Garwood grabs lead at En-Joie
Doug Garwood birdied the final three holes for an 8under 64 and the first-round lead Friday in the Dick’s Sporting Goods Open in Endicott, N.Y.
Garwood, 55, had nine birdies and a bogey, playing his final nine holes — the front nine at En-Joie Golf Club — in 6-under 31.
“Drove it well, hit the irons well, pitched well, putted well, thought well,” Garwood said. “I got to a point I was just making birdies and I kind of lost track of how it was going,” Garwood said. “That’s always a good thing.”
He won the 2016 SAS Championship for his lone PGA Tour Champions title.
“I haven’t been playing great this year, but I’ve been working hard on my game and things I’ve been working on are paying off,” Garwood said. “My golf, I take it a shot at a time, don’t think about too far in advance because you really can’t control, you know, the 13th hole tomorrow. It’s just about the tee shot on No. 1.”
Michael Bradley and Marco Dawson shot 65, Woody Austin and Clark Dennis followed at 66, and Bob Estes and Tom Gillis were at 67.
“It was a good day,” Bradley said. “I’ve traditionally not driven the ball well here and you’ve got to drive the ball good here to shoot a good score. I drove the ball well and made a few putts, so that was that.”
Defending champion Scott McCarron had a 72. Kevin Sutherland also had a 72. He shot the only 59 in PGA Tour Champions history in the 2014 event. John Daly, the winner of the PGA Tour’s 1992 B.C. Open at EnJoie, opened with a 73.
Late runs in Sweden
England’s Paul Waring birdied four of the final seven holes for a 7-under 63 and a share of the Nordea Masters lead with Scotland’s Scott Jamison ( 65) in Gothenburg, Sweden. Jamison birdied the final three for a 65 to match Waring at 11-under 129.
Two in driver’s seat
Sung Hyun Park shot a 9under 63 for a share of the lead with Lizette Salas in the suspended second round of the Indy Women in Tech Championship in Indianapolis. Salas, the first-round leader after a 62, had a 69 to match Park at 13 under at Brickyard Crossing.