Webb Simpson chipped in from 35 yards in front of the par-four eighth green for eagle, then made Tiger Woods shake his head and smile when he holed a 60-foot birdie putt that otherwise might have rolled off the 12th green to ensure he took a share of the first-round lead at the Wells Fargo Championship.
“I was nervous playing with Tiger. I prayed a lot out there,” said Simpson, who shared the lead with Stewart Cink and Ryan Moore after a seven-under 65 on Thursday. Webb lives about 1.5km away from Quail Hollow and already was on edge about trying to perform well for the neighbors.
“Once I made a couple birdies, I kind of enjoyed it,” he said.
There was a lot to like for just about everyone on a steamy day in Carolina. Scoring conditions were so ideal that even par was over the cut line going into the second round. The average score was 71.72, the lowest for the first round in the 10-year history of the tournament.
Woods failed to take advantage. In his first tournament since a tie for 40th at the Masters — his worst performance as a pro at Augusta National — he made too many mistakes early and had to one-putt three of the last four greens for a 71.
“I’ve got to obviously not make those little mistakes like that tomorrow,” Woods said. “We’ve got a long way to go, and we’ve got some rain coming probably on the weekend, so we’re going to have to go get it.”
So many others did just that, including Cink, who has been mired in a slump. He ended an already solid day with three straight birdies, holing a 20-foot putt on the ninth for his lowest round of the year. Moore also birdied his last three holes.
Rickie Fowler, still searching for his first PGA Tour win in his third full season, led a group of five players at 66 that included Patrick Reed, the 21-year-old from Augusta State who on Monday qualified to get in the last two tournaments.
The scoring was so low that about one-quarter of the field shot in the 60s, and half of them broke par.
“I think any time you get tour players in 90o [Farenheit (32oC)] weather with not much wind, it’s naturally going to soften out the greens,” Simpson said. “I think you’ve seen over the years, the hotter it is and the less wind there is, the scores are going to be really good. And I think that’s what happened. They can’t get the greens too firm with this weather. It will just burn them out.”
He did not have much of an explanation for his own golf, considering he had only two rounds in the 60s in his previous three starts at Quail Hollow. Plus, there was that apprehension about playing with Woods, and the large crowd the 14-time major champion attracts.
The only other time Simpson played with Woods did not last long.
It was the final round of Doral this year, where Simpson jokingly said: “I accidentally kicked him in the leg and he withdrew.”
Woods left after 11 holes that day with tightness in his left Achilles tendon, which raised questions about his future until Woods won two weeks later at Bay Hill.
Eleven holes at Doral at least gave Simpson a taste of what to expect.
“We went from 10,000 people every hole to zero people,” he said.
Thousands of fans on a scorching day at Quail Hollow followed them around all afternoon, with Simpson and Geoff Ogilvy (71) in tow. Simpson is the one who generated most of the cheers. He stuffed his tee shot on the par-three -second and his approach on the third to inside 3 feet for birdies, holed a birdie putt just inside 30 feet on the sixth, and then chipped in for his eagle at No. 8.
Simpson joined the morning leaders with a 15-foot birdie putt on the 11th, but no birdie was more unlikely than No. 12. His tee shot went into the right rough, and because of trees blocking the flight of his ball, hit a low bullet that ran up the hill to the back side of the green, leaving him a 60-foot putt that swung sharply to the left and ran quickly away from him.
He was trying to get it within about 6 feet of the hole, and it dove into the cup. Simpson flung his belly putter to the ground and laughed, which is about all he could think of to do.
“I play here a lot, and I knew where I hit it was pretty dead,” he said. “So, yeah, I’ll take it.”
Phil Mickelson recovered from a tee shot that went out-of-bounds and led to triple bogey and shot 71. Rory McIlroy, who earned his first PGA Tour win at Quail Hollow two years ago by closing with a 62, birdied three of the par-fives, but three-putted from 18 feet on the 18th hole and had to settle for a 70.
Fowler led the parade of good scoring in the morning with a round of 66 that was so flawless he never came close to a bogey. Fowler has become a fan favorite, but he still does not have what matters. Fowler is not nearly as concerned as everyone else about his 0-71 mark on the PGA Tour. He won the Korea Open last year by beating McIlroy, and he feels as though his game is headed in the right direction.
“I feel that I’m good enough to win,” Fowler said. “I definitely feel like the amount of people expecting or thinking that I can win is a compliment. I’m not too worried about the talk that goes on about when my first win is coming, but it’s my main goal, and that’s what I’m focused on.”
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
Rafael Nadal on Wednesday said the upcoming French Open would be the moment to “give everything and die” on the court after his comeback from injury in Barcelona was curtailed by Alex de Minaur. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner, back playing this week after three months on the sidelines, battled well, but eventually crumbled 7-5, 6-1 against the world No. 11 from Australia in the second round. Nadal, 37, who missed virtually all of last season, is hoping to compete at the French Open next month where he is the record 14-time champion. The Spaniard said the clash with De Minaur was
RALLY: It was only the second time the Taiwanese has partnered with Kudermetova, and the match seemed tight until they won seven points in a row to take the last set 10-2 Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova on Sunday won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix women’s doubles final in Stuttgart, Germany. The pair defeated Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri and Estonia’s Ingrid Neel 4-6, 6-3, 10-2 in a tightly contested match at the WTA 500 tournament. Chan and Kudermetova fell 4-6 in the first set after having their serve broken three times, although they played increasingly well. They fought back in the second set and managed to break their opponents’ serve in the eighth game to triumph 6-3. In the tiebreaker, Chan and Kudermetova took a 3-0 lead before their opponents clawed back two points, but