The Canadian Open got the perfect gift for its 100th anniversary -- Mike Weir in the lead with a flawless round of 5-under 66, and a showdown with the No. 1 player in golf looming on the weekend.
Weir made the Glen Abbey course sound like Sunday at Augusta National, sending the gallery into a frenzy with a 3-iron into 3 feet for eagle to take the lead and sticking a 5-iron close for birdie on his final hole to finish one shot ahead of Vijay Singh among those who finished 36 holes on Friday.
"Today could not have gone much better," Weir said.
He was at 9-under 133 and in the lead at his national open for the first time.
In his first tournament since replacing Tiger Woods at No. 1 in the world, Singh certainly looked the part. After finishing his first nine holes in 40, he broke the Canadian Open record with a 28 on the front nine -- 7 under during one seven-hole stretch -- then added a 66 in the second round.
"I just started hitting it close, and all of a sudden I noticed it was 28," Singh said. "I was just trying to get it back as close to par as possible."
Craig Barlow, Weir's best friend from their mini-tour days, had a 69 and was at 6-under 142.
Because of a 5-hour rain delay at the start of the tournament, 73 players had to return Saturday morning to finish the second round. Pat Perez and Jesper Parnevik were at 6 under through 13 holes.
Phil Mickelson made two eagles to get to 1 over through nine holes, while David Duval overcame another shot in the water for double bogey and was 1 under through 12, and headed toward his second straight paycheck.
The crowd left the Abbey buzzing in anticipation of a duel between Canada's best and the world No. 1.
"He's playing the best of anyone. He's No. 1 in the world for a reason," Weir said. "Hopefully, I'll be able to find the magic tomorrow."
Weir missed the sixth fairway well to the right, and as he walked over to his ball, he was pleasantly surprised to see it sitting up in the trampled rough.
"Nice lie," he said, sizing up the shot.
"You're welcome," cracked a fan. No one touched the ball, but it was symbolic of the support Weir gets in Canada, even before he became its first Masters champion last year.
The crowd stood eight rows deep behind some of the greens, some standing on coolers in the back, all of them giving him rousing ovations just for walking onto the green.
The energy in the gallery is similar to what Colin Montgomerie gets at Royal Troon -- Weir played with Monty the final two rounds at the British Open in July -- and no different than when Woods is in town.
"Pretty much the same," said Joel Edwards, who played the first two rounds with Woods at Royal Montreal in 2001, and spent the last two days with Weir at the Abbey.
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