Duke battles the wind for ‘good start’ 67 in first round
BOCA RATON — Even though he shot a 3-under-par 68 Friday in bright but blustery conditions in the first round of the PGA Tour Champions TimberTech Championship, Ken Duke emphasized how challenging it was to play the newly renovated Old Course at Broken Sound.
“There are no gimme holes out here, downwind, into the wind, it’s very difficult,” said Duke, who was in a three-way tie for fifth behind four golfers tied for first at 4-under 67. “It was a good start, and that’s all you can ask for when you come to a tournament.”
Duke, a Stuart resident, birdied the first hole and then got up and down for pars on the next two holes. He followed that with four consecutive birdies to get to 5-under through seven holes and parred the eighth and ninth to go out in 31. He had a total of only nine putts for the nine holes.
After making 2-putt pars on the first three holes of the back nine, he missed the next three greens, resulting in three consecutive bogeys. Duke got up and down for birdie on the par-5 16th to get back to 3 under, made a good second putt on the 17th for a par and got up and down for par on the 18th.
“It was tough,” Duke said. “I got off to a good start and made a couple of par putts. Hit a few in there 6-8 feet and made them.
“It was just a struggle. Then I hit a few bad shots on the back and made three bogeys in a row and that’s what happens. I fought hard and parred the last two holes. It was a grind out there. We saw some scores low but then they came back.”
For example, co-leader Shane Bertsch got to 6-under but finished with bogeys on the last two holes.
Duke appeared to be in trouble when his second shot on the par-5 first hole found a bunker 40 yards short of the green, but he hit his third shot to 12 inches for an easy birdie.
On the next hole, he made a 10-foot par putt and got up and down for par on the third hole. He rolled in those birdie putts on holes 4, 5 and 6 and sank a birdie putt from off the green on the short par-4 seventh that Duke said was a bonus.
“I hit a few in there that were makeable and I made them, but sometimes with that wind it was very difficult,” Duke said. Wind speeds were 14-18 mph with gusts to 30 mph.
Duke won his first PGA Tour title at the age of 44, the Travelers Championship. Ten years later, he won his first Tour Champions event, the Shaw Charity Classic in August.
“Just a lot of hard work,” he said of that first senior win. “You never know when it’s going to pay off.”
He tees off in the second-to-last threesome Saturday at 11:19 a.m. His goal for the tournament, which is the second of three events in the Charles Schwab Cup Playoffs, is to be consistent.
“I have a lot of friends and family down here, so it’s good to see them,” Duke said.
Tough day for Flesch
Duke’s playing partner Steve Flesch had a difficult day, shooting a 9-over 80, the highest score in the 49-player field. Like Duke, he birdied the first hole but had four bogeys and a double bogey in a five-hole stretch to go out in 5-over 41. He bogeyed four of the first six holes on the back nine before finishing with three pars.
Flesch is paired with Scott Parel in the first group off the tee on Saturday. Parel was one of two players to shoot a 7-over 78; Glen Day was the other. Parel’s round included one birdie, six bogeys and a double bogey. Day had two birdies, five bogeys and two doubles.