McIlroy tumbles out of Canadian
Open with a 78. Champ takes 2-shot lead into the weekend
[June 07, 2025]
CALEDON, Ontario (AP) — Masters champion Rory McIlroy tumbled
out of the RBC Canadian Open on Friday with his worst round in
nearly a year, with Cameron Champ taking a two-stroke lead into the
weekend in the final event before the U.S. Open.
McIlroy shot an 8-over 78, making a mess of the fifth hole with a
quadruple-bogey 8 in his highest score since also shooting 78 last
year in the first round of the British Open. He had a double bogey
on No. 11, four bogeys and two birdies.
“Of course it concerns me,” McIlroy said. “You don’t want to shoot
high scores like the one I did today. Still, I felt like I came here
obviously with a new driver thinking that that sort of was going to
be good and solve some of the problems off the tee, but it didn’t.”
At 9 over, the two-time Canadian Open winner was 21 strokes behind
Champ on the rain-softened North Course at TPC Toronto at Osprey
Valley.
“Obviously, going to Oakmont next week, what you need to do more
than anything else there is hit fairways," McIlroy said. "Still sort
of searching for the sort of missing piece off the tee.”
Champ had four birdies in a 68 in the morning a day after opening
with a 62. He was at 12 under, playing the first 36 holes without a
bogey.
“It’s firmed up a little bit, but fairly similar to yesterday,”
Champ said. “The fairways I feel like were firming up a little bit.
The greens slightly, but pretty close to how they were yesterday.”
The three-time PGA Tour winner got one of the last spots in the
field after being the eighth alternate Friday when the commitments
closed.
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Rory McIlroy hits a chip shot from the rough on the fifth hole
during the second round of the Canadian Open golf tournament in
Caledon, Ontario, Friday, June 6, 2025. (Nathan Denette/The Canadian
Press via AP)
“I definitely didn’t think I was getting in,” Champ
said.
Andrew Putnam was second after a bogey-free 62 on the course hosting
the event for the first time. He won the 2018 Barracuda Championship
for his lone tour title.
“I hit a lot of fairways, hit a lot of good iron shots, too, and my
putter was on fire,” Putnam said. “Pretty much did everything right.
Didn’t really make many mistakes.”
Thorbjorn Olesen of Denmark, tied for the first-round lead with
Cristobal Del Solar after a 61, had a 70 drop into a tie for third
at 9 under with Canadians Richard Lee (64) and Nick Taylor (65) and
France's Victor Perez (65).
Taylor won the 2023 event at Oakdale.
“Hung in there,” Taylor said. “Making a birdie on the last was
important to end the day nicely.”
Del Solar was 8 under after a 71. Shane Lowry (68) also was 8 under
with Ryan Fox (66), Jake Knapp (69), Sam Burns (66) and Matteo
Manassero (65).
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