New putter doesn’t help Woods
POTOMAC, Md. The guy who has been fiddling with putters because he wasn’t happy with the results finally saw his share of putts go in.
If only Tiger Woods could have looked behind him, he might have seen J.J. Spaun match his best score of the year with a 7-under 63 to share the lead with Andrew Landry in the Quicken Loans National.
Spaun, who has gone backand-forth with putters four times in his last six tournaments, quietly went about his business Thursday while most of the attention was on Woods in the group ahead of him using a mallet-style putter to help him shake out of a slump.
A new putter gave Woods a better feel, but the same middling results. He had six birdie chances from 10 feet or closer and made two of them to offset a double bogey early in his round, and he had to settle for an even-par 70.
“I shot about the score I should have shot today,” Woods said.
Landry shot his 63 in the morning when the TPC Potomac at Avenel Farm was soft, though still punishing with its thick rough. Spaun did his work in the windier afternoon, even if no one noticed. He played in the group behind Woods, and didn’t even get leftovers from thousands of fans watching golf’s biggest draw.
Henderson in hunt
KILDEER, Ill. — Canada’s Brooke Henderson got off to a tough start at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship on Thursday after hitting bogeys on her first two holes.
But after a pep talk from her caddy and older sister, Brittany, the 20-year-old from Smiths Falls, Ont., managed to turn it around, fighting her way back to shoot a 5-under 67 to sit in a tie for second place behind South Korea’s Sung Hyun Park, who shot a bogey-free 6-under 66.
“I was just trying to have a really good, solid score today, and with starting the first two holes like that, it kind of dropped your momentum a little bit, but Brit helped me through it a little bit, and we just started grinding away on my front nine, then slowly things started to turn around, started to hit it a little bit better,” said Henderson.
“That’s one thing about having my sister on the bag, she always knows the right thing to say. I don’t really remember anything specifically, but just kind of getting me to calm down and relax a little bit and just to believe that I could finish strong.”
Henderson is a stroke back with Jessica Korda, Jaye Marie Green and Brittany Altomore. She managed to climb to 1over with a birdie on her ninth hole of the day, and hit a 30 on the back nine. Maude-Aimee Leblanc of Sherbrooke, Que., is in a tie for sixth after a 4under 68 and Hamilton’s Alena Sharp shot 3-under 69.
Henderson is looking to continue her run of success at the third of the LPGA Tour’s five majors. Her worst finish was also her first at the tournament, a tie for fifth in 2015. She was the runner-up last year and won in 2016.