THE TOUR Championship, Round 1
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| THE TOUR Championship presented by Coca-Cola | |||
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By PGATOUR.COM Staff
LOOKING AHEAD (6:30 p.m.): Unlike other PGA TOUR events, players are re-paired after each round here at THE TOUR Championship presented by Coca-Cola. The result? Tiger Woods will play with Padraig Harrington, one group ahead of Sean O'Hair and Stewart Cink.
That means one day after playing with Steve Stricker for a seventh time in the PGA TOUR Playoffs for the FedExCup, Woods will play with Harrington for the eighth time this season, the last of which came in the second round of the PGA Championship.
Other pairings to keep an eye on: Geoff Ogilvy and David Toms, who are 30th and 29th on the leaderboard and have serious ground to make up; Phil Mickelson and Heath Slocum and fellow Wisconsinites Steve Stricker and Jerry Kelly. -- Brian Wacker
WRAPPING UP ROUND 1 (5:55 p.m.): There are a lot of things you can point to when explaining why Sean O'Hair is in the lead here at THE TOUR Championship presented by Coca-Cola. He had six birdies. He hit 14 of 18 greens in regulation. He was 15-for-17 on putts inside 10 feet.
That last one might have been brought on, in part, by a putting lesson received from a certain No. 1 player in the world when the two played a practice round together yesterday.
"[Tiger] was asking me how I felt about my putting," O'Hair told GOLF CHANNEL after his 4-under 66. "He was just showing me a few things ... very helpful stuff."
Who better to get advice from than Woods -- he's won here twice before, is tied for 10th on the PGA TOUR in putting average and has made more than a few big putts in his career -- especially when you struggle with the flat stick as much as O'Hair has at times.
O'Hair is also here this week without his family and just relaxing with buddies when away from the course, something he wasn't able to do as easily when he was mired in an eight-week slump earlier this season.
"The game wasn't fun," O'Hair said. "I was working hard, but I just wasn't getting anything out of it. I just said let's start having a good time out there."
Woods, meanwhile, is just one back, along with Stewart Cink and Padraig Harrington, after wrapping up his round with a back-nine 32 to shoot 67. Woods, by the way, is also the only player among the top 5 in the FedExCup standings under par after the first round. Should we be surprised? Yes, but not by the fact that Woods is just one back. -- Brian Wacker
ROOKIE HOLDS HIS OWN (5:42 p.m.): Marc Leishman, the only rookie in this week's field, admittedly was a little nervous when he teed off for the first time at East Lake. But after a slow start in which he bogeyed two of the first five holes, he eventually settled down to shoot an even-par 70.
"It would have been even better to shoot a 1 under, but that bogey on the last got me back to even," Leishman, the 16th seed, said. "But I feel it's a pretty good day."
Leishman struggled with his accuracy off the tee, hitting just seven of 14 fairways. In his previous five starts, he's hit just over 66 percent of fairways.
"Hopefully I can hit a few more fairways than I did today," Leishman said. "...I need to hit more fairway and hole a few putts, and hopefully shoot myself a low number in the next couple of days." -- Mike McAllister
VERPLANK GOES KERPLUNK (5:33 p.m.): After making the turn in a flawless 4-under 31 that featured four birdies and zero bogeys, Scott Verplank appeared well on his way to another good week -- he's finished in the top 10 two of the last three weeks, including a tie for second the Deutsche Bank Championship.
Things went the other direction for Verplank on the back nine here at East Lake, however, as he closed with a 4-over 39 to finish with an even-par 70. Verplank is still in the top 10 -- for now -- but he went from having seven one-putts on the front, to just one on the back.
A lot of that was ball-striking, or lack thereof with Verplank hitting just one approach shot to inside 32 feet over his final nine holes. On the front, he hit six approach shots inside 20 feet and four of those were to inside 10 feet.
The one positive? Verplank is still just four shots back of the lead. He'll be kicking himself, though, over what could have been. -- Brian Wacker
TALE OF TWO NINES (5:18 p.m.): The first round of THE TOUR Championship is starting to wind down -- though Sean O'Hair would probably like to go 36 holes the way he's playing today -- and this much we know: Tiger Woods is starting to turn it around with three birdies over his last six holes; and, unless you are Woods, or maybe O'Hair, you better make your birdies on the front nine.
While there are a couple of birdieable holes in the par-5 15th and the par-4 17th, the back nine here at East Lake is playing slightly over par and about a stroke-and-a-half harder than the front. The five hardest holes on the golf course right now are all on the back with the par-4 16th the most difficult. Meanwhile, three of the five easiest, including the par-5 ninth, are on the front. -- Brian Wacker
COURSE CONDITIONS (5:10 p.m.): Think the East Lake greens would be soft, or at least receptive, after all the rain that has fallen on the Atlanta area in the past week? Think again.
"The golf course, considering all the rain we had, it's really dried out, and the greens are like bricks," said Stewart Cink after shooting an opening 3-under 67. "You have to be very smart coming into the greens here to give yourself any kind of aggressive birdies."
Cink said that some of the pin placements are on downslopes, making it nearly impossible to get close to the hole with any approach shots struck from the rough.
"If you hit it in the fairway, you can control the ball in there and get it close to pin high," he said. "If you're in the rough, you can forget about it. So that's the hallmark of a great test." -- Mike McAllister
OGILVY PULLING UP THE REAR (4:55 p.m.): If you're looking for Geoff Ogilvy on the leaderboard at THE TOUR Championship presented by Coca-Cola, you have to go all the way to the bottom of it to find him (at least for now) after Ogilvy turned in a round of 75 today at East Lake.
Though Ogilvy finished seventh at the Deutsche Bank Championship three weeks ago, he has yet to be a factor in the PGA TOUR Playoffs for the FedExCup -- or much of anywhere else since a tie for 10th at the Memorial Tournament -- and it doesn't appear that's going to change this week. Not after five bogeys and a double bogey today. And not after a 39 on the back.
Ogilvy missed the cut at The Barclays, where he shot rounds of 73-77 at Liberty National. Two weeks ago in Boston, he opened with a 68, but struggled the rest of the week, shooting rounds of 73-75-75 on his way to a tie for 55th.
As a result, Ogilvy's place in the FedExCup standings has steadily declined. He once owned the top spot in the standings for six straight weeks earlier this year, but has fallen from eighth to 13th since the PGA Championship. -- Brian Wacker
O'HAIR TAKES THE LEAD (4:30 p.m.): Sean O'Hair just moved to the top of the leaderboard by himself at 5 under thanks to his sixth birdie of the day, which came one hole after he made a bogey on the par-4 13th.
While O'Hair has only hit six of 11 fairways so far, there's little wonder as to why he's in the lead -- he's hit 11 of 14 greens in regulation and he also is leading the field in proximity to the hole at 21 feet, 11 inches. Maybe that's why he's needed only 20 putts so far. -- Brian Wacker
BAD BOUNCE (4:13 p.m.): Zach Johnson, fourth in the FedExCup standings coming into the week, experienced a bit of bad luck at the par-5 ninth. His third shot was dead-on accurate -- so accurate, in fact, that it hit the pin flag, thus taking all of the spin out of his shot and preventing the ball from running back toward the hole. Instead of being rewarded with a short birdie opportunity, Johnson was left with a putt of 13 feet, 7 inches. He ran the ball past the hole and had to settle for par, leaving him at 1 over at the turn. To follow the rest of Johnson's round, click here. -- Mike McAllister
CINK IN WITH 67 (4 p.m.): In the clubhouse at 3-under 67 and with a lot of players still on the golf course, Stewart Cink's score probably won't sit atop the leaderboard by the time the first round is over here at East Lake. But it should leave him in good position to erase the rather dubious distinction of never having finished in the top 10 at a course that's in his hometown.
So what did Cink do this year? Aside from a terrific job of getting up-and-down all day -- Cink hit 11 of 18 greens in regulation, but was 4-for-4 on sand saves -- he changed his routine.
"In the past, I tried to continue as I would in my normal off week life, dropping the kids off at school and stuff like that' Cink told GOLF CHANNEL. "It hasn't really added up to much success, so this year I tried to treat it as a regular golf tournament.
"As good as it is [playing at home], it can add up to extra expectations." -- Brian Wacker
O'HAIR GETTING HOT (3:50 p.m.): Since winning the Quail Hollow Championship, Sean O'Hair has pretty much been a non-factor. A big part of that was because he had sustained an injury to his left forearm that led to him withdrawing from the Memorial Tournament and posting just one top-20 finish in the last three months of the regular season on the PGA TOUR.
Since missing the cut in the first event of the PGA TOUR Playoffs for the FedExCup, though, it's been a different story. O'Hair tied for eighth in Boston, where he shot a second-round 64, and was fourth in Chicago after closing with a 66. Today, O'Hair finds himself tied atop the leaderboard for the moment at 4 under.
O'Hair played his first nine holes at East Lake in 4-under 31 and has since added two pars. Perhaps just as importantly, O'Hair has missed just two fairways and two greens in regulation so far. He's also needed just 16 putts. When O'Hair -- or almost anyone -- plays like that, he's very difficult to beat. -- Brian Wacker
MAJOR WINNERS (3:39 p.m.): The opening round is in full swing at East Lake with nearly the entire field on the back nine, including all four major winners from this year.
Of that group, Masters champ Angel Cabrera is struggling the most at 2 over through 16 holes. U.S. Open winner Lucas Glover, meanwhile, is 2 under through 15 and British Open champ Stewart Cink 3 under as he plays the last hole. Y.E. Yang, who rallied to beat Tiger Woods at the PGA Championship, is even through 15 holes. -- Brian Wacker
TIGER UPDATE (3:22 p.m.): Tiger Woods just made his first bogey of the day when he missed a short putt on the par-3 sixth to drop back to even par on the day.
So far, Woods has been solid but unspectacular with three of five fairways hit and four of six greens in regulation with just 10 putts. And though Woods opened with a 64 here two years ago, his first rounds in THE TOUR Championship presented by Coca-Cola have been fairly mixed -- he's broken 70 five times in 11 appearances.
That 64 was the lowest opening round by Woods in this event, while his highest first-day score is a 75 in 1998. Still, Woods has finished first or second in each of his last three trips to East Lake and he owns numerous tournament records. In other words, he's obviously a favorite here for a reason (click here to follow Woods live with Shot Tracker). -- Brian Wacker
PADDY IN THE PLAYOFFS (3 p.m.): Padraig Harrington continues to sit atop the leaderboard -- he's in a four-way tie at the moment. Not only is he the only player to finish in the top 10 in each of the first three Playoffs events, he is one of just two players in the 30-man field to have posted sub-70 scores in the first round in each of the first three Playoffs events. -- Mike McAllister
| First rounds in the 60s | ||||||||||||
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CINK IN CONTROL (2:45 p.m.): In 20 previous rounds at East Lake, Stewart Cink has only broken par on seven occasions. At 3 under through 13 holes on Thursday, he's on track to equal or better his career low of 66 on the par-70 Donald Ross gem.
Cink has a ways to go to equal the course record -- which is a 60 shot by his good buddy Zach Johnson in the third round of the 2007 TOUR Championship presented by Coca-Cola. Cink's 66 came in the second round of that same tournament and was one of three sub-par rounds he shot that year on the way to a career-best tie for 11th at East Lake. -- Helen Ross
HARRINGTON REMAINS HOT (2:30 p.m.): It should come as no surprise that Padraig Harrington and Sean O'Hair are among the players tied for second at 2 under midway through the front nine at East Lake.
Harrington is the only player in the field to have top-10 finishes in all three Playoffs events. He tied for second at The Barclays, fourth at the Deutsche Bank Championship and sixth at the BMY Championship. In fact, he hasn't finished outside the top 10 in his last five starts.
O'Hair, on the other hand, came to East Lake with momentum after top-10s in his last two starts. He missed the cut at Liberty National, but tied for eighth at TPC Boston and finished solo fourth at Cog Hill -- closing with a 66 on Sunday.
Harrington and O'Hair are just outside the top five who control their own destiny at East Lake. But at Nos. 6 and 7 in the FedExCup standings, they certainly have legitimate designs on the silver Tiffany trophy and $10 million bonus. -- Helen Ross
TIGER, STEVE TOGETHER ... AGAIN (2:05 p.m.): The final group of the day, Tiger Woods and Steve Stricker, just teed off, which begs the question: Are they sick of each other yet?
Woods and Stricker are friends, of course, but this marks the seventh time since the Playoffs for the FedExCup began that the two have been paired together. As you'll see below, Stricker got the better of Woods until the Playoffs reached Chicago.
As for this week, it's just the sixth time Stricker has reached THE TOUR Championship presented by Coca-Cola -- his best finish was third in 1996 at Southern Hills. Woods, meanwhile, has missed just two TOUR Championships -- last year's because of injuries and the 2006 event, which he skipped. Woods has won the event twice and finished second three times. -- Brian Wacker
| Tiger Woods and Steve Stricker when paired together in the Playoffs | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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STRONG START FOR CINK (1:52 p.m.): Recent -- or past -- history apparently doesn't mean much right now for Stewart Cink. As mentioned earlier, Cink is a member here at East Lake, but has never finished higher than a tie for 11th at THE TOUR Championship presented by Coca-Cola. The British Open champion also came into this week not exactly playing his best -- he's failed to break 70 in 13 of his last 14 rounds and hasn't finished higher than a tie for 23rd in any of his last four events.
That said, Cink is in the lead at 4 under through his first nine holes today with four birdies and no bogeys -- and that despite hitting just two of seven fairways. Cink's ball-striking has been solid with six of nine greens in regulation and just 11 putts so far (click here to follow his round live with Shot Tracker). With not a lot of birdies being made so far, Cink's score is looking pretty good right now. -- Brian Wacker
TEES MOVED UP (1:32 p.m.): For the first round, the tees have been moved up on a handful of par-4s at East Lake. The 10th, listed at 469 yards on the scorecard, is playing at 454 yards. And the 13th, listed at 476 yards, is playing at 440 yards.
The fifth, listed at 520 yards, actually is playing at 538 yards Thursday, with the pin tucked in the back left.
Incidentally, just two par-4 holes on the TOUR this year are listed longer than the fifth at East Lake. The third hole at TPC Four Seasons Resort (home to the HP Byron Nelson Championship) is 528 yards. The seventh hole at Bethpage Black, site of this year's U.S. Open, is 525 yards.
The only other par-4 as lengthy as East Lake's No. 5 is the opening hole at the Plantation Course at Kapalua (site of the Mercedes-Benz Championship), which also plays to 520 yards. -- Mike McAllister
WHAT WILL IT TAKE FOR PHIL TO WIN? (1:20 p.m.): After a bogey on the first hole, Phil Mickelson bounced back with a birdie at No. 2 to get back to even par. Presumably, he'll need to make a lot more birdies if he hopes to win the FedExCup.
Should Mickelson, who enters the week 14th in FedExCup points, go on to win here at East Lake, he would need the following to happen to claim his first FedExCup trophy: Tiger Woods must finish ninth or worse; Steve Stricker fifth or worse; Jim Furyk fourth or worse; Zach Johnson third or worse; Heath Slocum third or worse (click here for more).
Mickelson has won here before, shooting a 66 in the final round in 2000 to beat Tiger Woods by two strokes. Last year, Mickelson tied for third at East Lake. -- Brian Wacker
TIGER TIDBIT (12:59 p.m.): Tiger Woods leads the PGA TOUR this year in first-round scoring average (69.13) and his average in six previous starts at East Lake is just slightly higher (69.33).
The first time Woods played as a pro in East Lake, he opened with a 75 in 1998 and eventually finished 20th. But when he won THE TOUR Championship two years ago, he opened with a 6-under 64 that put him two shots off the pace set by Tim Clark. He followed with a second-round 63 that vaulted him to the lead and never looked back in winning by eight strokes. -- Mike McAllister
Of the 30 players at East Lake this week, here are the five with the best first-round scoring averages this season:
| Scoring averages on TOUR for 2009 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
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BACK IN CINK (12:50 p.m.): Stewart Cink has been a member at East Lake for more than a decade. Oddly, though, he's never played particularly well when THE TOUR Championship presented by Coca-Cola has been held there.
The reigning British Open champ has never had a top-10 at East Lake, though he did tie for 11th in 2007. Birdies on the second and third holes Thursday, however, show Cink might be changing his luck.
The clubhouse at East Lake is a veritable museum of memorabilia associated with one of its founders, the legendary Bobby Jones. Cink, who was a three-time All-American at Georgia Tech where Jones had attended college years earlier, has allowed the Claret Jug to be put on display there, too.
"They were nice enough to offer me a membership about 13 years ago, and Bobby Jones was a member at East Lake and played his golf here, so the connection between me and Jones, East Lake, Georgia Tech, I think the trophy needs to stay here for a little while," Cink said. "This clubhouse is like a Bobby Jones/golf history museum. With the Claret Jug in there, the actual one, I think it's fitting." -- Helen Ross
PLAYOFFS PAYOFFS (12:45 p.m.): Part of the allure of the Playoffs is the opportunity for players to make dramatic leaps up the FedExCup points rankings. Heath Slocum, the winner of The Barclays, is the prime example this year; when he won at Liberty National, he moved from 124th (next to last) to third.
Since the top 30 players in points are at East Lake this week, obviously the biggest possible leap for any player to make is 29 spots. Below is a list of the 15 most dramatic one-week leaps in this year's Playoffs. -- Mike McAllister
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INTERNATIONAL HOUSE OF CHAMPIONS (12:37 p.m.): Americans won the first 14 TOUR Championships, but that trend has changed since the turn of the century, starting with Canadian Mike Weir's 2001 victory.
Five of the last eight TOUR Championships have been won by International players -- including Fiji's Vijay Singh (2002), South Africa's Retief Goosen (2004), Australia's Adam Scott (2006) and Colombian Camilo Villegas (2008). All but Weir won at East Lake, which has hosted six of the last eight TOUR Championships, including every one since 2004.
Of that group, only Weir and Goosen are competing this week in the finale of the PGA TOUR Playoffs for the FedExCup. But those two will be reunited with Singh, Scott and Villegas at Harding Park in San Francisco when the five play for International Captain Greg Norman in The Presidents Cup. -- Helen Ross
SENDEN'S CHANCES (12:28 p.m.): Early leader John Senden (1 under through four) got a little luck to get into the field for THE TOUR Championship presented by Coca-Cola, but he's going to need a real stunner to win the FedExCup.
Senden, who is ranked 30th in the standings, must win at East Lake and have top-ranked Tiger Woods finish 29th or 30th in addition to other chips falling into place (click here for all the scenarios).
Certainly, Senden is capable of winning, but the real chore will be on Woods' end. Woods has never finished dead last in a PGA TOUR event. Outside of withdrawing, his closest scare since turning pro may have been at the 2003 TOUR Championship, where he finished 26th out of 31 players -- but that came at Champions GC in Houston. -- Nick Zaccardi
TWEET OF THE DAY (12:22 p.m.): "Yeah you hit folks sometimes. It's inevitable. Can be pretty unnerving if it's a bad injury. That's rare though." -- Stewart Cink (@stewartcink) in response to a fan "tweet" about if Cink had ever hit someone and how did he feel about it.
Apparently it's not that rare -- Cink's tee shot on the first hole here at East Lake today struck a spectator. That's what you call foreshadowing. Cink went on to par the hole then bounced back with a birdie on No. 2. -- Brian Wacker
FIELD NOTES (12:15 p.m.): Here are some odds and ends about the 30 players in this week's TOUR Championship:
• Nearly half of the field (14 players) have won major championships. Combined, those 14 players have 35 majors, including all four from 2009.
• The 30 players have combined for 238 PGA TOUR titles.
• There are four past champions in the field: Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, Mike Weir and Retief Goosen. Of those four, Woods is the only player who has won this tournament twice (1999, 2007).
• There are six players in the field who have made it to THE TOUR Championship in all three seasons of the FedExCup: Mickelson, Steve Stricker, Stewart Cink, Ernie Els, Jim Furyk and Hunter Mahan.
• Ten players are making their TOUR Championship debuts this week: Jason Dufner, Dustin Johnson, Nick Watney, Marc Leishman, Brian Gay, Kevin Na, Y.E. Yang, Angel Cabrera, Steve Marino and John Senden.
• Leishman is the only rookie in the field, and the 17th rookie to play in THE TOUR Championship since its inception. -- Mike McAllister
FLYING HIGH (12:02 p.m.): THE TOUR Championship presented by Coca-Cola kicked off in a celebration capped by a pair of F-5 supersonic flighter aircraft speeding through the sky over the first tee at East Lake Golf Club.
The ceremony was to celebrate "Where Tradition and Hope Come Together" -- a slogan that ties the history of East Lake with the promise of the community. Dan Yates Jr., representing the tradition, and Tyler Lawrence, a member of The First Tee of East Lake, hit the ceremonial first tee shots.
A choir of youngsters from the Drew Charter School sang the National Anthem after the colors were presented by a color guard representing all branches of the military. -- Helen Ross
SLOW START (11:55 a.m.): The first groups are on the golf course here at East Lake, where Jerry Kelly just recorded the first bogey of the day with a 5 on the par-4 first hole. Unlike Zach Johnson, who enters this week off eight straight rounds in the 60s, Kelly, who won in New Orleans in April, has had mixed results of late with just one round in the 60s at the BMW Championship two weeks ago outside Chicago.
This is just Kelly's fourth trip to the TOUR Championship, though he has a pretty solid record in the event with a third-place finish in 2004 and a fourth-place finish in 2002. In 2003, Kelly tied for 13th. -- Brian Wacker
WEATHER FORECAST (11:45 a.m.): The skies are cloudy but there's no chance of precipitation until Thursday afternoon, when a few showers and thunderstorms may arrive -- just as the final group of Tiger Woods and Steve Stricker should be making the turn.
Despite all the recent rain, however, players will not be playing lift, clean and place.
An increased chance of precipitation is expected in Friday's second round, but it's the third round on Saturday when the weather issues may most affect the tournament. A 60 percent chance of showers is forecast for Saturday, with showers in the morning, and thunderstorms likely in the afternoon. -- Mike McAllister
A LOT ON THE LINE (11:30 a.m.): What would Jim Furyk, who enters THE TOUR Championship presented by Coca-Cola third in the FedExCup standings, do with $10 million?
"I wouldn't give you any; I know that," Furyk joked to a member of the media in his press conference yesterday.
On a more serious note, Furyk, who has made more than $42 million in his career, admitted that there's still plenty of pressure when you're talking about the amount of money that's at stake for winning the FedExCup.
"'Zinger, I guess, got it right. There's only two things he ever choked for, one was winning a golf tournament and the other one was money," Furyk said. "It's a big deal. It's a lot of money.
"I think the best players out here are driven by history, but you can't start something brand new and three years later expect it to have a rich tradition in history. The only other avenue you have to go is cash. It's piqued everyone else's interest outside this room. I know it's piqued all your interests. It's the first thing we talked about. And yeah, I think the players, it definitely catches your eye and definitely piques your interest."
Of course there's also the interesting fact that Furyk, who has nine top-10s this year but hasn't won since 2007, could win the FedExCup without actually winning a golf tournament.
"I'd be like Sylvester, I just swallowed a Tweety bird and that would put a big smile on my face," Furyk said.
Furyk, by the way, has never won THE TOUR Championship presented by Coca-Cola -- twice he has been a runner-up and last year he tied for sixth. -- Brian Wacker
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