Dufner has lead at soggy Canadian

OAKVILLE, Ontario (AP) — Jason Dufner flirted with a 59, then settled for a 9-under 63.

Mark Calcavecchia made a PGA Tour-record nine straight birdies. And there were two more aces in perfect scoring conditions Saturday at the Canadian Open.

The fun didn’t last long, giving way to 1.8 inches of rain on the already-saturated Glen Abbey course.

Soon after Dufner finished the second round in light showers, the heavy rain forced tour officials to postpone the third round until this morning.

Four inches of rain have fallen since the event began Thursday.

“If you had a sponge underneath the faucet, the water just starts running off. That’s the case we have right now,” PGA Tour tournament director Steve Carman said. “Surface water is just running off. So we’re anticipating the golf course will be very similar to where it was this morning, still saturated.”

In an attempt to get 36 holes in today, the tour cut to the low 60 and ties instead of the usual low 70 and ties, leaving 64 players in the tournament. The players will go off in threesomes and won’t be regrouped for the fourth round.

Dufner eagled the par-5 13th to reach 9 under for the round, but played the final five holes in even par — birdieing the par-5 16th, dropping a stroke on the par-4 17th and saving par on the par-5 18th after hitting into the water.

“I played very well, hit a lot of fairways, a lot of greens. Made a couple more putts,” Dufner said. “It started raining at the end, conditions got a little tougher, but 63 is a pretty good score, and leading after two rounds is always great.”

At 13 under, Dufner had a one-stroke advantage over Jerry Kelly (67) and 2001 winner Scott Verplank (67). Nathan Green (65), Peter Tomasulo (68), Martin Laird (69), Pat Perez (67), Bob Estes (67), Retief Goosen (69) and first-round co-leaders Camilo Villegas (71) and Kevin Na (71) were 10 under.

“If you’ve been out here long enough, you’re used to this,” Verplank said.