Mahan in the hunt in Canada

Hunter Mahan matched his best score of the year with a nine under-par 62 on Thursday to take a two stroke lead over Australia Steve Allan at the Canadian Open.

Mahan also shot a 62 in the opening round of the Travelers Championship in June en route to his first career PGA Tour victory. He is the first player to shoot two sub 63 rounds on the PGA Tour this season.

Starting on the back nine, the 25-year-old carded three eagles and five birdies while dropping shots at the 17th and second.

Mahan capped his round with a 80-yard sand wedge into the ninth, which landed above the hole and spun back into the cup.

“I’ve been working on my game for a while,” said Mahan, who also matched the lowest round in the history of the tournament. “My mind is kind of catching up with my game. I’ve been swinging great, my mind’s been helping me more than anything else.

“I’ve been out there trying to be a cheerleader for myself, instead of being the enemy of myself. I’m trying to be calm and not get over-excited and that’s helping a lot.”

At last week’s British Open, Mahan closed with rounds of 69 and 65 to finish three strokes behind champion Padraig Harrington, who defeated Sergio Garcia in a play-off.

“I felt like I was somewhat close to doing something like this,” he added. “So it’s kind of nice to see it through. You know, golf is a funny game, sometimes you have it, sometimes you don’t. Sometimes you do everything you’re supposed to do and it doesn’t work out. You have to be patient with it and you’ve just got to keep working.”

Allan, 33, signed for eight birdies and one bogey at the Angus Glen Golf.

“(The course is) definitely very playable. The fairways are quite wide. It’s a pretty good design,” said Allan. “I think it’s going to play pretty easy unless the greens firm up, because they’re really soft out there today.”

Canadian David Hearn was a further shot adrift alongside American Tripp Isenhour at six-under, while Bo Van Pelt, John Mallinger, Michael Putnam, Olin Browne and Charlie Wi are tied for fifth at five-under.

Vijay Singh is at three-under alongside Canadian Graham DeLaet, while world number three Jim Furyk, who won this event when it was played at the Hamilton Golf and Country Club last year, is tied for 35th at two-under.