‘TIPPING THE CAP TO THE SILENCE’
No fans in sight as PGA Tour returns after 91-day break due to coronavirus
Phil Mickelson tipped his cap, Justin Thomas raised his putter in the air, and Rickie Fowler gave a fist-pump, all to an imaginary crowd at Colonial Golf Club on Thursday.
Old habits die hard.
After a 91-day hiatus — the longest unscheduled break since the Second World War — the PGA Tour returned to action with no fans in attendance at the Charles Schwab Challenge in Fort Worth, Texas.
“It’s certainly awkward not having everybody out here,” said Mickelson, who shot a 1-underpar 69. “But I’m certainly proud of the steps the PGA Tour has taken to have everybody be safe, feel safe in this environment, and to hopefully entertain and have some people watching on TV even though they’re not here.”
Harold Varner III shot a 7-under 63 and shares the lead with Englishman Justin Rose. Rose found himself celebrating into the abyss right out of the gate after birdieing his first hole from off the green, 25 feet away.
“I was kind of having a little fun with it, thanks, tipping the cap to the silence,” Rose said. “But to be fair, Dustin Johnson’s caddy, his brother, he kind of gave me a little round of applause there.”
Varner became just the third player in 25 years at Colonial to hit all 18 greens in regulation and is looking for his first PGA Tour victory.
Varner, 29, is one of the few Black players on tour. He recently posted on social media a powerful letter about race issues in America following the killing of George Floyd and the ensuing protests.
“I know what’s going on, but when I’m on the golf course, I’m trying to play well,” Varner said. “The reason I have a platform is because I’m really good at golf. I just need to focus on that, and to be honest with you, being on the golf course, it helped me. It’s my getaway, I guess.”
Rose and Varner are one shot clear of Justin Thomas, Collin Morikawa, Abraham Ancer and Jhonattan Vegas, who all shot 6-under 64s.
The return of professional sports after the COVID-19 pandemic has been highly anticipated as people ache for any sign of normalcy in their lives.
Sports fans are finally getting their fix, although this week at Colonial is anything but normal.
The tournament, which usually sees 120,000 fans through its gates, this week has none. The 1,600 volunteers have been scaled down to 300. Players and caddies are being tested for coronavirus every week and thermal tested for temperature every day.
On and off the course, social distancing is the rule, although judging by Thursday, many of the players need a reminder. The tour is counting on the success of a 400-person travelling bubble for at least the early part of the summer.
Unlike team sports slated to return to action, there are no hub cities on the PGA Tour.
For all the changes to Colonial this week, it’s working.
As small as the tournament was forced to become, to the fans stuck at home for months, it was big. Even with the glamorous world top-three group of Rory Mcilroy (-2), Brooks Koepka
(-2), and Jon Rahm (-1) walking around historic Colonial looking like lonely rookies at an empty Korn Ferry Tour event, as a sports fan, it felt like you were getting something back.
The empty golf course will take some getting used to for the players. Gary Woodland (-5) said things were so peaceful that he was losing distance on his shots.
“I told my caddy early on, I didn’t feel like I was hitting it as far because my adrenalin wasn’t up,” Woodland said. “It’s a big deal.”
The field is packed with 101 PGA Tour winners teeing it up and
16 of the world’s top 20 on hand. After hearing about nothing but isolation for months, having the best golfers in the world travel from Europe, Asia, Australia and North America to compete is hard to believe, but it sure feels good.
O CANADA
Canada is well represented on the leaderboard with Adam Hadwin (-5) and Corey Conners (-4) heading into the second round inside the top-16.
Hadwin had improved to 6-under and was one shot off the lead heading to the final hole, before hitting his last drive way right and making bogey. The 32-year-old is tied for seventh after his opening round 65, and he has the ball-striking precision to take advantage of Colonial, a course that levels the playing field by not providing a great advantage to the tour’s bombers.
“You never quite know what’s going to happen,” Hadwin said after his round. “But yeah, I got off to just a great start for the week. It’s nice to be back playing again.”
Hadwin enters the tour restart 38th in the Fedex season-long rankings with a runner-up and a fourth-place finish last fall.
With a baby daughter at home, it’s no surprise how he spent his time away from the game.
“Mostly family time,” said Hadwin. “I didn’t get into it really until the last two, three weeks. Just been working on trying to get the club a little bit more on plane going back. Other than that, not much. Just back out here playing golf again, hitting some shots again, which I haven’t done for a while.”
Conners didn’t waste any time getting back into the swing of things. The Listowel, Ont. native made five birdies on the front nine, including four in five holes beginning at the fifth.
“I felt good about the state of my game and have been playing really well at home in Florida the last few months, so I knew I would be able to give myself a chance,” Conners said after his round. “Just going to keep trusting my game and have fun the next few days.”
The 28-year-old is an elite ball striker and hitting greens in regulation (GIR) is a good predictor of success at Colonial. Conners is fourth in GIR this season and finished first on the PGA Tour in the stat last season.
“Definitely one of my favourite courses and it does suit me well,” he said. “It felt great to be back competing. Have been looking forward to this day for a while now.”
Mackenzie Hughes of Dundas, Ont. shot a 1-under 69.