Mitchell tied for second at Quail Hollow
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — John Peterson started his rookie season on the PGA Tour about the time Tiger Woods started to experience back problems. One of them is closer to walking away than the other.
Peterson, the 29-year-old free spirit who has pledged to retire from professional golf’s vagabond lifestyle if he doesn’t earn enough money to keep his tour card in three events, made back-to-back eagles late in the opening round Thursday for a 6-under-par 65 that gave him a two-shot lead in the Wells Fargo Championship.
Five golfers were tied for second, including Baylor School graduate Keith Mitchell, a PGA Tour rookie who has made the cut in 10 of his 11 past tournaments. Mitchell, who was runner-up at the Corales Puntacana Resort & Club Championship and sixth at the Houston Open in March, made five birdies Thursday before closing with a bogey.
Woods had an unspectacular round of 71 in his return to Quail Hollow Club after a six-year absence — mostly due to his balky back — and figured it would keep him and everyone else fairly close to the lead on a course that made it tough for anyone to get separation. That was before Peterson came to life late in his round.
Peterson holed a bunker shot from just less than 60 feet away on the par-5 seventh. Then he sank a 56-degree wedge shot from 107 yards in the fairway for eagle on the next hole. It almost got even better.
From the trees left of the ninth fairway, his approach shot cleared the bunker and was headed for the flag as the crowd — “seven or eight people and a golden retriever in the grandstands back there,” he said — began to cheer in anticipation.
The ball didn’t make it into the cup, though, and then he missed the birdie putt from eight feet away. Yet all was well. Peterson had never led after any round in 89 starts on the PGA Tour, and he didn’t seem all that worked up over it.
“I’m kind of freewheeling it at this point,” he said. “I know a little bit has been said about me retiring if I don’t make the necessary money for my medical starts, and all that’s true. If I don’t make it, I’m not playing golf anymore.”
He made clear on more than one occasion he wants to win the Wells Fargo Championship, or the two tournaments he has left. Because of surgery on his left hand two years ago, Peterson started the year needing to make $375,165 in eight tournaments to keep his tour card. Five events later, he still needs $318,096 and has this week, and then the FedEx St. Jude Classic and Travelers Championship.
He loves golf. He also is a father — his son was born in October — and he would be just as happy in real estate development with a few friends in Fort Worth, Texas, than chasing around birdies and bogeys from one coast to the other.
If he wins this week? Or even if he makes enough money to keep his card?
“Either way is fine with me,” Peterson said. “I’ve got everything in place for both sides of it, so I’m not going to be bothered if I make it. Obviously, I would never be bothered to win a golf tournament out here.”
Peterson was only part of the show on a warm and breezy day at Quail Hollow, site of the PGA Championship last summer. Johnson Wagner, who is a member at the club, also had back-to-back eagles when he drove to the green on the par-4 14th to six feet from the hole, and then he hit the green on the par-5 15th and made a 45-foot putt. He wound up in the group of five players at 67 that included Tyrrell Hatton, Peter Malnati and Kyle Stanley.
Rory McIlroy, a two-time winner at Wells Fargo, was among 10 players at 68, while Paul Casey and Jason Day were among seven players at 69.
Baylor School graduate Luke List was tied for 24th after a 70. Tour rookie Stephan Jaeger, another former Red Raider, was tied for 128th after a 76.
Even with Peterson’s big finish, there was some truth to Woods’ assessment after he
Delay for LPGA
ended the day tied for 34th.
“The way this golf course is set up and the way it’s playing right now, the guys are going to be stacked,” Woods said. “We’re all going to be close. There’s going to be probably, I’m guessing, 15 guys or so with a chance on Sunday.”
THE COLONY, Texas — The first round of the LPGA Tour’s Texas Classic was called off because of heavy rain Thursday morning, when only 34 of the 144 golfers completed at least one hole at Old American Golf Club.
Play was stopped 69 minutes after the first groups teed off. The decision to resume play today was made in the middle of the afternoon, hours after the rain stopped and with sunshine bathing the course.
Thursday’s scores were thrown out, and a tournament official said no decision on the schedule for the final three rounds will be made until the first round is completed. Today’s forecast calls for more rain.