OAKVILLE, Ont. – Jared du Toit had just drained a 15-footer for his second birdie of the day, and he was walking to No. 12, both of his arms outstretched for high-fives with fans pressed up against the ropes for a glimpse at the kid who started his national open one shot off the lead.
"Let’s keep going, alright?" du Toit said, grinning, as he high-fived. "Let’s go."
What a difference a couple of days make.
On Thursday, when he began the RBC Canadian Open, the 21-year-old from tiny Kimberley, B.C. was an unknown in a field that featured world No. 1 Jason Day, world No. 2 Dustin Johnson and much better-known Canadians like David Hearn, Graham DeLaet and Mike Weir. The gallery following du Toit on Thursday was about 15 strong, and made up mostly of friends and family.
By Sunday, he was Canada’s best hope, with hundreds cheering him on, lining the first hole 20-deep in some places, making it feel, he says, like he had "home-ice advantage."
When he was introduced for his final round at the first tee along with Brandt Snedeker, the announcer hadn’t even gotten to his name yet—just the fact he was Canadian—when the massive gallery started cheering and waving their tiny Canada flags.
Du Toit was nervous, then.
"I pulled the 3-wood out and I was thinking about pulling the driver, just better my chances of hitting the face," he said, grinning. "Once I got the first hole out of the way, I felt pretty good."
But the soon-to-be senior at Arizona state played his best two rounds of the tournament before the weekend hit. As his caddie, Sean Burke—a local he just met on Tuesday—put it: "He didn’t really have his best stuff on the weekend."
As du Toit put it, facing the media afterwards: "I’m sure you guys saw the round, but I kind of hit it pretty bad all day."
He didn’t have his best stuff off the tee Sunday, but du Toit still managed a fourth straight under-par round to finish at 1-under on the day and 9-under overall, good for a T9 finish three strokes back of eventual winner Jhonattan Vegas. Not bad for his first-ever tournament on the PGA Tour.
It was a sterling short game that kept du Toit in the hunt. He called his wedge "magic," and that’s probably an understatement.
"His short game is top-notch—absolutely," said Burke. "If we got off line, it was almost OK, because it was a pretty easy up and down for him."
That wasn’t the only adversity he faced this weekend. Du Toit actually had a trip to the emergency room Saturday night because he has bronchitis. He still managed to get five hours of sleep, and then "crushed a nap," as he put it, before his afternoon tee-time.
But it wasn’t the start du Toit was dreaming of. He hit bunkers on each of the first three holes and bogeyed No. 3. He missed a makeable birdie putt on five, then three-putted six for his second bogey on the day to move to 6-under and three back of the lead at the time.
It was at No. 8, the 485-yard par 4, where du Toit made his first birdie of the day after an approach shot left him three yards from the hole.
That got the gallery fired up, and saw du Toit doling out high-fives and saying "thanks" to all the fans cheering him on. He probably said "thanks" a hundred times on Sunday.
He also said "unbelievable" a lot this week. After each of his under-par rounds, to describe his play, to describe the fans, it was always "unbelievable."
He’s not alone there. Says Burke, who met du Toit on Tuesday: "Coming out and caddying this week, if you would have told me we would have been in the final group on Sunday, I would have laughed at you."
Following his solid opening round of 67 on Thursday, du Toit had been told by his Team Canada coach Derek Ingram to stay off social media, and not watch any sports highlights, to try and keep his head in the game. That was tough for a kid who watches sports highlights every night.
"It seemed like every channel I flipped to, just at the time, had me on there," du Toit said. "Then I’d hear Ian [Leggatt] talking about me and I was like OK. Then I’d turn it off, flip the channel."
He listened to a lot of music this week. But now he can get back to the sports highlights.
Though it didn’t end with the complete fairytale—Pat Fletcher remains the last homegrown winner of this country’s national tournament, back in 1954—du Toit did learn a valuable lesson.
"I guess I learned that I can compete out here," he said, standing on No. 18, grinning, still wearing his Canada hat. Minutes earlier, he accepted the award for top amateur in the tournament.
"Good golf for me is good golf on the PGA Tour, I guess. I mean, I don’t know."
He’d just wrapped up his fourth round minutes earlier. He’d played alongside Snedeker. He’d beaten the world No. 1 by two strokes. You can’t blame the kid if it was all still feeling a little unbelievable.