Jerry Kelly takes 1-stroke lead in rain-soaked Canadian Open

Kelly leads rain-drenched Canadian Open

OAKVILLE, Ontario — PGA Tour tournament director Steve Carman perfectly summed up the rain-soaked 100th Canadian Open.

“The sponge is full of water,” Carman said Friday after the latest round of rain saturated the already-wet Glen Abbey course.

Jerry Kelly topped the leaderboard in the rain-delayed tournament, shooting a 7-under 65 in the completion of the first round and reaching 11 under with three holes left in the second. Seventy-six players didn’t even start the second round.

Camilo Villegas, Tim Herron, Martin Laird and Nathan Green were a stroke back.

Villegas, tied for the first-round lead with Kevin Na after a 63 in the morning, also had three holes to play. Herron had two holes to go, Laird one and Green six.

“It would have been nice to get the whole round in and sleep in until 1,” said Herron, set to resume play early Saturday.

Na, unable to start the second round, and Bob Estes were 9 under. Estes had five holes left.

The 42-year-old Kelly, the New Orleans winner in April, had seven birdies in a nine-hole stretch in the first round on the softened course.

“You can get after it,” Kelly said.

In the second round, Kelly had five birdies and a bogey before play was suspended for the day because of lightning at 7:29 p.m. — 29 minutes after a nearly three-hour delay. About 20 minutes after play was called, the course was drenched again.

More than 2 inches of rain has soaked the course in the last two days and, coupled with lightning, has washed out about 12 hours of play overall.

“Our regulations dictate that we’re playing 72 holes by the end of Monday, then the option would be to go back to 54 holes,” Carman said. “But we’re pretty much regulated to try and get 72 holes in by the end of the day Monday.”

There also is a possibility of a Tuesday finish.

“Again, according to the regulations, if you’re playing the final round and half the field finishes on Monday night, that would force you to go into Tuesday to finish that round. That’s pretty much the only way we could go to Tuesday.”

Villegas matched Na in the morning, playing the final six holes in 6 under. The Colombian hit to an inch to set up a birdie on the 152-yard 15th and holed a 15-foot eagle chip on the par-5 18th.

“What a great way to finish the round,” Villegas said.

Lee Janzen, 5 under after 30 holes, withdrew after play was stopped. Aaron Baddeley, Tag Ridings, Greg Owen, David Gossett, Robert Garrigus, Mark Brooks, Carl Pettersson and Brian Davis also withdrew.

Stephen Ames topped the 15 Canadians in the field. He shot a 68 in the first round and was 7 under with three holes to play in the second.

“It’s difficult,” Ames said. “Stop, start, stop, start.”

Mike Weir was stuck at 1 under after shooting a 71 Thursday and never making it onto the course Friday. His opening round was interrupted by a 7½-hour delay.

Weir and Ames, a naturalized Canadian citizen from Trinidad & Tobago, are trying to become the first Canadian winner since Pat Fletcher in 1954.

DIVOTS: Arjun Atwal and Briny Baird aced the 132-yard 15th. They each won 2009 BMW Z4 Roadsters. Atwal was driving a 2006 BMW M6 in March 2007 when he was involved in a street race in Florida where the other driver crashed and died. Florida Highway Patrol investigators recommended Atwal, from India, be charged with vehicular homicide, but prosecutors decided not to charge him, saying the cars never made contact. … Former Southern California star Jamie Lovemark opened with a 74 in his pro debut and was 3 under overall after playing 10 holes in the second round in 5 under.