Tight at the top as players jockey for position in Florida Leaderboard
‘‘You’re unbelievable. Absolutely unbelievable.’’ Craig Perks didn’t hear that often in his career. But he did after winning The Players Championship. His admirer? Tiger Woods. When a swag of the world’s best golfers teed up yesterday at the 2019 Playe
A big finish for Tommy Fleetwood and a fast start for Keegan Bradley led each to a seven-under-65 yesterday for a share of the lead in the opening round of The Players Championship in Florida.
Fleetwood kept a clean card in the wind, kept his patience and was rewarded at the end with three birdie putts. Bradley had three eagle putts on the back nine, made one of them, and picked up a pair of birdies on the front nine.
Tiger Woods made only one par on the back nine – five birdies, three bogeys – in a round of 70. He has only broken 70 in the opening round one time at the TPC Sawgrass, when he won in 2013.
Perks bogeyed the first hole while Paulson made birdie to immediately establish a three-shot advantage, but Paulson began to feel the pressure, making four consecutive bogeys from holes three through six.
The Kiwi responded with birdies on five and seven – which bracketed a bogey on six – to give him a two-stroke lead that vanished when he bogeyed eight and nine.
A birdie at 11 took him clear again, only to bogey 12 and birdie 13. Dropped shots at the next two holes – with a missed par put from two feet at 15 – put him a shot behind Trinidad and Tobago’s Stephen Ames.
But the heart-stopping moments hadn’t even started.
On the par-five 16th, Perks opted for a four iron from 199 yards with his second shot, aiming for a pin placed on the right-hand side of the green, with water further right.
‘‘I’m an aggressive player. I wasn’t going to back away from that flag,’’ he later told AP.
His approach bounced into the rough between green and water, leaving him a 21-foot chip with a tough lie – which he holed for an eagle.
That put him one in front of Ames, but ahead lay the terrifying prospect of the famous par-three island green 17th.
Perks planted a nine-iron tee shot into the heart of the green, then rolled in a 28-foot birdie putt in treacherously quick conditions to give him a two-shot advantage heading to the 72nd hole over Ames, who held the clubhouse lead following a sparkling final-round 67.
A wayward drive on 18 required Perks to chip out on to the fairway and when he overshot the green with his third, he needed to make a tough up-and-down for bogey to avoid a playoff with Ames.
No problem – for the third time in as many holes, Perks worked magic with his short game, flopping his chip softly on to the green and watching it roll into the cup.
‘‘As soon as it landed, I knew I had won. That was an incredible emotion.’’
Paulson shot 77 to finish tied fourth, four shots behind Perks, while Woods never featured, shooting 74.
‘‘That was the easiest 72 I shot in my life,’’ Perks joked.
By becoming the first player since Hal Sutton in 1983 to win the tournament on debut, the tour struggler earned US$1.08 million and leapt to 64 in the world rankings.
Perks said years later on the Golf Channel to colleagues that he flourished in the heady Craig Perks, above, talking about returning to the TPC Sawgrass course in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, where he won The Players Championship in 2002. environment.
‘‘It was out of control, it was a raucous atmosphere and I was actually embracing it,’’ Perks said.
But he admitted the nerve-racking 17th terrorised him.
‘‘Really, I had trouble breathing . . . the most nervous I’d ever been on the golf course.’’
The other . . . ahem . . . perks of the victory were plenty – a five-year PGA Tour exemption, entry to the next three years of the Masters and four British Opens, along with spots at the US Open and PGA Championship. He was also named New Zealand 65: Tommy Fleetwood (England), Keegan Bradley (US)
66: Byeong Hun An (South Korea), Brian Harman (US)
67: Rory McIlroy (Northern Ireland), Vaughn Taylor (US), Ryan Moore (US)
68: Brendan Steele (US), Rory Sabbatini (Slovakia), JT Poston (US), Kyle Stanley (US), Kevin Kisner (US)
Also
70: Tiger Woods (US)
75: Danny Lee (NZ)
18 feet. ‘‘If you’re in the fairway all the time, the course feels very, very different,’’ Fleetwood said.
‘‘And it’s a massive key around here. Sportsman of the Year.
But the majors didn’t work out well for Perks – his best finish was a tie for 29th at the 2002 PGA Championship and he never made the cut at Augusta. He had one more top-10 finish on the PGA Tour in 2004 as his game unravelled after his momentous win.
Perks changed equipment, caddie, management and his golf swing after The Players. He told a Golf Channel feature: ‘‘I don’t regret trying to get better . . . I think I regret the way I was going about trying to get better.’’ And then I just started picking a few shots up, and then you get on a run like seven, eight, nine, and it feels great after that. Just one of them would feel like a great round, so three of them . . . I’ll take it.’’
Byeong Hun An and Brian Harman were at 66, while Rory McIlroy also played bogey-free for a 67. He was in a group with Ryan Moore, who made the ninth hole-in-one on the island-green 17th hole, and Vaughn Taylor, who must love the move back to March.
Taylor is among 23 players who have competed on the Stadium Players Course in both months. He tied for eighth the last time it was in March, in 2006. In the eight times he played in May, he never made the cut.
Bradley, who a week ago shared the 36-hole lead with Fleetwood at Bay Hill, has only one top 10 in his eight trips to the TPC Sawgrass.
‘‘Early in my career, I felt so uncomfortable on this course. I really didn’t play well here,’’ Bradley said.
‘‘And then this year, I really enjoy the different conditions that we’re playing in. I like the rough better, and I think it’s a great time of year to play here.’’
The scoring wasn’t unusual, nor was the tight leaderboard. It was simply the way the golf course was playing – longer off the tee because the fairways aren’t quite as fast with rye overseed, softer around the greens.
In May or in March, there’s generally no lack of excitement at Sawgrass.
In his last year on the PGA Tour, Perks played 15 tournaments. He withdrew during two and missed the cut in the other 13.
But in 2015 he told the tour’s official website that each year when The Players Championship rolls around, he takes a golf cart alone, rides the course and reflects on his moment in the sun.
‘‘Every corner that I turn, every place that I go, I’m reminded that my greatest professional accomplishment is here.
‘‘It’s always good for me to be back and remember how good you were for one week.’’