Woods gets spotlight, but Landry, Spaun share lead
POTOMAC, Md. — The guy who has been fiddling with putters because he wasn’t happy with the results finally had 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-underpar 63 to share the lead with Andrew Landry in the Quicken Loans National.
Spaun, who has gone back and forth with putters four times in his past six tournaments, quietly went about his business Thursday. Most of the attention was on the group ahead of him, where Woods was using a mallet-style putter to help him shake out of a slump.
A new putter gave the 14-time major champion 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 a 70.
“I shot about the score I should have shot today,” Woods said.
Landry played in the morning, when the course at TPC Potomac at Avenel Farm was soft, though still punishing with its thick rough. Spaun did his work in the windier afternoon, but he didn’t even get leftovers from the thousands of fans watching golf’s biggest draw.
“They don’t even know who I am,” Spaun said.
“They played so fast, actually. They were a solid hole ahead of us. … I was kind of nervous, but I was more excited. I was like, ‘Oh, I’m going to get to see his second shots from looking back from the tee.’ But they played so fast, I didn’t even see him at all. I just saw his pink shirt way in the distance.”
Spaun would have seen solid play early, some wild shots off the tee by Woods in the middle and flawless work from tee to green late. But he wouldn’t have seen many putts go in.
Woods had five straight birdie chances from eight feet or closer on the back nine. He made two of them — one of them from three feet — and didn’t make a putt longer than 10 feet the entire round. Woods kept the round from getting away from him with two big par saves to start the back nine, chopping it back to the fairway both times. He got up and down from 147 yards on No. 11 by making a six-foot putt.
“I rolled it well,” Woods said. “I mean, hey, if I’m hitting putts on my line with my speed, then I’m happy. They’ll go in eventually.”
While Woods brings name recognition, he hasn’t won since August 2013 and is only 82nd in the World Golf Ranking. The field is among the weakest this year on the PGA Tour, with Rickie Fowler the only player in the top 10 in the world. Like Woods, Fowler rallied for a 70.
Billy Horschel and Andrew Putnam were tied for third at 64, with Abraham Ancer and Beau Hossler another stroke back.
Chattanooga’s Stephan Jaeger was tied for 10th after a 67 with six birdies and three bogeys. The former University of Tennessee at Chattanooga standout is trying to make the cut for the first time in seven tournaments during his rookie season on the PGA Tour. His slump on the top tour stretches back to late March, though he did win the Web.com Tour’s Knoxville Open in May.
Two other former Baylor School standouts are in the field. Keith Mitchell (71) was tied for 68th and Harris English (72) was tied for 89th.
Kelly’s edge is two
COLORADO SPRINGS — Jerry Kelly made his only bogey of the day on the final hole, but his 4-under 66 still gave him a two-shot lead in the U.S. Senior Open.
Kelly had a tricky fourfooter to save par on No. 18, but when his putt slid to the right, he joined every other player in the 155-man field with at least one bogey on the card.
Miguel Angel Jimenez, Rocco Mediate, Deane Pappas and Kevin Sutherland were tied for second.
Hall of Fame pitcher John Smoltz, who won a playoff in qualifying to make the tournament, made only five pars and finished at 15-over 85. But the former Atlanta Braves star still had a better day than three of his opponents, with amateur Dennis Martin bringing up the rear with a 93 that included a bogey or worse on 13 holes.
Park sets the pace
KILDEER, Ill. — Sung Hyun Park shot a bogeyfree 6-under 66 to take the first-round lead in the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship.
The 2017 U.S. Women’s Open winner birdied three of the four par-5 holes at Kemper Lakes in the third of the LPGA Tour’s five annual majors.
Brooke Henderson, the 2016 KPMG winner and its runner-up last year, was a stroke back with Brittany Altomore, Jaye Marie Green and Jessica Korda. Laetitia Beck, Charley Hull, Moriya Jutanugarn and Maude-Aimee Leblanc were tied for sixth at 68.
Park, a 24-year-old South Korean, won the weathershortened LPGA Texas Classic in May, but she followed that with three missed cuts and a tie for 61st last weekend at the NW Arkansas Championship. She switched putters this week.
Dredge up by one
PARIS — Bradley Dredge shot a 4-under 67 to lead by a stroke after the opening round of the French Open.
The Welsh golfer, who closed with a 66 at last weekend’s BMW International Open in Germany, continued his good form with five birdies in windy conditions at Le Golf National, where the Ryder Cup will be played in September.
Two-time French Open winner Graeme McDowell, a vice captain for the European team, and England’s Andy Sullivan were a shot off the lead. They were one clear of Dean Burmester, Robert Karlsson — another of Europe’s vice captains — and Thomas Pieters.
Justin Thomas of the United States, a former world No. 1 who’s currently second, is playing this European Tour event for the first time. He and sixthranked Jon Rahm of Spain were part of an eight-way tie for seventh, three shots off the lead.