First round of BMW Championship on FedExCup Playoff Championship: Highlights - Part 2
Mickelson, at the same time, admitted that it was nice to be playing in colder conditions after battering tough heat throughout the season and that the greens were soft and receptive for fine putting.
“It's kind of nice weather actually to get out of some of the heat we've had. It was certainly challenging. It made it a lot more difficult. But there were some low scores out there. There's no reason not to play well or score well because the greens were
receptive,” said Mickelson.
It was probably the worst day of the year for the long-hitting Bubba Watson, who ended up at the bottom of the leaderboard. He posted an unbelievable 78 on the opening day and was able to pull only a single birdie the whole day in contrast to eight bogeys.
He is now likely to miss the halfway cut at the end of the second round and also probably his chance to qualify for the next and final event of the FedExCup Playoff Championship, the Tour Championship presented by Coca Cola.
World number one Luke Donald also had a disastrous opening day where he succumbed to the cold and breezy conditions of the Cog Hill to post a disappointing four-over, 75. He started off the day with consecutive bogeys on the opening hole and stumbled on
a nerve-shattering double-bogey on the par-four, 5th, before he decided to switch over to defensive golf for the rest of the day. He even-parred the rest of the round.
The conditions were not really conducive for the otherwise rampaging Australian duo, Adam Scott and Jason Day, who posted rounds of 74 and 77 respectively. Dustin Johnson, Vijay Singh and Steve Stricker all posted rounds of five-over, 76 and are likely to
miss the cut after the second round.
Jim Furyk and Camilo Villegas finished for an impressive joint fifth and both need a strong finish this week to proceed to the next event on the championship. They were joined in by John Senden of Australia for the fifth slot. Villegas, who barely managed
to make it into the lucrative tournament, has done well to stay on course for the moment but seems apathetic about his qualification for the final event.
“Who cares where you are right now,” Villegas said. “It's all about just playing good golf from here the next three days and hopefully advancing.”
Top 30 on the money list from this week will proceed to the final leg of the event, The Tour Championship at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta with a massive winning share of $1,440,000. Furyk, who won the championship last year will be eager to retain the
title and has done well to stay on course so far.
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