Golf Capsules: Woods opens 2012 season with solid 70 in Abu Dhabi
ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — No momentous shots for Tiger Woods. No bogeys, either. The 14-time major winner opened his 2012 season with a solid first round Thursday at the Abu Dhabi Golf Championship, shooting a 2-under 70 that left him three strokes behind co-leader Rory McIlroy, his playing partner.
"Hit the ball well all day today. It was a good ball-striking round," Woods said. "I had a hard time reading the greens out there. The greens were pretty grainy and I just had a hard time getting a feel for it. Toward the end I hit some pretty good putts but overall I got fooled a lot on my reads."
McIlroy shot a 67, as did Robert Karlsson. But the best shots of the day came from Sergio Garcia (71) and Jose Manuel Lara (70) — each had a hole-in-one on the par-3 12th hole.
Gareth Maybin, Richard Finch and Jean-Baptiste Gonnet were one shot behind the two leaders. Top-ranked Luke Donald, who played alongside Woods and McIlroy, shot a 71. Second-ranked Lee Westwood (72) and fourth-ranked Martin Kaymer (77) had poor starts and never challenged.
McIlroy, the U.S. Open champion from Northern Ireland, had three birdies on his first four holes but erratic driving led to two bogeys on the next four. He steadied himself with three birdies on his back nine, including a chip-in on No. 8 from just off the green.
"It's a nice way to start the competitive season, I suppose," McIlroy said. "I didn't feel like I played that good. I definitely didn't strike the ball as good as I have been the last couple of weeks. I think it's just because your first competitive round of the season, card in your hand, you can get a little bit tentative or a little apprehensive."
Woods missed several birdie chances, including a 6-footer on his ninth, the 18th hole. He also struggled with his approach shots on a course that was playing tougher than usual with its thick rough, resulting in many 25- and 30-footers coming up short.
McIlroy calls Woods a friend and chatted with him much of the day. He said he didn't take any satisfaction in beating him in the first round.
"If it was the last day of the tournament and you're both going in there with a chance to win, I would take a lot of pride from that, obviously," said McIlroy, who as a teenager followed Woods during a Dubai tournament when he played as an amateur in 2006 and 2007.
"But the first day of a tournament is a little different," McIlroy said. "You're just going out there and playing and seeing what you can do. But hopefully I can get myself into position where I do play with him on a Sunday and see how I get on."
Coming off a seven-week layoff, Woods has said he is fitter than he has been in years and brimming with confidence following his victory at the Chevron World Challenge last month. That ended a two-year run without a win. Before last month's win, Woods finished third at the Australian Open, and then delivered the clinching point for the American team in the Presidents Cup.
Since Chevron, Woods has moved up to a No. 25 ranking after briefly falling outside the top 50 last year.
"It felt the same as it had from Oz to the World Challenge to here," Woods said. "I controlled my ball all day and just had a hard time getting a feel for these greens. They are grainy enough where I just didn't quite read them right, and I hit them good, and then the grain would take it, not take it. It was just difficult."
Levin, Stanley opens with 62s to lead at Torrey
SAN DIEGO (AP) — Spencer Levin and Kyle Stanley knew they had to post low scores on the easier North Course at Torrey Pines to get off to a good start Thursday in the Farmers Insurance Open. It went even better than they expected.
Stanley made eagle on his final hole for a 10-under 62, his best score in two years on the PGA Tour. Levin shot 29 on the back nine and had a 62, matching his career best on tour.
"I played the pro-am on the North Course yesterday. There were just a lot of birdie opportunities out there, so I knew there was a good score — maybe not 10 (under), but I'll take it," Stanley said.
They were a shot ahead of FedEx Cup champion Bill Haas, who had a double bogey on his 15th hole and still managed a 63. The top 12 on the leaderboard played the North, which played slightly more than 3 1/2 strokes easier than the South Course, which hosted the U.S. Open four years ago.
The best score from the South was Marc Turnesa at 66.
Phil Mickelson, meanwhile, went south on the South. The three-time champion and San Diego favorite thought his game was rounding into form when he came home from the Humana Challenge. Instead, he hit into 11 bunkers, missed a 3-foot birdie putt on the final hole and signed for a 77. It was his highest score at Torrey Pines since a 78 in the third round of 2005.
"Obviously, I made some bad swings just in the wrong spot and so forth," Mickelson said. "I felt like my game was ready heading in, and I don't know what to say about the score. Because it was pathetic."
A year ago, the fairways were pinched in and the rough was unusually high on the North Course, helping to make up for the 604-yard difference between the two courses. Based on the scores, that's no longer the case.
Vijay Singh, Rod Pampling, Josh Teater and PGA Tour rookie John Huh were at 64, with Huh making three eagles. Camilo Villegas and Justin Leonard were among those at 65.
Of the 54 players who shot in the 60s, only 13 of them were on the South Course. One of them was Paul Goydos, who doesn't buy into the theory that with two vastly different courses, the tournament really doesn't start until Saturday when everyone has played both.
"Ten under is leading the tournament, and anyone who says differently is full of it," Goydos said. "I looked at the leaderboard."
He would argue that some players simply have better vibes on the different courses. What might be a big difference to one player might be much less to another.
"All I know is that I'm six shots back and I've got to deal with it," he said.
One thing that left little room for debate — the weather could not be any more gorgeous for late January along the Pacific coast, a day of endless sunshine and warm temperatures that made even the South play a little shorter.
Levin noticed only one big change in his game, and that was putting the ball in play. That made quite the difference, for hit set up short irons and plenty of birdie opportunities.
"I had some putts for birdies instead of pars, and kind of added up to a good score," Levin said.
The turning point came when Levin thought he might made bogey. He drove into the bunker on No. 7, leaving him an uphill shot to a difficult green, blocked partially by a tree.
"I was thinking I wouldn't have a shot. I was thinking it's probably going to be a bogey, and I'll go back to even (par)," Levin said. "I cut an 8-iron around and go on the right side of the green and hit a 20-footer — it probably broke 10 feet — and I made it. So it felt like at least a one-shot swing."
He followed with a birdie on the par-5 ninth, and making the turn at 3 under instead of 1 under changed everything for him.
Haas, coming off a sluggish start in Kapalua and the California desert, was at 8 under with four holes to play when he missed the green well to the right on the picturesque, downhill, par-3 sixth hole. His long pitch from the rough didn't reach the green, he chipped some 15 feet past the hole and made double bogey.
That made him upset. He finished with two strong birdies, which eased the sting and could lead to some momentum on Friday.
"I would love to be 10 or 11 under," Haas said. "But to get over that and finish with two good birdies, I was pleased with that."
DIVOTS: David Duval withdrew before the round began with the flu. He was replaced by Steven Bowditch. ... Ryo Ishikawa, who missed the cut at the Sony Open two weeks ago, opened with a 69 on the South. ... Haas has changed his belly putter, making it an inch shorter for what he calls a "huge difference." He said it allows him to more easily get his eyes over the ball.
-- Doug Ferguson
PGA Tour takes big step toward qualifying change
SAN DIEGO (AP) — The PGA Tour is one step closer to eliminating Q-school as a path to earning a tour card, a significant overhaul that would include starting the official season in the fall instead of waiting for the next calendar year.
At the heart of the proposal is making the Nationwide Tour the primary means of getting to the big leagues.
PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem presented the basics of the plan Tuesday night during a mandatory players meeting at Torrey Pines ahead of the Farmers Insurance Open.
The biggest change involves Q-school. The plan is for the top 75 players from the Nationwide Tour and the top 75 players who failed to keep their PGA Tour cards to play a three-tournament series. Players would be ranked based on how they fared on their respective money lists, and the top 50 after that series would earn cards.
The rest would have the option of going to Q-school, where only Nationwide Tour status would be available.
The proposal was not much different from what The Associated Press first reported in December. There were a few tweaks, and there might be more to come as tour officials get feedback over the next few weeks.
The 16-member Player Advisory Council plans to meet in three weeks at the Northern Trust Open. The earliest the overhaul could be approved by the policy board is in March, though it likely will be later.
Reaction predictably was mixed.
Dustin Johnson, who made it through Q-school on his first try out of college and has won in each of his four years on the PGA Tour, said on Twitter, "Just left the player meeting here in San Diego!!!! I don't like any of the ideas about changing the tour!!! There is NO reason to!!!!!!!!!"
Rod Pampling, who had to rely on low status and sponsor exemptions to regain his card last year, said he needed more information before he could figure out why such a big change was needed.
"I guess they're looking for a new direction, but I'm still on the fence," Pampling said. "I understand both sides. We just need to get more information. We were told how last year was one of the greatest years on tour. So why are we reinventing the wheel? Obviously, it's forward progress. But is this the right way? I don't know."
Geoff Ogilvy also said he liked the way the PGA Tour was now.
"But I quite liked the way the tour was before the FedEx Cup, and I actually like the tour better now with the FedEx Cup," he said. "I thought it was ridiculous having the FedEx Cup, but now it happen, and I'm like, 'This is pretty good.' Every year it's gotten better. So the tour hasn't made that many missteps in the last 20 or 30 years.
"It's probably going to end up the right thing to do."
According to one manager involved in meetings, the tour said total compensation to PGA Tour players — including items such as their pension plans — was $205 million in 2010, which increased to $319 million in 2011. That figure is expected to be $377 million this year.
The manager spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to release the information.
But such prosperity prompted several players — including Brandt Snedeker during a Q&A portion of the meeting — to ask: "If everything is so good, why risk change?"
One reason for change is to make the development tour attractive to a title sponsor — Nationwide's sponsorship ends after this year.
When the FedEx Cup began, the regular PGA Tour season ended with the Tour Championship in late September. Then, there were as many as six "Fall Series" events, which gave players a chance to earn their cards by being in the top 125 on the money list.
Those fall events have smaller purses and are not part of the FedEx Cup.
There are indications, however, that at least two title sponsors of the Fall Series might not be willing to renew contracts unless they are part of the FedEx Cup. That would lead the tour to start the new season in October.
"It looks likes to me they're wanting to have a non-calendar year, which means you've got to change Q-school," Phil Mickelson said. "You always have to have change to have growth."
Q-school, a chance for players to earn their way onto the big tour, is now held in December.
Finchem has said he's not looking to add tournaments in Asia. What he presented to the players was a start of the season that included the Frys.com Open, Las Vegas, the McGladrey Classic, the Asia Pacific Classic in Malaysia and the HSBC Champions in Shanghai, with the year (but not the season) ending at Disney.
There also was a tournament "to be announced," which might not be on American soil, but not far away.
One of the arguments against the plan is that it eliminates the long shot that plays six great rounds at Q-school and fulfills a dream by reaching the PGA Tour. Now, such a player would only get to the Nationwide Tour, where he would have a year to prove himself.
Another is that it would hamper a young college player from going straight to the PGA Tour. Johnson and J.B. Holmes are among those who recently have gone from Q-school to winning in one year, while Rickie Fowler went from Q-school to playing in the Ryder Cup.
Among the biggest issues still to sort out is how to seed the 75 PGA Tour players who finish out of the top 125 on the money list with the top 75 from the Nationwide Tour money list.
Currently, the top 25 on the Nationwide Tour automatically get PGA Tour cards.
The original plan was for players to be alternately seeded from each tour — No. 1 on the Nationwide and No. 126 from the PGA Tour would be jointly seeded No. 1, for example. Feedback over the last month, however, indicated that because the top 25 players from the Nationwide Tour got cards, they should be given preferred status.
Now under discussion is how to seed them. One idea was to take the top 25 seeds off the Nationwide Tour, and then alternate between the two tours. Another was to put the top 15 from the Nationwide Tour atop the rankings for the three-tournament series.
Nationwide Tour earnings would be the used to keep score in the series. No matter how much money a PGA Tour player made, he would be assigned the money equal to his counterpart on the Nationwide Tour.
-- Doug Ferguson
Solheim Cup
Mallon to be next U.S. captain
ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — Meg Mallon is the next U.S. captain for the Solheim Cup.
Mallon is a four-time major champion, including two U.S. Women's Open titles, and she played in the Solheim Cup eight times. Her overall record was 13-9-7, including 5-2-1 in singles. She is second only to Juli Inkster in most Solheim Cup points earned by an American. The Americans are coming off a loss to Europe last year in Ireland.
The 2013 Solheim Cup will be played at Colorado Golf Club in Parker, Colo. Mallon was an assistant to captain Beth Daniel in 2009 when the Americans won outside Chicago. The announcement was made Thursday at the PGA Merchandise Show.
