Ben James wound up taking a drastically different route through his third round at the RBC Canadian Open at Caledon, Ontario.
The Milford, Conn., native had blistered the TPC Toronto at Osprey Valley through the first two days to lead his professional debut tournament at the midway point at 10-under par. But the same course turned on him on Saturday.
The 23-year-old four-time All-American at Virginia struggled all day and came away with a disastrous round of 8-over-par 78 that left him at 2-under and in a tie for 59th, 11 shots off the pace set by Jackson Suber, who was at 13-under.
After scrambling to make par on his first two holes while playing in the final group with Sam Burns, James had a run of five straight bogeys on Nos. 4-8. His back nine was not much better with four more bogeys to go with one birdie.
Then, just when it appeared things couldn’t get any worse, James’ shot into the green on the par-5 18th landed on the putting surface only to slowly and oh so painfully roll off and down a slope toward a pond. Fortunately for James the ball stopped about a foot from the water and he was able to chip up and putt out for a par.
Ben James tees off on the second hole during the third round at the Canadian Open golf tournament in Caledon, Ontario, Saturday, June 13, 2026. (Nathan Denette/The Canadian Press via AP)
Meanwhile, Meanwhile Suber backed up his opening rounds of his opening rounds of 66 and 65 with another 66 to maintain a one-shot lead over Bud Cauley, who was at 12-under. But there is plenty of competition just below for the $9.8 million tournament, one of the oldest on Tour and considered Canada’s national championship.
In a group of four players tied for third at 11-under were Wyndham Clark, Tommy Fleetwood, Brice Garnett and Jesper Svensson.
Sudarshan Yellamaraju, the leading Canadian contender, was in a group of five, another shot back at 10-under. He was joined by Billy Horschel, Ryan Fox, Jimmy Stanger and Burns.
Korda-Cowan struggle in team event: At Midland, Mich., Hyo Joo Kim and Hye-Jin Choi handled a swirling wind and made enough birdies to be among only six teams who broke par, posting a 1-under 69 in foursomes to build a one-shot lead in the Dow Championship.
Double major winner Nelly Korda and Olivia Cowan will need another big showing in Sunday fourballs if they want a chance to catch them. They made only one birdie, had bogey on both par 5s at Midland Country Club and shot 76 to fall six shots behind.
Korda and Cowan were tied for 13th. It will be only the second time this year on the LPGA that Korda is not in the final group.
Kim and Choi, the South Korean duo who are both among the top 20 in the women’s world ranking, were at 10-under 200.
“The wind was obviously very strong today so that was a big factor that was different than the first round,” Kim said. They also shot 69 in foursomes in the opening round.