Round 1, AT&T National
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By PGATOUR.COM Staff
TIGER INTERVIEW HIGHLIGHTS (6 p.m.): Tiger Woods just wrapped up his post-round press conference after shooting a 6-under 64.
Tiger on Anthony Kim ... "He's got so much talent, it was just a matter of time before he turns it around."
Tiger on the course set-up and whether it's where he wants it to be ... "No. But only because of the rain. The greens were soft, but there's not much you can do when you get a half-inch of rain overnight." -- Brian Wacker
TIGER UPDATE (5:30 p.m.): It wasn't the 60 that Anthony Kim said Tiger Woods could shoot, but just when it looked like Woods' round hit a bit of a wall on the back nine, he added a couple of birdies and finished with a 64 that leaves him just two shots off the lead.
On the day, Woods hit 86 percent of his fairways and 83 percent of his greens in regulation. Those rank second and T8 in the field, respectively. Woods also took just 27 putts. If not for Kim's nearly flawless round, Woods would be tied for the lead. Nonetheless, he's obviously in great position going into Round 2. -- Brian Wacker
Below is a look at Woods' scorecard from today:
THIS AND THAT: (4:55 p.m.): Past champions K.J. Choi (2007) and Anthony Kim (2008) had dissimilar results in Thursday's first round. Kim currently leads with 62 while Choi opened with 77 -- a 15-stroke difference. ...
Brandt Snedeker, who opened with a 68, is playing his fourth consecutive event after recovering from a cracked rib which saw him cease play after the Verizon Heritage back in April. Snedeker missed cuts at both the St. Jude Classic and the U.S. Open before posting a T47 at last week's Travelers Championship. ...
U.S. Presidents Cup captain Fred Couples opened with a 2-over 72. It was 26 years ago that Couples won his first PGA TOUR title at the Kemper Open held at Congressional. He's not at the A&T National this week, but Couples' opposing captain for the upcoming Presidents Cup matches, Greg Norman, also won the Kemper Open when it was played at Congressional. ...
Davis Love posted 1-under 69 in his 1,990th round on the PGA TOUR. ...
Matt Hill, who won the NCAA golf championship in May, along with the Jack Nicklaus Award, is the only amateur in the field of 120 players. The Canadian native, who is a sophomore at North Carolina State University, was 2-under in his last four holes to finish with a 71.
Charles Howell III will need a good round on Friday to make his 200th career cut on the PGA TOUR after opening with a 72. -- Mark Williams
TIGER UPDATE (4:30 p.m.): The back nine has been a different story for Tiger Woods here at Congressional, where, after playing his first nine holes in 31, he's managed to play in just even par on the back nine with one birdie and one bogey through the 14th hole. There is a par-5 left, however, in the form of No. 16, so there's a good chance he could go even lower by the end of his round. -- Brian Wacker
WATSON WDS (4 p.m.): Bubba Watson, who pulled out yesterday's pro-am because of a bad case of allergies, has now withdrawn from the tournament for the same reason. Watson was 5 over with two double bogeys and a bogey through nine holes when he withdrew. -- Brian Wacker
WEEKLEY IN WITH A 67 (3:45 p.m.): One of the many players lurking within a handful of strokes of current leader Anthony Kim is Boo Weekley, who shot a 3-under 67 today. Not that he was entirely happy about it.
"The way I started today, it was ugly," said Weekley, who played his first four holes in 1 over. "I kind of held in there, you know. We're still making some bad swings right now, and I'm just trying to get it figured out."
Those bad swings are attributed to some shoulder problems Weekley has been having.
"It's just because I got lazy on my right side and just dropping and hitting the ball on my left side," Weekley said. Injured or not, Weekley is in good position. -- Brian Wacker
TIGER UPDATE (3:20 p.m.): Tiger Woods, who has never won his own tournament in its short existence, just made the turn for the back nine here at Congressional, where he's 4 under after a 31 on the front nine.
Anthony Kim joked that Woods could go out and shoot a 60 here and so far that prediction isn't looking too far off.
Woods hit 86 percent of his fairways on the front and has taken just 12 putts so far -- both encouraging numbers because as we saw at the Memorial Tournament, Woods can be lethal when he's hitting the short grass that often. Click here to follow the rest of his round live with Shot Tracker. -- Brian Wacker
CHOPRA NOT CHOPPING IT AROUND (3:05 p.m.): Daniel Chopra, who last won on the PGA TOUR at last year's season-opening Mercedes-Benz Championship, opened today with a 66 that featured seven birdies and three bogeys for his lowest opening round in 18 starts this season.
It marks Chopra's lowest first-round score since a 65 at the 2008 Buick Open and is just the fourth time this year that Chopra has shot below par in the first round. -- Mark Williams
FURYK'S STREAK (2:48 p.m.): Since joining the TOUR in 1994, Jim Furyk, who opened with a 66 today, has recorded at least one victory every year with the exception of 1994, '97, '04, and '08. He has yet to record a win this season. Furyk has six top-10s this year and has a liking for Congressional CC, having finished in a tie for third in both the 2007-08 editions of the AT&T National. He also posted a T5 finish at Congressional in the 1997 U.S. Open. -- Mark Williams
MAKING A POINT (2:30 p.m.): D.A. Points (64) has three top-10s this season, including a career-best third-place at the HP Byron Nelson Championship.
In his third year on the PGA TOUR, Points is playing his 84th event and is in good shape to make the 36-hole cut on Friday. It would mark the 42nd cut of his career.
Points has four Nationwide Tour victories, the most recent being the 2008 Miccosukee Championship, where he holed a 125-yard wedge from the fairway at the 72nd hole before defeating Matt Bettencourt in a playoff.
Points finished 16th on the 2008 Nationwide Tour money-list to graduate to the PGA TOUR and his 6-under 64 is a stroke shy of his career-low round on the PGA TOUR -- a 63 in Round 2 at the 2005 Reno-Tahoe Open. Points has five rounds of 62 during his Nationwide Tour career and a career-low of 61 on that tour. -- Mark Williams
MORE ON A.K. (2:10 p.m.): Anthony Kim's 62 is his lowest round since his second-round 65 at this year's Masters, where he posted 11 birdies. Should Kim's lead hold up, it will mark the fourth time in his career that he has held or shared the first-round lead. Kim's last PGA TOUR victory was at this event last year. He has posted five top-10s since then, including his lone top-10 finish this year, a tie for second at the season opening Mercedes-Benz Championship. -- Mark Williams
| Anthony Kim when leading or sharing the lead after the first round | ||||||||||
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GOOD DEEDS, BEGET GOOD ROUNDS (1:55 p.m.): Last night, Jim Furyk and other PGA TOUR players went to the Walter Reed Hospital here to visit with wounded veterans for a barbecue. "It was just good to meet a lot of wonderful people that have gone and risked their lives for our country," Furyk said. "Some of them have gone through very tough experiences, losing limbs, and the hospital is all about getting them back on track"
On track was what Furyk was today, taking advantage of super-soft greens with a round of 66. "It makes it a little easier to get aggressive with our iron shots," Furyk said. "[The greens] are going to get beat up with footprints and all kinds of traffic, but we'll have to deal with that tomorrow." -- Brian Wacker
| A sip of Maginnes | |
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KEEPING KIM COMPANY (1:28 p.m.): It's obvious the soft conditions are having an effect on scoring today. As well as Anthony Kim played, he said as much, pointing out that the greens are extremely soft.
Because of that, several players have been able to take advantage of ideal conditions here at Congressional. D.A. Points nearly matched his career-best round with a 64 that featured seven birdies, including four in a five-hole stretch at one point. Daniel Chopra and Jim Furyk, meanwhile, are in at 4 under, with three others, including Boo Weekley and Justin Rose, in the clubhouse at 3 under. -- Brian Wacker
Below is a look at Points' scorecard from today:
62 REASONS TO SMILE (1:15 p.m.): When Anthony Kim is smiling, walking with his head up and chest out, he plays well. He certainly did that today and a course-record 62 gave him plenty to smile about it afterward.
"I love coming back to this course," said Kim, the defending champion here at the AT&T National. "I have a lot of good feelings here. the course fits my eye."
It must fit his eye because he hit 71 percent of his fairways, 71.4 percent of his greens in regulation and had a putting average of just over 1.5 putts per hole.
"I am getting to the point where I feel like I can win anytime I tee it up," said Kim, who is also playing a new Nike driver this week with a lower loft (down to 8 degrees from 8.5 or so) and a stiffer shaft.
That equipment change is no small detail. Because of a left thumb injury, Kim the last couple of months had been forced to re-grip the club on the way back. That prevented him from putting the pressure on the grip that he needed to hit his traditional fade, as opposed to a draw he was forced into playing.
The result? A lot more fairways hit and when Kim is driving the golf ball well, he says, he plays well, too. That was certainly the case Thursday. -- Brian Wacker
MORE ON KIM'S 62 (12:45 p.m.): The 8-under 62 just turned in by Anthony Kim is not only a course record here at venerable Congressional Country Club, it's also a career round for the defending champion, whose previous best score was a 63 in the first round of the 2007 Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial.
Yesterday, Kim said the best thing that's happened to him this year was making it to his 24th birthday. Not so sure about that after today's round. -- Brian Wacker
COURSE RECORD FALLS (12:35 p.m.): Anthony Kim just took it ridiculously low here, shooting a 29 over his final nine holes (the front nine at Congressional) en route to a course-record 62.
The previous record in this event was a 65, as noted below, but it should also be noted that the previous lowest score ever shot at Congressional was a 65 by Fred Couples at the 1985 Kemper Open -- although it should be pointed out that this was a completely different course back then. -- Brian Wacker
BIRDIE ALERT (12:10 p.m.): Anthony Kim earlier this week said he likes a golf course to play right around par or at least a few strokes within par. Well, he's taking it a lot deeper than that this morning with seven birdies and no bogeys through his first 16 holes as he nears the course record of 63 set by Tom Pernice Jr. and Peter Lonard.
One of the big reasons Kim is playing so well so far: he's hit 94 percent of his greens in regulation with 24 putts. No doubt he's also feeling better, physically and mentally. Track the rest of his round live by clicking here and check out his scorecard below. -- Brian Wacker
LAST LOOK AT CONGRESSIONAL (11:35 a.m.): Get a good look at Congressional because this is the last you'll see of it until the 2011 U.S. Open here. Because of that, the AT&T National will move to Aronimink in suburban Philadelphia for the next two years.
"Aronimink is one of the toughest golf courses there is," Tiger Woods said earlier this week. "I think the area of Philadelphia will certainly embrace us in what we're trying to do and how many people we can help there in that community, and also, without neglecting what we're trying to do here in the D.C. area."
As for Congressional, it will be hard for players to get a sense of what changes will occur when they return two years from now. One thing they shouldn't have to worry about, according to Jim Furyk, is the greens being too quick here, which has been a problem at some past U.S. Opens.
"If you get them up there in that 12, 13, you really lose a lot of your pin placements and you lose your ability to make the golf course playable," Furyk said. "It's a course where green speed probably isn't a defense, but obviously we'll see rough, we'll see firm greens, and narrow fairways. So that's plenty, as it proved to be back in '97." -- Brian Wacker
CHECKING IN WITH THE CHAMP (11:10 a.m.): Two months ago, Anthony Kim said his confidence was "in the toilet." It was the weekend of THE PLAYERS Championship, where he'd missed the cut after rounds of 73-82. It was also right about that time that Kim, who had also battled a variety of injuries most of the year, started to break some bad habits and take the game and his talent more seriously. He cut back on the late nights out, the bad eating habits and also hired his old strength and conditioning coach from Oklahoma, Darby Rich, to be his full-time trainer.
Since then, Kim's play has steadily improved and so have the results with two finishes in the top 16 the last two weeks, including at the U.S. Open, where Kim said "it started to click" for him the last 27 holes. Today, that upward momentum seems to be continuing with Kim 5 under through his first 13 holes.
"The weeks before [the U.S. Open], I was hitting it so bad, I wasn't able to physically make the move on the ball like I wanted to," Kim said. "I'm excited that I'm getting my body into the right shape so I can at least attempt to hit a golf ball correctly.
"The problem with an injury is that when you start compensating for that injury, you tend to use one part of your body a little bit more. That's what I was doing. So to get back into shape was very important to correct my injuries. I know what I'm capable of, it's just a matter of time. -- Brian Wacker
RECORD PACE? (10:55 a.m.): With absolutely perfect conditions -- soft greens from some overnight rain the last couple of days, sunshine and only a slight, comfortable breeze -- we could see some pretty low numbers shot here. The lead right now is already at 5 under, which if kept up, would match the lowest start here, a 5-under 65 shot by Steve Marino last year. Check out the chart below for more numbers that could be in jeopardy today. -- Brian Wacker
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THE MAGIC CARPET RIDE CONTINUES (10:35 a.m.): When you win the U.S. Open, your life changes, even if you're Lucas Glover, one of the most grounded players on the PGA TOUR.
"I played well in Hartford Thursday and did an interview and I didn't have one question about the Travelers Championship," Glover said. "That's tough because I'm focused on the next day at Hartford, at Travelers, and I've got to go back a week. That's tough, because we're shot-to-shot, day-to-day, and when you've got to go back, that's hard."
This week has been no exception for the U.S. Open champion, which is why he picked the brains of Davis Love III and Zach Johnson -- both major champions and both good friends -- on how to deal with all the ancillary stuff that goes with winning a major.
"They both offered up different advice," Glover said. "I asked [Davis] how do I go forward currently and work on my focus for the week at hand instead of two weeks ago and how do I handle certain things and how do I not handle certain things.
"He said, 'We're all different and you've got to figure out the best way to handle it and how to find your focus.'"
Glover did a pretty good job of that, all things considered, finishing in a tie for 11th at the Travelers Championship with a pair of 65s on the weekend. That should give him some good momentum coming here.
"I've got a lot of room to improve. Nothing is guaranteed in golf," Glover added. "I've got to use that as motivation and try to improve my game and try to get back. I'm just trying to get back to normal, which is a good routine, and playing golf." -- Brian Wacker
FAST START (10:15 a.m.): So much for a tough course set-up here at Congressional, where AT&T National tournament host Tiger Woods says he prefers the rough up and the greens firm. Daniel Chopra and Cameron Beckman are already 5 under on their rounds with Parker McLachlin two shots back at 3 under.
As for said host, he won't tee off until 1:02 p.m. with U.S. Open champion Lucas Glover and Charley Hoffman.
For Glover, this is his third straight week playing, despite having won the U.S. Open a couple of weeks ago at Bethpage Black, where they were of course forced to that Monday finish with all the weather delays. Glover, however, never thought about taking either of the last two weeks off.
"I was committed," Glover said. "I wasn't in the British, and I needed Hartford, here and John Deere to try to get myself into the British Open, and that was the reason I was playing. You know, I was scheduled to play, and I won, and I didn't want to change because of that." -- Brian Wacker
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