Wyndham Clark held the clubhouse lead to finish the first round of the Canadian Open at the top of the standings. No one in the wave on Thursday afternoon approached the 7-under-63-year-old American without bogs. “I have not shot low in a long time,” Clark said. “I had a pair below par, 3, 4 down in my last events, but I really felt like I left a lot of shots out there. “This round I maximized almost everything out there.” Matt Fitzpatrick was second, one shot behind Clark, in the 111th edition of the Canadian Men’s National Golf Championship. Doug Ghim and Harold Varner III tied for third place with 5 under. Warner was the only player in the afternoon to break the top three. Cloudy skies in the morning and in the afternoon kept the march in St. George’s Golf and Country Club. A strong wind helped keep the temperature low, but led to some movements in bad weather. “I knew you had to hit the road, and that’s the only thing I really focused on,” Varner said. “It was very windy out there, just hard to get to where you have to be to score.” Oden Dada’s Mackenzie Hughes was the low Canadian. He was tied for fifth in the bottom 4 with Tony Finau, Lee Hodges and defending champion Rory McIlroy. “Any tournament, on Thursday, you deal with yourself,” Hughes said. “You can not win on Thursday, but you can play the best way.” Although players and fans were celebrating the return of the Canadian Open – which was canceled for the past two years due to the COVID-19 pandemic – the controversy continued as it faced a new opponent. LIV Golf Invitational, which hopes to replace the PGA Tour as the world’s leading men’s golf course, is hosting its first event this week at the Centurion Club outside London, England. The league backed by Saudi Arabia offers large sums of guaranteed money to some of the sport’s top players. Dustin Johnson, the champion of the Canadian Open 2018, is the biggest name that has resigned so far. He resigned as a member of the PGA Tour on Tuesday. PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan announced Thursday morning that anyone who sails into the pioneering league will no longer be eligible for PGA Tour events. The ban includes participation in the Presidents’ Cup, for which the international team is determined by the world ranking. Monahan said in a note to tour members that even if players resigned before the first LIV event outside London, England, they would not be allowed to play PGA Tour events as non-members, with the exception of a sponsor. “I’m glad. “They took that risk, whether they believed it was a risk or not.” McIlroy said he would do his best for LIV on YouTube – CHCH TV in Hamilton is the only channel in Canada to show the tournament but coverage will begin in the final round on Saturday – but he agreed with Munich’s decision to punish the apostates. “I think the majority of members who are here this week and have not gone and played elsewhere really appreciate it,” McIlroy said. “So I think he (Munich) did the right thing because these guys broke the rules and did things outside of the tournament rules.”
