Owen upbeat on chances
July 27, 2012 08:32:02 UK
Greg Owen is optimistic about his chances of recording a first PGA Tour victory at the Canadian Open this weekend, as long as he hits the ball straight.
Owen recovered from a disastrous start in Toronto to card a scintillating seven-under-par 63 on Thursday to trail early leader Scott Piercy by one shot after the first round.
The America-based Englishman looked to be struggling after dropping three strokes in his first two holes but bounced back to fire eight birdies and an eagle in his final 16 holes.
And, with the course at Hamilton far from the longest on the PGA Tour, Owen believes the onus is on finding as many fairways as possible from the tee to set up birdie opportunities.
He told the PGA Tour website: "You've just got to keep it in play, hit the fairways. It's not a long golf course. Hit the fairways and then give yourself as many chances as you can, and that's what I did today. Got off to a rough start, but I played pretty solid from then on.
"Obviously when I started that way, I'm like, okay, well, not a lot lost because I wasn't sure I would play anyway, but I started playing well, and you know, you just keep moving, just keep momentum going and that's the way it was going.
"And every time I missed a couple of greens, chipped it close, knocked the putt in and then birdied the next hole and just kept going."
Owen's participation this week was in doubt after he damaged ligaments in his hand playing a shot from Royal Lytham's punishing rough at the Open Championship last week.
Owen is still bothered by the injury but he revealed that he is happy to continue playing for now in his aim to qualify for next month's US PGA Championship.
He added: "Once it loosens up, it's not too bad. I just gotta be careful of how deep of divots I take and how hard I go after it in the rough. Hopefully if I hit it in the rough I'm going to get a decent lie.
"I believe it's ligament damage, but I get a little swelling just up the wrist into the hand at night. But I just want to play this week and give it my best shot. So hopefully we can last all four days and keep playing like I did today."
Owen can be backed at 61.00 to win in Canada this weekend.
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