Five birdies plus three eagles minus two bogeys equals a tie for the Canadian Open record. Hunter Mahan had a crazy good round, holing out twice from the fairway on his way to a 9-under 62 on Thursday in Markham, Ontario at Angus Glen North. Mahan tied the Canadian Open scoring record held by Greg Norman, Leonard Thompson, and Andy Bean.

"Yeah, it was crazy," said Mahan. "Two hole-outs on the fairway, so, things I’ve never done before. So I played pretty solid other than that, so it was a good way to start the day. Most people would agree. Mahan started on the back nine with a birdie-eagle- birdie for 4-under through three holes. On the second hole of the day, he  stuck his approach shot to ten feet and sunk the putt.

Next he jarred it with a six iron from 189 yards out on the par 4 18th hole. "It was just about as perfect shot as I could hit during a round of play. Hit it solid, saw a little right turn right over, And it seemed like the pitch mark was right next to the hole, and it kind of hopped up and went straight in, I think."

Next he stiffed it from 89 yards out. ""I didn’t see it," Mahan said. "Set kind of a flat sand wedge in there, took a little spin off and it spun right back in the hole."

Hunter’s putter and close approaches made for a smooth finish. He was able to hit 77% of his greens in regulation and finished the day with just 24 putts on the early morning greens to lead the field.

Hot on Mahan’s heels was Steve Allen who fired a 7-under 64. Allen birdied eight holes and had a lone bogey at the par 4 13th hole. "It was perfect this morning. There was hardly a breath of wind. It was warm, greens were soft, and pins were accessible. So it was definitely a good score out there."

Tied at three back are Tripp Isenhour and David Hearn with 65’s.

Six of the top ten leaders at the Canadian Open are ranked 100+ on the money list and five of them are outside of the top 140 in the Fed-Ex Cup points standings.  There are a lot of players that could make or break their season at the top of the leader board.

Hunter Mahan summed it up best, "It was a good round. You know, had a couple of eagles, kind of funny things happened. So it’s a nice starting point. You can’t really lose a tournament on the first day. But, you know, I feel like this definitely helps. To not have to really catch up during the week is always nice.
And you know, we’ve still got three games left, so it is quite early. But it’s nice to shoot a good round, you know you can do it. You know you have the confidence to go out there and birdie a lot of holes."