Golf Capsules: PGA Tour playoff begin at Barclays
PARAMUS, N.J. (AP) — A season filled with "worsts" finally gave way to a couple of "firsts" for Tiger Woods.
By missing only one fairway and having a birdie putt on all but two holes, Woods began the FedEx Cup playoffs with a 6-under 65 for a share of the lead with Vaughn Taylor after one round at The Barclays.
It was the first time in 335 days that he found his name atop the leaderboard on the PGA Tour. It was the first time in 12 rounds, dating to the opening round at St. Andrews six weeks ago, that he broke 70.
It was the first time since the 2006 British Open at Royal Liverpool that he hit 3-wood on every par 5, an example of Woods choosing to navigate his way smartly around Ridgewood Country Club in soft conditions.
It was the first time he played a round without ever seeing anyone in front of him on the golf course, courtesy of being so far down in the FedEx Cup standings (No. 112) that he was in the first group off Thursday morning.
The first time he hit the ball so well? Not quite. But it sure felt that way.
"It's exciting to hit the ball flush like this again," Woods said. "It's something I've been missing all year. I haven't hit it flush. And it felt good to hit the ball and shape it both ways and really hit it through the wind. I've hit so many shots this year that haven't been hit flush enough to get through the wind. But today, I was doing it all day."
The next step, and perhaps a more important step, is where he goes from here.
It might have been sheer coincidence that Woods finally looked like the No. 1 player in his first competitive round since his divorce on Monday. There is not much left to say about his car crash after Thanksgiving night, the sex scandal that dominated supermarket tabloids, his five-month break from the game, his worst 36-hole score and worst 72-hole score in his PGA Tour career, and the end of his marriage.
It was all about his golf on a sunny day in northern New Jersey, and the news was good for a change. Did he feel a weight lifted from his shoulders?
"I can't really say that's the case," Woods said. "As far as golf, it was nice to put it together."
It started with a simple 3-wood down the middle of the opening hole, a pitching wedge that landed 20 feet behind the hole and spun back on the spongy green to 15 feet below the cup, and the confident stride toward the hole when the birdie putt disappeared.
He made birdie on a par 5 — that's news these days.
On one of the two holes where he hit driver — the par-4 fifth, measuring 291 yards — it was so flawless that his tee shot landed some 10 feet left of the flag and settled 15 feet away for a two-putt birdie.
Woods didn't miss a green until the 11th hole, and while he dropped his only shot from a fairway bunker on No. 12, he recovered quickly with a birdie on the 13th, and a 6-iron that plopped down 2 feet from the cup.
Woods and Taylor both played in the morning, when the greens were smooth and the conditions were only breezy. They had a one-shot lead over Adam Scott, Brian Gay and Ryan Palmer. Scott played in the afternoon, where a gust of wind played tricks on him at the final hole and led to bogey.
Scott endured a long day in the pro-am Wednesday and didn't think Ridgewood would serve up a 65 to anyone.
"Seeing some good scores this morning made me change my mind," he said.
That one of those scores belonged to Woods was hardly a surprise.
"For him to piece things together can't be too hard," Scott said. "He's very good."
The 65 was his lowest score in 46 rounds, dating to a 62 in the BMW Championship last year. Taylor grinned when asked if he was surprised to see Woods' name on the leaderboard.
"Somewhat, you know?" he said. "It's good to see him back up top."
With sunshine and a light breeze, conditions were ripe for scoring. Palmer had a chance to join the leaders until a three-putt bogey on the 18th put him at 66. Even though the greens became bumpy in the afternoon after so much foot traffic, the course was soft enough to allow for good scores. There were 14 players who shot 67, including Davis Love III, defending champion Heath Slocum and Stewart Cink.
Phil Mickelson, with his ninth chance in the past four months to replace Woods at No. 1 in the world, made only one birdie for a 72.
For Woods, the timing could not have been better. Only the top 100 in the FedEx Cup standings advance to the second round of the playoffs next week in the Deutsche Bank Championship. Woods at least needs to make the cut, then finish in the middle of the pack. He had a better solution.
"I figure if I win, I should be OK," Woods said.
For one of the few times this year, he gave himself ample reason to believe that.
Notebook: Tiger still deciding on a swing change
PARAMUS, N.J. (AP) — Tiger Woods spent two days with instructor Sean Foley in Florida before coming to the Barclays, this after the Canadian-born coach worked with him during the PGA Championship.
Still to be decided is whether Woods wants to revamp his swing.
From past experience, Woods knows that takes time. He overhauled his swing under Butch Harmon after the 1997 Masters, and it took nearly two years before he felt he had it down. Another overhaul under Hank Haney took about that long.
"That's the reason why the hesitation, because I know it's going to take a long time," Woods said after opening with a 65 at Ridgewood. "If it takes less than that, that's still a long time."
Even so, some of the drills appear to be working.
Foley had caddie Steve Williams hold the end of a wedge over Woods' right ear at Whistling Straits to keep his head from moving. During his pro-am round, Woods tucked a golf glove under his right armpit to keep his arms more connected.
The payoff was not just the 65. Woods said his session on the range Thursday morning was not going particularly well, yet he knew what was wrong and was able to fix it.
"I had a week-and-a-half of prep time before here. I get off to a bad start in warm-up, at least I know how to fix it. And then once I fix it, I was able to go out and play," he said. "But if that happened at the PGA, I wouldn't have played like I did today."
The turnaround was remarkable. Woods missed only one fairway and essentially only two greens (one was on the fringe).
There has been talk that Foley's teaching are similar to the "stack-and-tilt" method taught by Andy Plummer and Mike Bennett, whose clients have included Mike Weir, Dean Wilson and Aaron Baddeley over the years.
"There are some parts of it that do look like it," Woods said. "But there are other parts that are very, very different."
Woods is not sure when he will make up his mind. He is getting through the PGA Tour playoffs, however long they last for him, then most likely the Ryder Cup, then a two-week trip to Shanghai and Melbourne in November, concluding with his Chevron World Challenge the first week of December.
"It's something I'm still mulling over," he said. "When I do commit, I will commit to it. I just haven't figured out which way I'm going to go with it yet."<
FOWLER PENALTY: Rickie Fowler stepped over a tap-in par that turned much more complicated and cost him a penalty shot.
On the par-3 second hole — his 11th of the opening round — Fowler quickly backed away when he noticed his ball move ever so slightly on the green. Then, it became a matter of whether he had addressed the ball.
"I kind of one-footed it when it moved," he said.
With his right foot planted, he placed the putter about an inch behind the ball and was moving his left foot into position when the ball moved. The wind was blowing, but Fowler attributed the movement to being in a footprint.
"I saw it move as soon as I got over the ball," he said.
After a discussion with rules officials, Fowler replaced the ball and tapped in. Then, he placed another ball in the spot as a provisional and tapped in, depending on what the ruling was going to be. Officials reviewed it on tape, and determined it to be a one-shot penalty.
Fowler wound up with a 71.<
TAYLOR'S YEAR: Unlike the last two years, Vaughn Taylor gets to play more than one week in the FedEx Cup playoffs. He didn't qualify last year, and made it through only the one event the year before.
Now, he comes into the playoffs at No. 38, and his opening 65 sure didn't hurt.
Taylor started that high on the strength of four top 10s, the most memorable his playoff loss in the Houston Open that cost him a trip to the Masters in his hometown of Augusta.
"It kind of ate at me for a little while," he said. "It was hard to sleep sometimes at night. You always think what you could have done differently, and I would have loved to have had that playoff again."
The most peculiar part of his year was a tie for 35th in the Reno-Tahoe Open, not the result but the reason.
"I had a nice stretch there for about a month and went out to Reno and just struggled with the altitude," he said. "Just couldn't figure out how far the ball was going."
This is unusual because Taylor's only two victories were at the Reno-Tahoe Open.
Why was altitude a problem this time?
"I can't figure it out the last two years," he said. "Just clueless. Maybe I got lucky two years."
-- Doug Ferguson
Heritage golf tourney moved back a week next year
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — There will be no shortage of golf along the Georgia-South Carolina coast next April.
The PGA Tour announced Thursday the Heritage golf tournament in South Carolina will be played a week later than usual in 2011 on April 21-24, the same week that the popular Champions Tour event, the Liberty Mutual Legends of Golf, is taking place about an hour's drive south in Savannah, Ga.
The change to the longtime event at Harbour Town Golf Links, usually played the week following the Masters, came because The Players Championship was shifted to a week later in May. That forced a date change for the Texas Open, which moved into the Heritage's normal slot.
PGA Tour chief of operations Rick George says the switch is for next year only with all intentions to move the Heritage back to the week after the year's first major.
But for next year at least, it means two marquee events will battle for competitors, volunteers and fans.
"We know this is not an ideal situation," George said.
The Heritage may not have been in any position to protest. The tournament's spot on the schedule was in doubt since it lost Verizon as its longtime sponsor. A replacement has not been secured with less than eight months left before the 2011 Heritage.
"That's still a work in progress," said Steve Wilmot, Heritage tournament director.
Wilmot guaranteed last March that there would be a Heritage in 2011 with or without a title sponsor. But organizers have not found anyone willing to put the $8 million or so necessary to underwrite the event.
Earlier this summer, Beaufort County agreed to loan the golf tournament $1 million to make sure it returned to Hilton Head. The town of Hilton Head promised to award a $1 million grant if the golf tournament can't find a sponsor by next April.
George said the tour and the Heritage finalized their agreement for 2011 earlier Thursday.
George says PGA Tour leaders were continuing to work with Wilmot in searching out a sponsor to keep the Heritage on the schedule past 2011.
In July, the Heritage Classic Foundation released a study that found last April's golf tournament brought nearly $82 million to South Carolina and its coastal region. The survey was conducted by Clemson's International Institute for Tourism Research and Development with help from USC Beaufort.
While George said the tour looked at scenarios if the Heritage deal fell through, it never sought out a replacement location. He said the Heritage Classic Foundation had enough funds in reserve that tour leaders felt good about returning to Harbour Town.
Wilmot and George said nothing is guaranteed for the Heritage past 2011.
For now, Wilmot says he and Legends of Golf executive director Joe Rotellini will work on not infringing on the other's tournament and on allowing fans interested in attending both events a way to do so.
"It should be a tremendous week of golf for our sponsors, and certainly unique," Wilmot said.
-- Pete Iacobelli
LPGA
Wie has hole-in-one on way to three-stroke lead
WINNIPEG, Manitoba (AP) — Michelle Wie refrained from doing a dance after this hole-in-one. She was just as happy, though.
The 20-year-old from Hawaii had the second ace of her professional career Thursday on the way to a 7-under 65 and a three-stroke lead after the first round at the CN Canadian Women's Open.
Wie raised her hands in the air and got a high-five from playing partner Cristie Kerr after the ace on the 190-yard, par-3 11th hole at the St. Charles Country Club.
After her first hole-in-one, in her rookie season at last year's McDonald's LPGA Championship, the 6-foot-tall Wie did a dance.
"I did a little shimmy after I made it in at McDonald's and it got replayed one too many times and (TV sportscaster) Scott (Oake) made fun of it a little bit too much," Wie said. "So (I) just decided against it. I really wanted to, but I didn't. But it was pretty crazy."
The youngest player to qualify for the U.S. Amateur Championship at age 10, Wie said she's had eight aces in her career, but this was the only one in a tournament that she actually saw roll into the cup.
Sarah Kemp of Australia was three strokes behind Wie after her morning-round 68, while defending champion Suzann Pettersen of Norway was alone in third place at 69.
Rookie Ilhee Lee of South Korea initially had a score of 69 after her early round, but it was later corrected to 70 — a mark shared with seven others.
Seema Sadekar of Toronto was the low Canadian with a 72, two strokes ahead of Sue Kim of Langley, B.C. Kim is playing with a heavy heart after her father died in a car accident earlier this month.
Wie delivered a second spectacular shot, on No. 17, when she holed out from a greenside bunker for a birdie.
"I just really thought I could make it, and I went up there, really thought about it, just trusted it, and kind of did what I thought it would do," Wie said.
The Canadian Open is Wie's 15th event this season. She's had three Top-10 finishes, with the best a third at the Tres Marias Championship in May. Her only career victory came at last November's Lorena Ochoa Invitational.
Kemp overcame blustery winds during the day to tally six birdies and two bogeys on the par-72, 6,572-yard course.
"My putter, I think, was the 4-under today," said Kemp, 25, who's in her third season on the Tour. "I holed some really good putts and I just kept it in play."
After a couple of withdrawals on Wednesday, the 156-player field features 46 of the top 50 players on the money list and all of the top 15 on the Rolex World Rankings.
Most of the world's top players didn't fare well.
No. 1 Ai Miyazato of Japan was tied for 63rd after shooting a 74, No. 2 Kerr finished tied for 81st with 75 and No. 3 Pettersen had the best with her 69.
Wie's other playing partner, Jiyai Shin of South Korea, is ranked fourth in the world and posted one of the 70s.
No. 5 Yani Tseng of Taiwan was tied for 46th after going 1-over.
U.S. teen sensation Alexis Thompson shot a 71. Thompson turned pro in June at the age of 15, the youngest female to do so.
"Honestly, I think she's unbelievable, just being 15 and doing what she does," said 18-year-old Rebecca Lee-Bentham. "I had fun out there. It was great playing with her. She's a great player."
Notes: Wie's hole-in-one was the 13th achieved by a player on the tour this season. ... The $2.25 million purse is tied for the fourth highest on the tour this season.
Champions
Couples back in northwest after Senior Open miss
SNOQUALMIE, Wash. (AP) — Fred Couples was oh so close to winning a major championship in his own backyard.
The Seattle native was tied for a share of the lead with Germany's Bernhard Langer after three rounds of the U.S. Senior Open at Sahalee Country Club in Sammamish, Wash., just a month ago. Couples took the lead after a birdie to open the final round and seemed poised for something special in front of a raucous hometown crowd.
That's when Couples uncharacteristically took his foot off the gas pedal.
Couples laid up out of the first cut of rough on the par-5 second hole. He then chunked a wedge into the greenside pond from 65 yards out. After dropping, Couples flew his fifth shot over the green and ended up with a triple bogey 8 to derail his chances.
Langer took advantage with a 3-under 67 to win his second major title is as many weeks.
"The eight on the second hole wasn't much fun and then it took me a while to get over it," Couples said. "Then I played pretty well the rest of the way and it turned out to be a lot of fun.
Couples returns to the greater Seattle area to play in the Boeing Classic for the first time since joining the Champions Tour. Couples is once again paired with Langer and Nick Price for the opening round on Friday.
"Well, I'm excited about it," Couples said. "I love to play with Nick Price and Bernhard. They're two of the best players out here."
"The pairing tomorrow is unique. I get Bernhard again, but it's another event. That was, just like he would tell you, it's in the past. I think we'll all have a good time."
The TPC at Snoqualmie Ridge is drastically different then the tree lined test that challenged the field for the Senior Open. Snoqualmie Ridge has many wide open driving holes and 300 feet of elevation change over the 7,264-yard layout.
"Sahalee was more of a very narrow precision type course," Langer said. "This one probably suits the longer hitters more."
"There is definitely more room off the tee here and it benefits those guys that can hit it an extra 30 yards off the tee."
After a sunny 85-degree day on Wednesday, the players had to deal with cool, damp conditions for the second day of the Pro-Am on Thursday. Forecasts for the weekend are mostly cloudy with a chance of showers. The weather is expected to clear up more as the week progresses.
"The course is in immaculate shape, but yesterday the greens were rock hard and I was hitting shorter clubs," Couples said. "Today, in this weather, I was hitting a lot longer clubs and I thought it was pretty difficult."
Even with the stereotypical Seattle cloud cover hanging over the golf course, Couples is just excited to be playing more golf in the northwest.
"I have been waiting to turn 50 to play in the Boeing and then to get the Senior Open was incredible," Couples said.
"I always get to play up here in a tournament now on the Champions Tour and I love that. I love to be up here in Seattle."
Defending champion Loren Roberts is paired with Tom Kite and Fred Funk in the first round Friday. Roberts posted the lowest three-day total in the tournament's five-year history of the tournament, an 18-under par total. Roberts held on for a one shot victory over Mark O'Meara to earn his first Boeing Classic title.
Kite is a two-time winner of the Boeing Classic and Funk is coming off a major championship win last week at the Jeld-Wen Tradition in Sunriver, Ore.
PGA European
Finch shoots 66 in opening round in Scotland
GLENEAGLES, Scotland (AP) — Richard Finch of England shot a 6-under 66 Thursday to lead the Johnnie Walker Championship after the opening round.
Finch is looking to end a two-year drought since winning twice in 2008, at the New Zealand Open and Irish Open.
Five players are a shot back. The English quartet of Robert Rock, Richard Bland, Gary Boyd and David Lynne, and Scotland's Stephen Gallacher.
England's Simon Dyson is at 4 under and a chance of breaking into the leading nine on the Ryder Cup points standings.
Dyson arrived in Scotland in 13th place in the standings and four places short of automatically qualifying. However, he needs to win to have any chance of making the European team.
Ryder Cup
Molinari of Italy secures Ryder Cup spot
GLENEAGLES, Scotland (AP) — Francesco Molinari of Italy has been guaranteed a place in Europe's Ryder Cup team following Ross McGowan's withdrawal from the Johnnie Walker Championship because of an injury.
McGowan pulled out of the Gleneagles event on Thursday after shooting a 5-over par 77 that put him near last place during the first round. The Englishman, who was struggling with a pinched nerve in his shoulder, needed to finish first or second at the Johnnie Walker Championship to have any chance of making Europe's Ryder Cup team.
Molinari, seventh on the selection points standings, is one of the nine automatic European qualifiers. The Turin player, who shot a 68, will become the first Italian since Costantino Rocca in 1995 to compete in a Ryder Cup.
"It is not the best way of making the team, so I am sorry for Ross," Molinari said. "But I am very relieved as it feels good to know that I am now in the team."
McGowan had arrived at Gleneagles — the final European Ryder Cup qualifying event — 12th in the standings, three places outside automatic selection. After a round that included eight bogeys, McGowan said it was time to rest.
"I'm pretty gutted, as I'm not one who likes to pull out of events, but we've pretty much tried everything other than injections," McGowan said. "Hopefully, there will be other opportunities to play in the Ryder Cup."
-- Bernie McGuire
Amateur
Defending champ An moves on to quarters at Amateur
UNIVERSITY PLACE, Wash. (AP) — After three rounds of match play, defending U.S. Amateur champ Byeong-Hun An has yet to play either the 17th or 18th holes at Chambers Bay.
And no one seems to be paying attention.
An rolled into the quarterfinals of the 110th Amateur with a pair of impressive victories on Thursday when Chambers Bay became progressively more difficult as the breezes off Puget Sound became howling gales.
An's day started with a 4 and 3 victory over Alex Shi Yup Kim in the morning. After a brief break and with the winds picking up, An beat Alabama's Scott Strohmeyer 3 and 2.
"This afternoon, I have no idea what happened there. It was so windy. I just kept playing golf," An said.
An now gets someone he'll soon become quite familiar with: California teammate Max Homa. An is an incoming freshman at Cal, while Homa bounced in and out of the Golden Bears lineup last year as a freshman.
But he's been rolling since arriving at Chambers Bay. Homa routed Carter Newman 7 and 6 on Thursday morning, then reached the quarterfinals with a 4 and 3 win over Harris English.
Homa, who took out local favorite T.J. Bordeaux in the first round of match play, also has yet to see No. 18 in any of his matches.
With winds blowing between 20 and 30 mph and the waters of Puget Sound turning into choppy whitecaps, the round of 16 became a struggle to avoid major mistakes.
An did just that. While far from perfect in making six bogeys during his match with Strohmeyer, An simply didn't let holes get away. He won three straight holes — Nos. 8, 9 and 10 — then matched Strohmeyer from there.
"I was not playing well before I came here so it was the same thing as last year, I was just trying to make match play," An said. "... Now I'm kind of feeling as I did last year, starting to get that feeling of confidence."
Friday's other quarterfinals are filled with intrigue. David Chung, the winner of the Western Amateur, rallied from 2 down early to beat Brad Benjamin 2 and 1. He'll get reigning NCAA champ Scott Langley, who finally didn't need extra holes to advance.
"I didn't win the match. I just survived a little better than he did," Chung said.
Langley held off Augusta State's Patrick Reed in the morning matches, winning in 19 holes, a day after needing an extra hole to beat Tim Jackson. Every hole from the 11th onward was won outright and some in dramatic fashion, including Reed's chip in from a greenside bunker to win the 16th and pull even. Langley won No. 17 and Reed forced extra holes winning the 18th before Reed's tee shot on the first extra hole found the long fescue on a large dune along the first fairway.
In the afternoon, Langley rolled past Australian Kyle McCarthy, winning 6 and 4.
"I'm happy with the way I've been competitive," Langley said. "The first two matches I was down early and didn't give up and kept fighting. I'm happy with the way I performed down the stretch in those matches."
The bottom half of the bracket features a matchup of Oklahoma State teammates with Morgan Hoffmann and Peter Uihlein meeting. Hoffman had an easy time on Thursday, needing just 30 holes to dispatch of Richard Werenski (6 and 4) and Alex Ching (4 and 2).
Uihlein's day was more difficult. Ranked by some publications as the top American amateur, Uihlein edged Argentina's Emiliano Grillo 2 up in the morning, then rallied from 2 down after nine holes to beat John Hahn in 19 holes, finishing up just as the sun started down on the horizon.
"The wind was brutal and I was fortunate to come out on top. John played a good match," Uihlein said. "... It was grueling. It was not easy."
Patrick Cantlay, an 18-year-old from Southern California who finished tied for second in stroke play, was 4 up with five holes left against Connor Arendell. Cantlay tried to squander his lead and was forced to the 18th before holding on for a 1 up win.
Cantlay will face Jed Dirksen, who has gone without a caddie and twice walked Chambers Bay Thursday carrying his own bag. Dirksen beat Joseph Bramlett in 19 holes.
-- Tim Booth
