line at eating two breakfasts every morning he's in contention on the PGA TOUR from now on.
Reavie, 26, chipped and putted his way to victory in the RBC Canadian Open, the first career score for the PGA TOUR rookie, after going through his game-day routine twice yesterday, as dictated by rain-soaked circumstances.
He showered twice, ate two breakfasts and did his usual routine again and it paid off with a three-shot victory over Billy Mayfair and a check for $900,000, about twice his career earnings, in addition to the 4,500 FedExCup points.
"I haven't even seen the check. How much is it for?'' Reavie asked after posting a 17-under-par score of 267 over Glen Abbey. When told, he whistled and said, "That's unbelieveable. Wow.''
That also described his golf for most of four days, including -- for him -- Sunday's split session. Reavie returned to Glen Abbey early Sunday to complete his third round. He putted out for par on the 17th hole, then punctuated the morning with a birdie at the final hole to take the lead by one shot over Anthony Kim at 16-under-par 197.
"I changed my shoes, went back to my hotel, had a nap for an hour and a half, then I started my routine all over again,'' he said. "I didn't shave, but I showered twice, ate two breakfasts. I wanted to do the exact same routine even though I'd already done it. But no, I won't be eating twice in the future.''
He said he didn't fret about being in the only group that didn't complete its third round Saturday evening and didn't really mind coming back in the morning for what turned out to be six shots.
"I didn't worry about it at all because it was out of my control,'' he said. "But, hopefully, the next time it will be a little more routine.''
Reavie said the key to the week for him, especially on the first three rain-interrupted days, was to hit fairways so that he could get his hands on the ball, under the lift, clean and place rules. He also led the field in scrambling, getting up and down 15 times in the 18 times he missed the green in regulation.
• To read to remainder of this story, click here.
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INSIDE THE ROPES WITH THE PGA TOUR NETWORK
XM Satellite Radio announcer Doug Bell offers these observations from Sunday's action. Listen to PGA TOUR Live coverage on XM 146 or right here at PGATOUR.COM.
Chez Reavie felt right at home as he prepared for the final round of the RBC Canadian Open. His swing instructor Peter Kostis working the event for CBS Sports was waiting for him when he arri\ved on the range.
Kostis works with many of the guys from Whisper Rock Golf Club in Scottsdale, and he was ready with some sound advice for his young pupil. "Tempo," he kept stressing to Reavie, "just remember your tempo."
Reavie told me afterwords it was sound advice, because when he gets nervous he has a tendency to get quick on his backswing.
Reavie also reviewed his lesson journal from Kostis before the event began on his putting stroke. Reavie moved the ball to the front of his stance and straightened out his left arm, while bending the right arm underneath to keep the putter aligned properly. Ironically, it's exactly what Kenny Perry was doing last week when the two were paired in the final round at Milwaukee. The 26-year-old enjoyed his best putting week of the year, especially in the second round when he had only 26 total putts, including 11 on the back nine when he charged into the lead with a 64.
Speaking of ironies, Reavie's agent signed him up at the beginning of the year with a Toronto based clothing company called Quagmire. That's exactly how you would have described the Glen Abbey layout after torrential rains for most of the week. Talk about good timing, Reavie met face to face for the first time with the folks who run the company this week. He also met for the first time some distant relatives who live a couple of hours away. They drove down each day to follow Reavie from the start to his championship finish.
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AN ENCOURAGING FINISH FOR McCARRON
Compiled by Elias Sports Bureau, Inc.
• Chez Reavie recorded 16 holes under par on the 44 par-4 holes he played during the RBC Canadian Open. This is the most under-par scores on par-4's at the Canadian Open over the past 25 years. The previous high was 13, done by both Sean O'Hair and Bubba Watson in 2006.
| 8 | As in the finish of Glen Day after weekend rounds of 64-68 for his first top-10 since 2006. |
| 18 | The number of cuts made by Steve Marino in 22 starts. Marino tied for third in Canada. |
| 1 | The number of players with four rounds in the 60s in Canada. Billy Mayfair (second) was the only player to accomplish the feat. |
• During his short PGA TOUR career, Chez Reavie had never birdied a par-4 hole in each round of an official TOUR event. During his victory in Canada, though, Reavie pulled the trick on two holes at Glen Abbey, the fourth and ninth holes.
Reavie is the only player over the past 25 years to birdie two par-4 holes in every round of a Canadian Open. Reavie is the second player on the PGA TOUR this season to birdie two par-4 holes in every round of a TOUR event, joining Woody Austin at the Buick Open earlier this year.
• Scott McCarron recorded a top-five finish, his first top-5 finish on the PGA TOUR since the FBR Open in February of 2005, a span of nearly 3 1/2 years. McCarron is the 10th player to break a top-5 finish drought this long on the PGA TOUR at the Canadian Open. The last player to do it was Andy North in 1990. Before that top-5 at the Canadian Open in 1990, North was on a top-5 drought of just over five years, with his last previous top-5 occurring at the 1985 Western Open.
• It was an all "North American" top-10 finish at the RBC Canadian Open, with the top-10 occupied by nine Americans and the Canadian Mike Weir. It's the first time since 1998 that the Canadian Open has had a final leaderboard where the top-10 were all from the United States and Canada. That year the final board was made up of 10 Americans in the top-10: Billy Andrade, Bob Friend, Mike Hulbert, Hal Sutton, Glen Day, Mike Standly, Jay Delsing, Chris DiMarco, Scott Verplank and Mike Small.
• The par-3, 202-yard 12th hole at Glen Abbey gave up only 29 under-par scores during the RBC Canadian Open, the fewest of any hole on the course. It's just the third time over the past 20 Canadian Opens played at Glen Abbey that the 12th hole has surrendered 29 or fewer scores under par for the week. The fewest was 28 in both 1985 and 1992
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