Billy Hurley III charges to share the fifth spot on day one of the AT&T National
Billy Hurley III carded a two-under par 69 in the opening round of the AT&T National to share the fifth place on the leaderboard at the Congressional Country Club on Thursday, June 28, 2012.
Hurley started off on the back nine of the course and carded a birdie on the very first hole (10th) that he played. Another two birdies on the 16th and 17th hole allowed him to go three-under for the round.
Thereafter, he parred eight-consecutive holes, before he lost momentum on the ninth hole, and suffered a bogey to end the round.
Overall, it was a consistent performance, considering the fact that it was not a low scoring day. Moreover, the course was not conducive for playing easy — the greens were fast and it was difficult to create birdie chances.
“Any time you play well, it’s fun. This is a heck of a golf course,” Hurley said. “You have to hit a lot of quality shots, and I was able to do that. I hit it really well overall today and had a lot of good looks. I mean, even at this place you hit quality
shots that end up with not a good look at birdie sometimes”.
“You just have to -- I sort of was patient out there, made a couple putts early and then mulled it around and had a couple good looks on the front but didn't make anything,” he added.
He is just two strokes behind the pace set by Bo Van Pelt, with a four-under par 67, after recording two birdies and an amazing eagle on the par-four first hole.
Vijay Singh, Brendon de Jonge and Jimmy Walker shared the second spot, following a three-under par 68 score each.
In the meantime, defending champion Nick Watney carded a one-under par 70 to share the eighth place. Through the front nine, he went one-over par for the round.
Yet, he did not lose his confidence and recorded two birdies on the back nine to break the par.
There were a total of 14 other players who joined him on the leaderboard after carding the same score, including the US Ryder Cup team captain Davis Love III.
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