Pair of eagles lift Peterson into lead
John Peterson started his rookie season on the PGA Tour about the time TigerWoods 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 golf’s vagabond lifestyle if he doesn’t earn enough money to keep his card in three events, made backto-back eagles late in the opening round Thursday for a 6-under 65 that gave him a two-shot lead in the Wells Fargo Championship in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Woods had an unspectacular round of 71 in his return to Quail Hollow after a six-year absence 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.
He holed a bunker shot from just under 60 feet away on the par- 5 seventh hole. Then he holed a 56- degree wedge 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 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.
It missed. He missed from 8 feet. All was well.
“I know a little bit has been said about me retiring if I don’tmake the necessary money for my medical starts, and all that’s true,” said Peterson. “If I don’tmake it, I’mnot playing golf anymore.”
Peterson started the year needing to make $375,165 in eight tournaments to keep his card. Five events later, he still needs $318,096 and has this week, and then the FedEx St. Jude Classic and Travelers Championship.
Peterson was only part of the show on a warmand breezy day at Quail Hollow, site of the PGA Championship last summer.
Johnson Wagner, a member at Quail Hollow, also had back-to-back eagles when he drove the green on the par- 4 14th to 6 feet, and then hit the green on the par- 5 15th hole and made a 45-foot putt. He wound up in the group of five players at 67 that included PGA Tour rookie Keith Mitchell and Tyrrell Hatton.
Rory McIlroy, a twotime winner at Wells Fargo, was among 10 players at 68. Paul Casey and Jason Day were among seven players at 69. CAL’S MORIKAWA A HOGAN AWARD FINALIST » Collin Morikawa was named one of three finalists for The Ben Hogan Award, which is given annually to the top men’s college golfer taking into account all collegiate and amateur competitions over the past 12 months. The award is presented during the week of the annual PGA Tour stop at Colonial Country Club in Forth Worth, Texas. Morikawa is ranked No. 1 nationally in the most recent collegiate individual rankings by Golfstat and No. 2 according to Golfweek. FIRST ROUND OF LPGA TOURNAMENT SCRAPPED » The first round of the LPGA North Texas Classic was called off because of heavymorning rain and high winds. A tournament official says no decision on the schedule for the weekend’s final three rounds will bemade until the first round is completed.