Of Hunter Martin, Getty ImagesBubba Watson follows his tee shot on the 15th hole Thursday on his way to a first round 6-under 66 and a share of the lead in the Zurich Classic of New Orleans.
By Hunter Martin, Getty ImagesBubba Watson follows his tee shot on the 15th hole Thursday on his way to a first round 6-under 66 and a share of the lead in the Zurich Classic of New Orleans.
"My mom really wanted me to come," said Watson, tied for first round lead with Matt Jones (FSY) after taking a 6-under 66 on Thursday. "My mother always come to this golf tournament, so when my mom says she wants to come, I am here. And somehow I shot 6 under today. "Watson, winner at Torrey Pines in late January, two-putted from 32 feet for Eagle on the par-5-11 and had six birdies and two bogeys at the TPC Louisiana – a far cry from his favorite course. "How the course is just not fit my eye as it is," said Watson. "It is a great Golf course, a great layout. For me it is not one that I want to play every day. "Today is prepared only. I hit my driver really well. I've been hitting it well all year, but I made some putts and hit some good iron shots and somehow came out 6 under. "Jones chipped from 57 feet for a birdie on his last hole. "I sent it perfectly, "said Jones. "It was a little and trickled just nicely.Jones had eight birdies and two bogeys. Playing the back nine first, reeled off four straight birdies Australian starting at the par-4-16. He followed with a 10-foot birdie putt on the 17th and an 11-footer on 18 and 20-metre putt on the first.Jones and put in a lot of work into the week with swing coach Gary Barter. "My hands are pretty sore, actually, after all the work we've done, "said Jones. "So it comes slowly. Today, we saw some positive results of what we have done. "Watson and Jones played in the afternoon in more score conditions after a strong north wind made the morning's play harder. "The guys up there pretty well with the conditions we had out there with the wind and everything," said Jones. "The Greens are perfect. And I played good. ... I actually made a lot of putts today and chipped in the final to finish the round, which is good. "Joe Durant (FSY), Tommy Gainey (FSY), Carl Pettersson (FSY), John Rollins (FSY), Nick O'Hern (FSY) and David Duval (FSY) opened with 67s. Durant played in the morning. "I think I just stayed patient, "said Durant, sixth last week at Hilton Head, S.C."some of the pins were in some tough spots so you had kind of firing away. I played around here enough to know what it will do with different winds. "Gainey was third last week. "I think the move from last week is definitely with me, "he said.Luke Donald (FSY), playoff loser last week at Hilton Head in an unsuccessful attempt to jump from No. 3 to no. 1 in the world, shot a 68-Matt Bettencourt (FSY), Webb Simpson (FSY), Jason Dufner (FSY), Charles Howell and 2002 winner K.J. Choi (FSY). Hilton Head winner Brandt Snedeker (FSY) opened with a 77. He had a triple bogey on the par-3 ninth as he hits his tee shot into the water.Rickie Fowler (FSY) and Steve Stricker (FSY) shot 70s, US Open champion Graeme McDowell (FSY) had a 73 and Vijay Singh (FSY) opened with a 74. Singh, critical of Pete Dye-designed layout, had a double bogey on the 18th hole.John Daly (FSY) struggled to a 9-over 81. Daly was 2 over through 14 holes, then played his last four in 7 above. He had a Triple-bogey on the par-4 16th after hitting two shots into the water.
No comments:
Post a Comment