Highlights from the first round of Wells Fargo Championship – Part2
Phil Mickelson, the runner-up from last year’s event teed off from the front and sandwiched a bogey on the par-5 5th to make a weak entrance. He marched towards the closing holes and birdied them to exit the front with a score of 1-under-par,
35. On his way to the back, the player dressed in a black cardigan birdied the first two holes and left rest of the holes for the par.
He posted a score of 3-under-par, which left him five strokes behind the leader, Bill Haas.
When asked to comment on his game, Mickelson said that he was happy with his overall game, even though he faltered at times. He added that the reason behind his comfort was the course itself, which was one of his favourites.
Mickelson said while speaking to reporters, “The thing I love about this course is that the trees are very tight, so it's a very tight, tree-lined golf course. But with the rough being kind of first cut or a little longer than first cut, you can recover.
You can hit shots. You can try different things, try to get out and around these trees, and it makes for fun, exciting golf because you can see what I think is the most exciting golf, which is the recovery shot.”
The 13th spot on the leaderboard was occupied by eight players that included world number 42 Padraig Harrington and Sergio Garcia. The three-time major winner, Harrington chose to tee off from the back, as the greens were softer there, but could
not relish much success according to his plan. He picked a single birdie and left rest of the eight holes for par. However, his journey to the clubhouse en route the front nine was full of surprises, especially, when he saved par at the sixth hole, when the
ball was lying in the bunker and he had to wedge it out for a par.
Meanwhile, Garcia picked four birdies against a bogey and attained the top most rank in Green Hits in Regulation, as he relished a success rate of 89 percent in it.
Two strokes below the Spaniard sat Bubba Watson, the longest hitter on the PGA circuit. The two-time winner on PGA Tour scored even-par 72 after dropping four shots. He picked four birdies to counter the loss, but could not make a winner’s impression, the
type, which was expected out of him.
Watson finished fifth in driving distance, but could not use it in his favour as he lacked accuracy.
Article continued in Part 3…
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