Kuchar cruising, but Poulter on the prowl at BMW
Potential Ryder Cup rivalries started early at Cog Hill yesterday, as the USA's Matt Kuchar kept England's Ian Poulter at bay in the first round of the BMW Championship in Illinois.
The third FedEx Cup play-off, which features no cut, saw Poulter spark back into life after a season where the Englishman has often struggled, at least after the early promise of his win at the WGC Accenture Match Play Championship.
Poulter shot five-under in a see-sawing round that saw the 34-year-old start on the back nine in dismal fashion with a double bogey - "not how you want to start the third FedEx event," as Poulter himself observed - before following that up with four birdies and an eagle on the par five 15th. Two more birdies and a bogey followed on the front nine, Poulter coming home five-under-par 66; that was enough to see him take third place, two strokes behind leader Kuchar.
Kuchar himself also eagled the 15th, on a round that additionally featured six birdies and a bogey. That puts the 32-year-old a stroke clear at the top of the leaderboard, pursued by countryman Ryan Moore, who put two early bogies behind him to find seven birdies on the back nine, a batch of five coming on the final five holes.
South Africa's Retief Goosen and South Korea's Charlie Wi were tied for fourth place on four under, while another couple of Englishmen, Justin Rose and Luke Donald, were tied for sixth place alongside the USA's Dustin Johnson and Brian g*y on three-under. And Paul Casey, like Rose controversially left out of European captain Colin Montgomerie's Ryder Cup plans, was also in contention on two-under and tied for 10th place.
Another Ryder Cup casualty is Antony Kim; since his comeback from a lay-off caused by a thumb injury, Kim has missed four cuts in a row, but the 25-year-old looked a little sharper yesterday, coming home one-under for a share of 12th place. That was one higher than Rickie Fowler, the rookie who is yet to win on the PGA Tour but was preferred over Kim for Celtic Manor in Corey Pavin's wildcard picks earlier this week.
Both Kim and Fowler are faring better than the more senior statesmen of US golf, however. Phil Mickelson came home one-over after carding three birdies and four bogeys, while Jim Furyk and Tiger Woods both finished on two-over, Furyk with three bogeys and a birdie while Woods started off with a double bogey on the 1st, following with three bogeys and three birdies.
European Ryder Cup enthusiasts looking at those results and already rubbing their hands with glee should temper their good cheer, however; Rory McIlroy, one of the leading lights of the European team, had an almighty stinker yesterday, with six bogeys and a double on the 7th.
Three birdies limited some of the damage, but nonetheless the 21-year-old will be hoping yesterday's performance was a case of getting the off-days out of the way, rather than the shape of things to come in Wales next month.
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