The Daily Wrap-up, Monday: RBC Canadian Open
OAKVILLE, Ontario (AP) -- Nathan Green looked up and flashed a wry smile when the latest round of heavy rain hit the RBC Canadian Open.
But instead of wiping out play again and possibly forcing yet another day at drenched Glen Abbey, the pounding drops were nothing more than a fitting finishing touch on his breakthrough playoff victory over Retief Goosen.
"It's just been a bizarre week. A long week," Green said.
An hour earlier Monday in good conditions on the course soaked by nearly 5 inches of rain the first four days, the Australian parred the second extra hole for his first victory in 112 career PGA TOUR starts.
"It's a huge surprise to finally win," said Green, the 34-year-old former Canadian Tour player from Toronto -- Toronto, Australia, that is. "This is where I started my pro career. I love coming up here. The people are great."
After missing a 12-foot birdie attempt on the par-4 17th on the second extra hole, Green won when Goosen's 8-foot par try slid right.
"I'm not too disappointed," Goosen said. "I had my chance."
In sunny conditions, Green completed a third-round 69 with an eagle on the par-5 18th hole and shot a 68 in the fourth to match Goosen at 18 under. Goosen three-putted the 18th for par in his morning 67, then eagled the closing hole in the afternoon for a 69.
Goosen had a putt to win on No. 18 on the first extra hole, but missed a 6-footer after leaving his bunker shot above the hole. Green saved par after his second shot bounced off a cart path, landing near the scoring trailer above the green.
"I dodged a bullet," said Green, who also saved par on the 18th to force the playoff after hitting over the green and into the crowd.
Goosen had his fourth straight top-six finish worldwide. After tying for 16th in the U.S. Open, the 40-year-old South African was third in the BMW International in Germany, tied for sixth in the Scottish Open and tied for fifth in the British Open.
"I'm very happy with the way I'm playing," said Goosen, the Transitions Championship winner in March. "I've had chances to win in the last four tournaments I've played in. I've just got to keep going and hopefully it's going to come my way."
Anthony Kim (66-73) and Jason Dufner (70-73) tied for third at 14 under, a stroke ahead of Lee Janzen (70-67), Brandt Snedeker (67-68) and Jerry Kelly (72-71).
Stephen Ames (72-67) and Chris Baryla (70-66) were the top Canadian finishers, tying for eighth at 12 under. Mike Weir (69-71) tied for 24th at 10 under.
"It's a relief to get it over with. Finally," Ames said.
Green won for the second time in Canada, following a 2000 victory in a Canadian Tour event in Sudbury. He also won the Queensland PGA in Australia in 2000 and took the European Tour's 2006 New Zealand Open.
The playoff also was the second of his PGA TOUR career. In the 2006 Buick Invitational, he was eliminated on the first extra hole, and Tiger Woods went on to beat Jose Maria Olazabal on the second hole.
"I was definitely a bit calmer today than I was then," Green said.
Green earned $918,000 to jump from 132nd to 43rd on the money list with $1,282,017, and also received a TOUR exemption through 2011.
"That's huge for me," Green said. "It's just such a buzz for me to be able to turn the year around so dramatically. That's more than I thought I could have done."
DIVOTS: Kevin Sutherland had a hole-in-one on the 129-yard seventh hole. The ace was the eighth of the tournament, the most since the PGA TOUR began keeping extensive records in 1971. There were five in the 2004 John Deere Classic. ... Ken Green won the 1988 tournament at Glen Abbey in a Monday finish. ... The 2010 tournament will be played at St. George's in Toronto.
| Other top finishers at the RBC Canadian Open | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| Monday's best |
|
The par-5 18th hole was the easiest with a Round 4 scoring average of 4.365.
The par-4 14th hole was the toughest with a Monday scoring average of 4.349.
|
Scott Verplank holes out from the greenside bunker on the par-5 13th hole for an eagle during the final round. 
Martin Laird's 7-under 65 in the final round included two eagles and a double bogey on the par-4 14th hole. INSIDE THE ROPES WITH THE PGA TOUR NETWORK
PGA TOUR Network correspondent Bob Stevens offers these observations from Monday's action. Listen to PGA TOUR Live coverage on XM 146/SIRIUS 209 or right here at PGATOUR.COM.
The way the third round concluded Monday morning, you thought it was going to be a birdie and eagle shootout in the final round. The three back-nine par-5s gave up plenty of red numbers the first time the pros played them on Monday. But, as always seems to happen in a low-scoring shootout, it was the bogeys that told the tale in the final round. Retief Goosen made three bogeys in the final 10 holes, which meant his eagle at No. 18 barely got him back to where he was after a birdie at the sixth hole. Nathan Green pitched a clean card in the final round -- plus the two playoff holes. And wouldn't you know, it was a bogey in the playoff that decided the tourney, not a birdie.
Goosen told me he never thought 18 under would be good enough to win, even when he got there with birdies at the third, fifth and sixth holes. His solid driving was his anchor early in the round, but his driving was also what eventually cooked the Goose late in the day, causing bogeys at Nos. 14 and 15 and a par at the easy 16th. The eagle at No. 18 got him close, but he still had to sweat out a par from Nathan Green to even force the playoff.
There was a great old '50s tune called "Canadian Sunset" that I thought we were going to see and hear late on Monday, the only day that didn't feature a massive delay in the proceedings. Maybe the Dave Matthews Band's tune "Ants Go Marching" would have been a better theme, as the players scrambled to finish the third round starting at 7:30 a.m., then made the turn into the final round with a break of just 15 minutes and remarkably stayed on schedule, though you had to know that a tournament that took this long to play wouldn't end in 72 holes. Still, the real winners were the Canadian golf fans who braved the weather during the weekend. Thousands of them played hooky Monday and got a great day for golf -- plus they saw three Canadians in the top 25.
| Live Essentials | ||||
|
Shop your favorite brand name golf equipment and accessories at SHOP.PGATOUR.COM
FAN ZONE
PGATOUR.com is part of the Turner Sports and Entertainment Digital Network