Daily Wrap-up: Round 2, RBC Canadian Open

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VANCOUVER, British Columbia -- On a day when the course conditions favored experienced players with major championship success, PGA TOUR rookie Michael Thompson had to learn on the fly.

The Hooters Tour just didn't prepare him for anything like this.

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Facing rough so thick it forced Mike Weir to withdraw with an elbow injury, and the tightest course he's ever seen, Thompson followed up his even-par opening round with a 4-under 66 on Friday to move into a first-place tie with fellow American Chad Campbell after the second round of the Canadian Open.

"I played on the Hooters Tour last year, which there's no rough," Thompson said. "You just take your driver out and kill it."

That hasn't been the recipe for success this week, not with the long grass being compared the U.S. Open, fairways around 27 yards wide, and old growth forest lining every hole on the 7,010-yard Shaughnessy Golf and Country Club layout.

For Thompson, a 26-year-old from Alabama who could get from 110th to 33rd in the FedExCup standings with a win this week, the only comparison was the 2007 U.S. Amateur, where he made the finals before losing to Colt Knost, who was at even par Friday.

"What I've learned on a golf course like this is you pick your line and you get really focused in on your target," said Thompson, who has now made five straight cuts in his first PGA TOUR season, and 10 of 17 overall.

Playing under mostly sunny skies in the afternoon, Thompson followed an early bogey with five birdies, including one on the tough 472-yard, par-4 18th.

"On top of that, just accepting where it goes," he said. "If it goes in the rough, you deal with it. There's no reason to freak out or panic."

It's a lesson many of the leaders this week had already learned.

Campbell, coming off a season-best tie for fifth at the British Open, shot 67 under cloudy skies in the morning. Playing partner Paul Goydos (69), and Lee Janzen (68), a two-time U.S. Open champion, also had shares of the lead before bogeys on their final hole dropped them to 3-under on another tough day.

Projected points

The 2011 PGA TOUR Playoffs for the FedExCup start in five weeks with 125 players. To find out which players in this week's field are projected to make the biggest moves, click here.

"The toughness of the course I think is great, especially if you have good experience on it," said Janzen, whose last win was the 1998 U.S. Open. "We hate hitting out of high rough, but you've got to look at what the tournament is trying to accomplish. They want the Canadian Open to mean something and hopefully the leaderboard looks like the leaderboard they want."

It wasn't short on former major winners.

Current Masters champion Charl Schwartzel (67) and 2006 U.S. Open winner Geoff Ogilvy (68) were among seven players at 2-under, two strokes off the lead.

"Good players are playing well in this tournament," said Ogilvy, who wasn't a fan of the rough. "It's a quality looking leaderboard and at the end of the day that's all you can ask for. It doesn't really matter what people shoot."

Joining Ogilvy and Schwartzel at 2-under were Rickie Fowler (69), Jerry Kelly (67), first-round leader Kris Blanks (71), and Canadians David Hearn (68) and Adam Hadwin, a local playing on a sponsor's exemption who bogeyed No. 18 for a 66.

For the 23-year-old Hadwin, in his second year on the tier-3 Canadian Tour, the round was extra special because younger brother Kyle, who has had five major surgeries while battling Crohn's disease was able to leave a nearby hospital and walk the course. It was the first time since last year's Canadian Open, when Hadwin was the top Canadian, that Kyle was able to see his brother play in person.

Kyle wasn't able to travel when Adam qualified for this year's U.S. Open.

"He's a tough kid, he's been battling hard for a while," Hadwin said. "It's great that he's able to get out here and enjoy this with me."

Scott McCarron shot the lowest round of the tournament, a 65 that moved the veteran into a group of seven players at 1-under, and Tommy Gainey, who opened with a 77, matched it to move to 2-over and get below the 4-over cut line.

Despite a lack of overnight rain to soften the course like it saw early Thursday, scores were down by almost half a shot, but considering that first round was third-toughest on the PGA TOUR this season at more than 3-over par, it was all relative.

Anthony Kim, coming off a tie for fifth at the British Open last week, was disqualified after signing for less than his 11-over 81.

"A.K. just got it going sideways a little bit and out here there's no faking it," said Fowler, who played with Kim and Lucas Glover, who is 1-under. "You've got to hit the ball in the fairway and stay out of trouble here."

The number of players under par was down -- from 21 after Day One to 18 going into the weekend -- and Campbell, Goydos, Fowler and Janzen were the only ones to stay under on both days as the thick rough claimed more than just scorecards.

Canadian favorite Weir, who won the 2003 Masters, withdrew after hitting out of the long rough and aggravating an elbow injury that cut short his 2010 season. Weir was 8-over after six holes when he pulled out.

"Very disappointing," he said. "This is our national championship. I want to play and have great fan support. But I'm just not going to re-injure it again. With this deep rough, I just can't hit it."

NOTES: Hadwin came the closest to the only bogey-free round of the tournament before his tee shot on 18 found the round and he took two shots to get out, making an 11-foot putt to save bogey. ... The scoring average Friday was 72.55 after being 73.02 on Thursday. ... Goydos, 47, would be the oldest winner in event history at almost two years older than Mart Calcavecchia, who won with a 5-under total the last time Shaughnessy hosted the event in 2005.

Shaughnessy: Friday

EASIEST HOLE TOUGHEST HOLE The par-4 14th hole was the easiest with a Friday scoring average of 3.804. EAGLES: 1 BIRDIES: 45 PARS: 92 BOGEYS: 13 OTHER: 2 The par-4 18th hole was the toughest with a Friday scoring average of 4.523. EAGLES: 0 BIRDIES: 9 PARS: 72 BOGEYS: 59 OTHERS: 13

About the leaders

• Chad Campbell bettered his 1-under 69 in Round 1 with a 3-under 67 in Round 2. He shares the lead headed into the weekend with Michael Thompson. • Campbell is making just his third start in RBC Canadian Open history. He finished T26 in 2004 and T56 last year. • Campbell has four PGA TOUR titles to his credit, the most recent being the 2007 Viking Classic. • Campbell has hit 12 of 18 fairways in both of the first two rounds. • Campbells lone top-10 finish of the year came last week at the British Open, where he finished T5. • PGA TOUR Rookie Michael Thompson bettered his even-par 70 in Round 1 with a 4-under 66 in Round 2. He birdied three of his last four holes en route to the 66 (hole Nos. 15, 16 and 18). • Thompson, a rookie on the PGA TOUR by virtue of his T16 finish at the q-school, has now made five consecutive cuts in 2011. He is making his 17th start of the season, with his lone top-10 finish being a fourth-place finish at the Travelers Championship. • Prior to transferring to the University of Alabama, Thompson won three college events at Tulane University. At the University of Alabama, he won the 2008 Southeastern Conference individual championship. • The second-round leader/co-leader has gone on to win just seven of 30 stroke-play events on TOUR this year, most recently by Darren Clarke at last weeks British Open.