Vancouver's Lee, third on Asian Tour, tied for third at RBC Canadian Open
Published
CALEDON - After Richard T. Lee's first round of the RBC Canadian Open his wife was telling him how on the PGA Tour's app a fireball appears beside a golfer's name on the leaderboard.
That small mental image was enough to fuel Lee on Friday, as he fired a 6-under 64 in the tournament's second round to briefly hold a tie for second. He and Nick Taylor of Abbotsford, B.C., finished the day in a four-way tie for third at 9 under, three shots back of American Cameron Champ.
"I was thinking about that all today, and I was like, 'oh, I want to see a fireball next to my name again,'" said Lee, smiling by the clubhouse at TPC Toronto at Osprey Valley. "Luckily, I made four today, and I think there was a fireball."
The 34-year-old Lee was born in Richmond Hill, Ont., but moved to Vancouver when he was just a year old. He has been playing golf on the Asian Tour for most of his professional career and is currently third on its order of merit. Golf Canada often invites the best Canadian golfers from around the world to play in the national men's championship but Lee, until Friday, had never made the cut.
That hasn't stopped him from aspiring to play in North America's top men's golf circuit, however.
"It's the PGA Tour," said Lee, adding that he plans to enter the PGA Tour's qualifying school again. "Any kid out there wants to play out here and perform the way of all the best players out there."
A group of eight Canadians made the cut at the national men's golf championship on Friday, matching the record previously set in 2023 at Oakdale Golf and Country Club in Toronto and again at Hamilton Golf and Country Club last year.
Taylor had a 5-under 65 round to share third with Lee. Taylor Pendrith (68) of Richmond Hill, Ont., was tied for 13th at 7 under and Mackenzie Hughes (66) of Dundas, Ont., was tied for 18th at 6 under.
Taylor, Pendrith and Hughes were all grouped together for the tournament's first two rounds.
"Today was a perfect day for golf," said Pendrith. "It wasn't too windy. I would say the fairways were firming up a little bit.
"The greens were still quite receptive, definitely a little firmer than yesterday."
Adam Hadwin (68) of Abbotsford and Matthew Anderson (65) of Mississauga, Ont., were tied for 30th at 5 under. Anderson, who plays on the second-tier Korn Ferry Tour, made the cut at a PGA Tour event for the first time.
"I know I can compete," said Anderson, who made his PGA Tour debut at the 2024 Canadian Open. "Last year I felt I was ready, but I just didn't really have the game.
"This year I felt I was ready, and I felt like my game was in a good spot and it was just about going out there and trusting myself."
Corey Conners (66) of Listowel, Ont., was tied for 38th at 4 under and Ben Silverman (69) of Thornhill, Ont., just made the cut at 3 under. Silverman rolled in a nine-foot putt to birdie the par-5 No. 18 to guarantee he'd see the weekend.
"I saw the cut was at 2 under, but it didn't look promising at 80-something guys, so I felt like I had to make it," said Silverman. "It's good when you feel like you have to do something like that and you pull it off."
Matthew Scobie of Oshawa, Ont., and Ashton McColloch, an amateur from Kingston, Ont., were just a shot below the 3-under cutline.
Hall of Famer Mike Weir of Brights Grove, Ont., Roger Sloan of Merritt, B.C., Myles Creighton of Digby, N.S., A.J. Ewart of Port Coquitlam, B.C., Cougar Collins of Caledon, Sudarshan Yellamaraju of Mississauga, Vancouver's Brett Webster, Adam Svensson of Surrey, B.C., Calgary's Wes Heffernan, Mark Hoffman of Wasaga Beach, Ont., and David Hearn of Brantford, Ont., also did not make the cut.
Amateurs Justin Matthews of Little Britain, Ont., and Toronto's Matthew Javier also missed the cut.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 6, 2025.