Woods struggles in first round at Zozo Championship
The scorecards of Sebastian Munoz and Tiger Woods were unusual for different reasons Thursday in the Zozo Championship at Sherwood. That was only good news for one of them.
Munoz twice holed out for eagle from a combined distance of 219 yards. He also had eight birdies. Throw in a wild tee shot for double bogey, three bogeys and only five pars and it added to an 8-under 64 and a one-shot lead.
“Not a normal round,” Munoz said. That especially was the case for Woods. For the first time in his 1,277 rounds on the PGA Tour as a pro, he made bogey or worse on three par 5s in a single round. That led to a 4- over 76 — by two shots his worst score in 49 rounds at Sherwood Country — that left him 12 shots out of the lead and in no mood to talk.
Munoz, the Colombian who played his college golf at North Texas, finished off his bizarre round by saving par from a narrow section of the front bunker with a 15-foot putt on the 18th hole.
He was one shot ahead of Tyrrell Hatton, the hottest golfer this month, and Justin Thomas, who had a hot finish. Hatton won the European Tour flagship event at Wentworth, flew to Las Vegas for the CJ Cup and tied for third. Thomas shot 29 on the back nine at Sherwood. They each had a 65.
Whether it was shocking to see Woods so far back on this course is a matter of perspective. He is a fivetime winner at Sherwood, along with five runner-up finishes, against small fields in a holiday exhibition. He was playing only his third competitive round in the last seven weeks, and his first since missing the cut in the U.S. Open a month ago.
The rust was evident, and a few bad breaks didn’t help his cause. He pushed his tee shot on the par-5 11th to the right, normally not a big deal except the ball stopped rolling in the dirt between two trees about 18 inches apart. Woods couldn’t believe it when he got to his ball and wasted no time inverting a sand wedge to hit out left-handed.
That didn’t make it back to the fairway, and the rough is thicker than he ever saw it in the 12 previous times playing Sherwood in December. The course recently over-seeded with rye and the grass is thick, as it was at Shadow Creek. He laid up from there and made bogey.
KANG, SONG SHARE LPGA DRIVE ON LEAD >>
Danielle Kang leads the Race to CME Globe and, at No. 5 in the world, is the top-ranked player in the LPGA Drive On Championship-Lake Reynolds Oconee. She showed why Thursday. Kang shot a 7-under 65 for a share of the first-round lead with Jennifer Song.
NHL
WINTER CLASSIC, ALL-STAR WEEKEND CANCELED >> The NHL won’t take it outside and open 2021 with the Winter Classic in Minnesota but still hopes to get the hockey season going around the start of the new year.
The league on Thursday canceled the Winter Classic scheduled for Jan. 1 at Target Field in Minneapolis and All-Star Weekend that was set for late January in Sunrise, Florida. It said those moves don’t change the league and players’ target date to begin on or around Jan. 1 in the hopes of each team playing a full 82-game season.
No guarantee of being able to host fans led to the cancellation of the two signature events. The league hopes to bring them back to those cities in future years.
STARS RE-SIGN GURIANOV >> The Dallas Stars re-signed Denis Gurianov to a $5.1 million, two-year contract Thursday that counts as $2.55 million each season through 2021-22. The 23-yearold Russian right winger ranked second on the team with nine postseason goals and scored two game-winners during the Stars’ Stanley Cup Final run.
DMITRY KULIKOV SIGNS >> The New Jersey Devils added experience to their defense, signing Russian Dmitry Kulikov to a one-year, $1.15 million contract. Devils general manager Tom Fitzgerald announced the deal.
NO ARBITRATION >> The Ottawa Senators avoided arbitration with Connor Brown, signing the forward to a three-year, $10.8 million contract.
College football
BOWL GAME CANCELED >> The Holiday Bowl has become the fourth bowl game to be called off due to the coronavirus pandemic. Holiday Bowl officials announced that the board of directors voted unanimously to cancel what would have been the 43rd straight edition of the game. It would have been the first year of a six-year deal to match teams from the Pac-12 and Atlantic Coast Conference.
Bowl officials had been seeking a suitable place to play after San Diego State announced it was closing SDCCU Stadium, formerly known as Qualcomm Stadium, two seasons earlier than planned to expedite construction of its new 35,000 seat stadium as part of a campus expansion in Mission Valley.
The Redbox Bowl in Santa Clara and the Hawaii and Bahamas bowls have also been called off.
Horse racing
CHARGES IN HORSE’S DEATH >> A backstretch worker at New York’s Belmont Park caused the death of a $200,000 racehorse by releasing the filly onto blacktop in retaliation for being fired, where she fell and broke her leg, prosecutors said Thursday.
Ramzan Antooa, 38, released the 2-year- old filly named Pasta from her stall July 30, Nassau County District Attorney Madeline Singas said.
Antooa was arraigned Thursday on charges including grand larceny, burglary and criminal mischief. He was released on his own recognizance and is due back in court Nov. 19.
Tennis
SCHWARTZMAN WINS IN RETURN >> Diego Schwartzman returned to action after his run to the French Open semifinals by beating Oscar Otte 6-3, 6-2 at the Cologne Championships in Germany. The ninth-ranked Schwartzman was playing his first match since breaking into the top following his loss to Rafael Nadal in the French Open semifinals. He will face Alejandro Davidovich Fokina in the quarterfinals.
OSTRAVA OPEN UPSET >> Qualifier Veronika Kudermetova defeated No. 2 seed Karolina Pliskova 4-6, 6- 4, 6-3 to reach the quarterfinals of the Ostrava Open.