CHARLOTTE, North Carolina (AP) ― Webb Simpson was nervous playing in the same group with Tiger Woods. It sure didn’t show Thursday in the Wells Fargo Championship.
Simpson chipped in from 35 yards in front of the par-4 eighth green for eagle, and then made Woods shake his head and smile when he holed a 60-foot birdie putt that might have rolled off the 12th green if the cup didn’t get in the way. It led to a 7-under 65 for a share of the lead Thursday with Stewart Cink and Ryan Moore.
“I was nervous playing with Tiger. I prayed a lot out there,” said Simpson, who lives about a mile away from Quail Hollow and already was on edge about trying to perform well for the neighbors. “Once I made a couple birdies, I kind of enjoyed it.”
There was a lot to like for just about everyone on a steamy day in Carolina. With temperatures pushing 90 and barely a breeze, scoring conditions were so ideal that even par was over the cut line going into the second round. The average score was 71.72, the lowest for the first round in the 10-year history of the tournament.
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Korea’s Noh Seung-yul hits an approach shot on the 15th hole on Thursday. (UPI-Yonhap News) |
Woods failed to take advantage. In his first tournament since a tie for 40th at the Masters ― his worst performance as a pro at Augusta National ― he made too many mistakes early and had to one-putt three of the last four greens for a 71.
“I’ve got to obviously not make those little mistakes like that tomorrow,” Woods said. “We’ve got a long way to go, and we’ve got some rain coming probably on the weekend, so we’re going to have to go get it.”
So many others did just that, including Cink, who has been mired in a slump. He ended an already solid day with three straight birdies, holing a 20-foot putt on the ninth for his lowest round of the year. Moore also birdied his last three holes.
Rickie Fowler, still searching for his first PGA Tour win in his third full season, led a group of five players at 66 that included Patrick Reed, the 21-year-old from Augusta State who has Monday qualified to get in the last two tournaments.
The scoring was so low that about one-quarter of the field shot in the 60s, and half of them broke par.
“I think any time you get tour players in 90-degree weather with not much wind, it’s naturally going to soften out the greens,” Simpson said. “I think you’ve seen over the years, the hotter it is and the less wind there is, the scores are going to be really good. And I think that’s what happened. They can’t get the greens too firm with this weather. It will just burn them out.”
He didn’t have much of an explanation for his own golf, considering he had only two rounds in the 60s in his previous three starts at Quail Hollow. Plus, there was that apprehension about playing with Woods, and the large crowd the 14-time major champion attracts.
The only other time Simpson played with Woods didn’t last long. It was the final round of Doral this year, where Simpson jokingly said, “I accidentally kicked him in the leg and he withdrew.” Woods left after 11 holes that day with tightness in his left Achilles tendon, which raised questions about his future until Woods won two weeks later at Bay Hill.
Eleven holes at Doral at least gave Simpson a taste of what to expect.
“We went from 10,000 people every hole to zero people,” he said.
Thousands of fans followed them around all afternoon, with Simpson and Geoff Ogilvy (71) in tow. Simpson is the one who generated most of the cheers. He stuffed his tee shot on the par-3 second and his approach on the third to inside 3 feet for birdies, holed a birdie putt just inside 30 feet on the sixth, and then chipped in for his eagle at No. 8.
