Harold Varner III’s latest statement came on the golf course at Colonial Country Club in Fort Worth, Texas, as the PGA Tour returned after being shut down for 91 days because of the Coronavirus pandemic.
Varner, who is black and has spoken out about racism since George Floyd died at the hands of Minneapolis police a few weeks ago, posted a bogey-free, 7-under-par 63 and is tied for the lead with Justin Rose of England after the first round of the Charles Schwab Challenge.
“Obviously, the platform I have is because golf, but when I am on the course, I focus on that,” whose only professional victory came in the 2016 Australian PGA Championship. “I obviously I hit a lot of greens, somebody told me I hit all of them. It was just good to be out there and I played well.
“We’re all in a tough spot with what has been going on lately, but life is precious and we have to take every day for what it is. … I just tried to keep things as normal as possible out there and it just was good to be on the course playing golf again.”
A moment of silence was held at 8:46 a.m. in honor of Floyd, who died who died after a police officer knelt on his neck for that amount of time, sparking racial protests around the world, and Varner was on the course for it even though he didn’t tee off until later.
Tournament officials will hold the moment of silence at that time during each round this week.
No spectators are allowed on the course this week because of social distancing guidelines.
Rose, the 2018 champion at Colonial who also played bogey-free golf, birdied four of his first seven holes after starting on the back nine and after making the turn, he birdied the first three holes before stringing together six consecutive pars to finish.
“It was a great, or great-ish start,” said Rose, who has won 24 times as a pro and captured the Gold Medal at the 2016 Olympic Games, sank a 28-foot putt with a metal wood from the rough next to the 10th green on his first hole of the day. “It was a nice way to start and I had some momentum on the front nine even though I wasn’t hitting it that well because my putter was hot. Then I really got some rhythm going on the back nine.
“The season was not going that well for me and obviously this has been a tough time for everybody around the world, but I was able make the most of this and had the motivation to use the time off to work on my game, and I think it has paid off.”
Fourth-ranked Justin Thomas collected three birdies in a bogey-free 64 and is tied for third with Collin Morikawa of La Canada Flintridge and Cal, Jhonattan Vegas of Venezuela and Abraham Ancer of Mexico.
Bryson DeChambeau of Clovis shot 65 and is in a huge tie for seventh that includes Xander Schaueffle of La Jolla and San Diego State, Jordan Spieth, Brian Harman, Gary Woodland, Daniel Berger, Adam Hadwin of Canada, Tyler Duncan and 61-year-old Tom Lehman, who won at Colonial in 1995.
Top-ranked Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland totaled 68 and is in a tie for 39th that includes No. 3 Brooks Koepka and No. 7 Patrick Reed, while No. 2 Jon Rahm of Spain finished at 69 and is in a tie for 57th that includes Phil Mickelson, who won at Colonial in 2000 and 2008.
Fifth-ranked Dustin Johnson is in a tie for 94th, defending champion Kevin Na of Diamond Bar is tied for 110th at 72 and No. 9 Webb Simpson is tied for 128th at 73.
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