Guess who’s on top of the leaderboard
You could tell it was a big day at the PGA Championship Thursday just by taking a look in the sky. The Goodyear blimp was flying over Hazeltine National Golf Club.
Yes, there are a lot of tremendous players in the field, 98 of the top 100 in the world to be exact, but a familiar character made his way to the top of the leaderboard after the opening round.
Tiger Woods, the world’s No. 1 player and four-time PGA champion, fashioned a 5-under-par 67 and leads Padraig Harrington of Ireland, the defending champion, by one stroke. Interestingly, these two staged a battle to the end in last week’s Bridgestone Invitational, eventually won by Woods when Harrington took a triple bogey 8 on the 16th hole.
It’s only the first round and there are plenty of other big names in contention, but normally when Tiger gets off to a fast start, he’s hard to beat.
“I played really well today,” said Woods in his post-round interview. “I just hit a bunch of good shots and this round could have been really low. I missed a bunch of putts out there.”
He didn’t, however, miss birdie putts on Nos. 12 (20 feet), 15 (2 feet), 2 (20-footer uphill), 3 (30 foot bomb) and 7 (a two putt after reaching the 572-yard par-5 in two shots).
Harrington matched Woods with five birdies, but also had a bogey on his card. It appears that Harrington enjoys playing with Tiger and, he said, why wouldn’t you?
“The great thing is if you’re playing with Tiger Woods you’re doing well,” said the cheerful Harrington, who seems to have recovered nicely from his problems late on Sunday. “That’s always going to be the case. If you’re playing with him, the first couple of rounds you’re a marquee draw. If you’re playing with him at the end of the week you’re always going to be in contention. If you don’t want to be in that spot, you shouldn’t be playing golf.”
Among a group of six at 3-under-par are former champions Vijay Singh (1998, ‘04) and David Toms (2001).
Australians Robert Allenby and Matthew Goggin, along with American Hunter Mahan and Alvaro Quiros of Spain also shot 3-under. Quiros, playing the group behind Woods, Harrington and Rich Beem, knocked his second shot on the massive 606-yard 11th hole, onto the green.
I spent most of my day greenside on the par-4 sixth hole, a 405-yard dogleg left. The shot of the day on that hole was by Rod Pampling, who holed out from 110 yards for an eagle.
Shingo Katayama, besides donning his traditional cowboy hat, wore the brightest shirt of the day, an orange jobbie you could see from 400 yards away. His countryman, 17-year-old Japanese sensation Ryo Ishikawa, who attracted a flock of Japanese media types, had on pants that were nearly as bright. You needed a pair of shades to watch these guys play.
The clouds rolled in and it looked like rain late in the afternoon, but nothing ever materialized. The forecast calls for much windier conditions for Friday, so anything can happen. Woods and Harrington, who played the morning shift on Thursday, will tee off in the afternoon.
By the end of the day Friday, we’ll know who will be around for the weekend. Stay tuned.
