Varner storms back into lead
He overcomes an opening triple bogey to top a stacked PGA Tour field at Colonial.
FORT WORTH — Harold Varner III took his place in history in the PGA Tour’s technology era, all because of a triple bogey.
Jordan Spieth had his lowest 36-hole score in four years. Rory McIlroy shot 63 with a bogey on his last hole. The strongest field of the year in golf ’s return to competition produced an AllStar leaderboard at the Charles Schwab Challenge.
No wonder a spectator tried to sneak into Colonial on Friday. There was plenty to see. The man didn’t get too see much before course officials noticed someone looking out of place. He was sent packing.
“Watching from afar, this is a golf course that’s always let the best players rise to the top,” said McIlroy, two shots behind Varner. “You have to be in complete control of your game, hit fairways, hit greens, convert some putts. Yeah, the leaderboard is a ‘Who’s Who’ of golf.”
If the opening round of the Charles Schwab Challenge felt like the first day of school, players quickly adjusted to the quiet environment as the PGA Tour tries to restart from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Some of the 81 players who missed the cut and are on the charter to Hilton Head will have to stick around for the flight. Everyone on the flight will be tested for the coronavirus
Saturday.
And there still are no spectators, making Colonial sound more like a library. And while players are getting accustomed to birdies and eagles greeted with silence, it figures to take on another dimension as the stakes get higher.
“It’s tough to get adrenaline going,” U.S. Open champion Gary Woodland said after a 67 left him three shots behind. “I think you can get a little bit more of that this weekend getting in the hunt and get those juices flowing.”
Varner had plenty of juices flowing after his first tee shot on No. 10 went onto a bridge, led to a one-shot penalty, and eventually a triple bogey that quickly knocked him out of a share of the lead. But he answered with eight birdies and a place in the record book with a 66.
Dating to the ShotLink era in 2003, it was the lowest score on the PGA Tour by a player who began his round with a triple bogey. He was at 11-under 129, the lowest 36hole score of his career.
One of four Black players on the PGA Tour, Varner had a 10-foot birdie chance on the par-three 16th when he heard the three short blasts from the horn to stop play as a tribute to George Floyd, something the tour is doing every day at 8:46 a.m.
“It’s pretty cool that the tour is doing that,” Varner said, “but when you’re out there, you’re just so in the moment.”