Jhonattan Vegas rallies to win Canadian Open

Du Toit started the day tied for second and was in the top pairing with leader Brandt Snedeker. The 35-year-old’s one stroke lead is slim, but he has a great chance to capture the second RBC Canadian Open title of his career.

Du Toit was tied for the lead through nine holes, but surrendered a triple-bogey eight on the par-five second hole and bogeyed the fifth.

Du Toit, coming off his junior season at Arizona State, made a 40-foot eagle putt on 18 for a 70.

But he was not sharp in a third round that included four birdies and three bogeys at the fast and firm course.

“I think I’m going to be the most hated man in Canada (Sunday) but it’s going to be a lot of fun trying to figure it out”.

Pat Fletcher, born in England, was the last Canadian victor in 1954 at Point Grey in Vancouver, British Columbia. A Canadian-born player hasn’t won the Canadian Open since 1914. Phil Mickelson was the last amateur victor on the tour in the 1991 Northern Telecom Open.

“It feels good”, said du Toit, who will be a senior at Arizona State University and is playing in his first PGA Tour event. Fans gave him a rousing standing ovation when he birdied on the final shot of the tournament and again as he was given the Gary Cowan medal as the Canadian Open’s lowest scoring amateur player. “Not sure I should be holding this, but I’ll accept it”.

“Starting the round, I knew that if I could get to 12 under, literally that’s the number I had in my mind”, Vegas said.

Johnson, tied for the lead with Luke List after each of the first two days, birdied 18 for a 71.

“I had a rough day on the greens, said Johnson”. I was playing well, hitting it well and making a few putts. “I go with my friends, we go to a nice diner with a nice bottle of Rioja and after that I’m going to have a big, fat cigar with a nice malt whisky”.

On the par-5 30th, faced with an uphill, almost-blind third shot from the left edge of the fairway, Seong hit a 60-degree wedge from 42 yards that hit the flagstick and dropped in for eagle and a 2-up lead.

“I played terrible today, I really did”, Durant said. “Lots of positives to build on for next week, and hopefully by tomorrow get my mind right and get ready to go for next week”.

Two bogeys, a birdie and an eagle on the back nine was added to his scorecard after a flawless front nine where he holed five straight birdies from the 2nd hole.

But it was his three-under return on the final three holes which ensured he was ahead after 54 holes as he bids for his second title of 2016 following a win at the Farmers Insurance Open in February. “Put myself in a position to win a golf tournament and to play the way I did today is disheartening to say the least. They were edge putts I could be firm with and aggressive with and I was able to take advantage of them”.

The former pitcher birdied seven of his first 13 holes and finished with a 29-point round for a five-point victory over former tennis player Mardy Fish in the modified Stableford event. However, golf is a cruel, cruel game and Wheatcroft ended up skulling his shot into the water over the green after his club bounced off the hard sand and shot the belly of the wedge into the ball.

“We kinda just gelled nearly right off the start on Tuesday”, said Burke, who has played professionally.