Varner III overcomes a triple for lead
After rough first hole, he rattles off 8 birdies
Fans aren’t allowed on the course, but a few were able to get close enough to watch Justin Thomas on the No. 2 tee Friday at Colonial Country Club in Fort Worth, Texas. Harold Varner III leads halfway through the Charles Schwab Challenge, the first tournament since the PGA Tour suspended the season because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
FORT WORTH, Texas — 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 final hole. The strongest field of the year in golf’s return to competition produced an All-Star leader board at the Charles Schwab Challenge.
No wonder a spectator tried to sneak onto Colonial Friday. There was plenty to see.
The man didn’t get too see much before course officials noticed someone looking out of place with so few people in the first place. He wore jogging shorts, a black Tshirt and no credentials. 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 going into the weekend. “You have to be in complete control of your game, hit fairways, hit greens, convert some putts. Yeah, the leader board is a ‘Who’s Who’ of golf right now. I’m just happy to be in the mix.”
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.
It’s still not a return to normal. 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 are still 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, but it is different without a crowd. You’ve got to kind of get that adrenaline going yourself.”
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. No worries. 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 36-hole score of his career.
“Not the start I wanted, but it’s just a part of golf,” Varner said. “If I would have tripled the last, it would have added up to the same. It’s a great opportunity going into the weekend.”
One of four PGA Tour players of black heritage, Varner was in the gym Thursday during the moment of silence, which the tour is doing every day at 8:46 a.m. as a tribute to George Floyd and a time of reflection over racial injustice and civil unrest. This time he had a 10-foot birdie chance on the par-3 16th when he heard the three short blasts from the horn to stop play.
“I just wanted to make that putt just to get me back to even [for the round],” Varner said. “I was really just focused on playing some good golf. It’s pretty cool that the tour is doing that, but when you’re out there, you’re just so in the moment. Well, I was, anyway. I don’t know, man, I was just trying to make a birdie.”
He led by one over Spieth, who shot 65 despite a four-putt double bogey from 30 feet, and Bryson DeChambeau, who played bogey-free for his 65.
Collin Morikawa Morikawa (67) and Xander Schauffele (66) joined McIlroy at 9under 131, with Justin Thomas (68) and Justin Rose (69) among those another shot back.
Birdies were not in short supply on another day filled with hot sunshine, but not spectators.
Police say one man crossed a pedestrian bridge near the perimeter of Colonial, got through the fence near bushes in a corner of the course beyond the fourth green and watched some golf. A dozen or so others peeked through hedges and the fence along the front nine. Two corporate tents in houses lining the streets on the back nine were filled.
That’s the extent of the noise.