Love turns back clock, shoots a 63
Davis Love III still can get some solid work done in a PGA Tour event.
Heading into the World Golf Hall of Fame in September, the 53-year-old shot a 7-under-par 63 on Thursday in the first round of the Greenbrier Classic in White Sulphur Springs, W.Va., leaving him in second place, two strokes behind Sebastian Muñoz.
Love is looking for his first win since the 2015 Wyndham Championship, which made him the third-oldest winner in PGA Tour history. He would be the oldest if he wins in West Virginia.
Slowed this year by a bad back and a broken collarbone suffered in a January snowboarding accident in Sun Valley, Idaho, Love took advantage of a course softened by overnight rain for his best round of the season. He birdied four of his first five holes in the morning round on Old White, the course that was reconstructed after deadly floods forced the cancellation of last year’s tournament.
His son, Davis Love IV, also is in the field, receiving a sponsor exemption. It’s the second time they have played the same tournament; the other was the RSM Classic two years ago. The elder Love served as his son’s caddie in the U.S. Open last month.
“I’ve been working real hard the last couple of weeks on trying to fix my swing to kind of swing around a stiff back and a stiff hip,” the elder Love said. “I’ve given up on hitting it a long way. I’m just saying I’ve got to hit it straight, and this is the perfect golf course for me to get it in the fairway. A lot of hard work is kind of starting to pay off.”
Muñoz, a 24-year-old Colombian, was boosted by five birdies on the back nine for a 61.
Defending champion Danny Lee was at 64, along with David Lingmerth, Ben Martin, rookie Xander Schauffele and Canadians Graham DeLaet and Nick Taylor.
Phil Mickelson shot 67 in his first tournament since parting ways with his caddie of 25 years, Jim “Bones” Mackay. Mickelson’s brother, Tim, is his caddie for the rest of the year.
Players were allowed to lift and clean their golf balls in the fairway because of the wet conditions. It took a full year after the June 2016 floods, which killed 23 people statewide, to get Old White back to playing shape. LPGA Tour: Belgian rookie Laura Gonzalez Escallon birdied three of the final four holes for a 7-under 65 and a share of the lead with Sei Young Kim at the Thornberry Creek LPGA Classic in Oneida, Wis. Gonzalez Escallon, a Purdue alum, also started fast in the first-year event, and made birdies on three of the first four holes.
Two other rookies, Madeleine Sheils and Min-G Kim, shot 66. European Tour: Daniel Im of the United States and Benjamin Hebert of France took the lead at the Irish Open in Portstewart, Northern Ireland, by shooting bogey-free, 8-under 64s. Tournament host Rory McIlroy was at even par.