Tiger sits six shots back at Quail Hollow

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — John Peterson started his rookie season on the PGA Tour about the time Tiger Woods started to experience back problems.

One of them is closer to walking away than the other.

Peterson, a 29-year-old free spirit who has pledged to retire from golf ’s vagabond lifestyle if he doesn’t earn enough money to keep his card in three events, made back-to-back eagles late in the opening round Thursday for a 6-under-par 65 that gave him a two-shot lead in the Wells Fargo Championship.

Woods had an unspectacular 71 in his return to Quail Hollow after a six-year absence — mostly due to his balky back — and figured it would keep him and everyone else fairly close to the lead on a course that made it tough for anyone to get separation.

That was before Peterson came to life late in his round.

He holed a bunker shot from just under 60 feet away on the par-5 seventh hole. Then he holed a 56-degree wedge from 107 yards in the fairway for eagle on the next hole.

It almost got even better. From the trees left of the ninth fairway, his approach cleared the bunker and was headed for the flag as the crowd — “seven or eight people and a Golden Retriever in the grandstands back there,” he said — began to cheer in anticipation.

At The Colony, Texas, the first round of the Volunteers of America Texas Shootout was called off because of heavy morning rain, with only 34 of the 144 golfers completing at least one hole.

No decision on the schedule for the weekend’s final three rounds at Old American Golf Club will be made until the first round is completed. Friday’s forecast calls for more rain.

At Tarzana, Calif.,

Katrina Prendergast of Sparks and Colorado State teammate Ellen

Secor won three straight holes late in the U.S. Women’s Amateur Four-ball championship match against teenagers Yachun Chang and Lei Ye en route to a 1-up win at El Caballero Country Club.

LPGA: USGA: