Thorbjørn Olesen matched his career-low 18-hole score on Tour with a 9-under 61 featuring an eagle at the par-5 18th as well as eight birdies and one bogey to take a share of the lead at the RBC Canadian Open.
“My putting was exceptional today. Don’t think I missed any putts really out there. I definitely holed some long ones as well. It was nice to see everything go in,” said Olesen.
“I took a week off after the PGA Championship, didn’t play much golf. I came out to the qualifying here, and I felt like I played great golf there Monday and obviously qualified. So that gave me some confidence going into this week for sure. Yeah, I took that with me.”
The Dane holds the 18-hole lead/co-lead for the second time on Tour (2017 PGA Championship/T44).
Olesen has won eight times on the DP World Tour and seeks to become the first player from Denmark to win on the PGA Tour. He has had one top-3 finish to his name in 88 starts (T3/2018 WGC-Bridgestone Invitational). His best finish in ten starts this season was T5 at the Valero Texas Open.
Chile’s Cristobal Del Solar was 10-under through 16 holes but made one bogey at the 17th for a share of the lead and now shares the lowest opening-round score in RBC Canadian Open history with Olesen.
“Just try to hit fairway, greens, and make putts. I don’t know. I think that, once you play the course, it’s a pretty straightforward strategy, just trying to go out and execute. That’s kind of what I did today, just executed very well,” said Del Solar. “Had fun with my caddie, and the score kind of took care of itself.”
Del Solar holds the 18-hole lead/co-lead for the first time on Tour, his previous best position through 18 holes was T3 at the 2024 Mexico Open at VidantaWorld where he finished T48.
American Cameron Champ signed for a bogey-free 62 and lies in third place. He has missed the cut in four prior appearances at this event.
One shot further behind lies compatriot Jake Knapp who made one bogey at the 15th.
Ireland’s Shane Lowry carded a 64 and is tied in fifth place at 6-under alongside Denmark’s Rasmus Højgaard who stayed bogey-free as well as Americans Trey Mullinax and Ricky Castillo.
Defending champion Robert MacIntyre of Scotland carded his lowest opening round score this season, a bogey-free 65, for a share of 9th place at 5-under. This was his fifth consecutive round in the 60s at the RBC Canadian Open.
2019 and 2022 RBC Canadian Open winner Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland shot a 1-over 71, equaling his highest opening round in five appearances at this event (71/R1/2023), and lies in T119.
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| Pos. | Player | To Par | R1 |
|---|---|---|---|
| T1 | Thorbjørn Olesen | -9 | 61 |
| T1 | Cristobal Del Solar | -9 | 61 |
| 3 | Cameron Champ | -8 | 62 |
| 4 | Jake Knapp | -7 | 63 |
| T5 | Rasmus Højgaard | -6 | 64 |
| T5 | Shane Lowry | -6 | 64 |
| T5 | Trey Mullinax | -6 | 64 |
| T5 | Ricky Castillo | -6 | 64 |
| T9 | Taylor Pendrith | -5 | 65 |
| T9 | Alex Smalley | -5 | 65 |
| T9 | Paul Peterson | -5 | 65 |
| T9 | Danny Willett | -5 | 65 |
| T9 | Robert MacIntyre | -5 | 65 |
| T9 | Rafael Campos | -5 | 65 |
| T9 | Kevin Yu | -5 | 65 |
| T9 | Alejandro Tosti | -5 | 65 |
| T9 | Paul Waring | -5 | 65 |
| T18 | Rico Hoey | -4 | 66 |
| T18 | Sam Burns | -4 | 66 |
| T18 | Nick Taylor | -4 | 66 |
| T18 | Thomas Detry | -4 | 66 |
| T18 | Harry Hall | -4 | 66 |
| T18 | Victor Perez | -4 | 66 |
| T18 | Jackson Suber | -4 | 66 |
| T18 | Will Gordon | -4 | 66 |
| T18 | Ryan Fox | -4 | 66 |
| T18 | Wyndham Clark | -4 | 66 |
| T18 | Brice Garnett | -4 | 66 |
| T18 | Matt McCarty | -4 | 66 |
| T30 | Lee Hodges | -3 | 67 |
| T30 | Patrick Rodgers | -3 | 67 |
| T30 | Matteo Manassero | -3 | 67 |
| T30 | Hunter Thomson | -3 | 67 |
| T30 | Harrison Endycott | -3 | 67 |
| T30 | Takumi Kanaya | -3 | 67 |
| T30 | Alex Noren | -3 | 67 |
| T30 | Adam Hadwin | -3 | 67 |
| T30 | Erik van Rooyen | -3 | 67 |
| T30 | David Skinns | -3 | 67 |
| T30 | Steven Fisk | -3 | 67 |
| T30 | Richard Lee | -3 | 67 |
| T30 | John Pak | -3 | 67 |
| T43 | Justin Lower | -2 | 68 |
| T43 | Nicolai Højgaard | -2 | 68 |
| T43 | Andrew Putnam | -2 | 68 |
| T43 | Ben Silverman | -2 | 68 |
| T43 | Davis Riley | -2 | 68 |
| T43 | Mackenzie Hughes | -2 | 68 |
| T43 | Keith Mitchell | -2 | 68 |
| T43 | Ludvig Åberg | -2 | 68 |
| T43 | Kevin Velo | -2 | 68 |
| T43 | Johnny Keefer | -2 | 68 |
| T43 | Antoine Rozner | -2 | 68 |
| T43 | Trevor Cone | -2 | 68 |
| T43 | Vince Whaley | -2 | 68 |
| T43 | Ben Kohles | -2 | 68 |
| T43 | Cameron Young | -2 | 68 |
| T43 | Brandt Snedeker | -2 | 68 |
| T43 | Adam Schenk | -2 | 68 |
| T43 | Justin Rose | -2 | 68 |
| T43 | Peter Malnati | -2 | 68 |
| T43 | Ryo Hisatsune | -2 | 68 |
| T43 | Jeremy Paul | -2 | 68 |
| T43 | Will Chandler | -2 | 68 |
| T43 | Matthew Scobie | -2 | 68 |
| T43 | Tyler Mawhinney(a) | -2 | 68 |
| T43 | Taylor Montgomery | -2 | 68 |
| T43 | Kevin Roy | -2 | 68 |
| T43 | Quade Cummins | -2 | 68 |
| T43 | Brett Webster | -2 | 68 |
| T43 | Kris Ventura | -2 | 68 |
| T72 | Dylan Wu | -1 | 69 |
| T72 | Chad Ramey | -1 | 69 |
| T72 | Mark Hubbard | -1 | 69 |
| T72 | Sam Ryder | -1 | 69 |
| T72 | Hayden Buckley | -1 | 69 |
| T72 | Max Homa | -1 | 69 |
| T72 | Emiliano Grillo | -1 | 69 |
| T72 | Taylor Moore | -1 | 69 |
| T72 | Carson Young | -1 | 69 |
| T72 | Nate Lashley | -1 | 69 |
| T72 | Mason Andersen | -1 | 69 |
| T72 | Hayden Springer | -1 | 69 |
| T72 | Noah Goodwin | -1 | 69 |
| T72 | A.J. Ewart | -1 | 69 |
| T72 | Eric Cole | -1 | 69 |
| T72 | Lanto Griffin | -1 | 69 |
| T72 | Luke List | -1 | 69 |
| T72 | Chris Gotterup | -1 | 69 |
| T72 | Matt Wallace | -1 | 69 |
| T72 | Patrick Fishburn | -1 | 69 |
| T72 | Chandler Phillips | -1 | 69 |
| T72 | Justin Matthews(a) | -1 | 69 |
| T72 | Jesper Svensson | -1 | 69 |
| T72 | William Mouw | -1 | 69 |
| T96 | Henrik Norlander | Par | 70 |
| T96 | Roger Sloan | Par | 70 |
| T96 | Zac Blair | Par | 70 |
| T96 | Gary Woodland | Par | 70 |
| T96 | Matthieu Pavon | Par | 70 |
| T96 | Byeong Hun An | Par | 70 |
| T96 | Luke Clanton | Par | 70 |
| T96 | Joel Dahmen | Par | 70 |
| T96 | Matthew Anderson | Par | 70 |
| T96 | Thomas Rosenmueller | Par | 70 |
| T96 | Niklas Norgaard | Par | 70 |
| T96 | Yi Cao | Par | 70 |
| T96 | Barend Botha | Par | 70 |
| T96 | Aaron Baddeley | Par | 70 |
| T96 | Matti Schmid | Par | 70 |
| T96 | Kevin Kisner | Par | 70 |
| T96 | Charley Hoffman | Par | 70 |
| T96 | Danny Walker | Par | 70 |
| T96 | Tom Kim | Par | 70 |
| T96 | Corey Conners | Par | 70 |
| T96 | Matthew Riedel | Par | 70 |
| T96 | David Ford | Par | 70 |
| T96 | Max McGreevy | Par | 70 |
| T119 | Beau Hossler | +1 | 71 |
| T119 | Mac Meissner | +1 | 71 |
| T119 | Mike Weir | +1 | 71 |
| T119 | Chan Kim | +1 | 71 |
| T119 | Rory McIlroy | +1 | 71 |
| T119 | Camilo Villegas | +1 | 71 |
| T119 | Nick Hardy | +1 | 71 |
| T119 | Kurt Kitayama | +1 | 71 |
| T119 | Myles Creighton | +1 | 71 |
| T119 | Ashton McCulloch(a) | +1 | 71 |
| T119 | Braden Thornberry | +1 | 71 |
| T119 | Gordon Sargent | +1 | 71 |
| T119 | Harry Higgs | +1 | 71 |
| T119 | David Lipsky | +1 | 71 |
| T119 | Tim Widing | +1 | 71 |
| T119 | Matthew Javier(a) | +1 | 71 |
| T119 | Cristian DiMarco | +1 | 71 |
| T119 | Sudarshan Yellamaraju | +1 | 71 |
| T137 | Doug Ghim | +2 | 72 |
| T137 | Sungjae Im | +2 | 72 |
| T137 | Vince Covello | +2 | 72 |
| T137 | Wei-Hsuan Wang | +2 | 72 |
| T137 | Cougar Collins | +2 | 72 |
| T137 | Frankie Capan III | +2 | 72 |
| T137 | Isaiah Salinda | +2 | 72 |
| T144 | Adam Svensson | +3 | 73 |
| T144 | Kaito Onishi | +3 | 73 |
| T144 | Nick Dunlap | +3 | 73 |
| T144 | Karl Vilips | +3 | 73 |
| T144 | Joseph Bramlett | +3 | 73 |
| T149 | Aaron Wise | +4 | 74 |
| T149 | Josh Goldenberg | +4 | 74 |
| T149 | Philip Knowles | +4 | 74 |
| T149 | Ryan Palmer | +4 | 74 |
| T153 | Wes Heffernan | +5 | 75 |
| T153 | David Hearn | +5 | 75 |
| T153 | Mark Hoffman | +5 | 75 |
| W/D | Seamus Power | - | - |
