Gary Woodland and Patrick Reed will be on Captain Tiger Woods’ United States Team next week in the Presidents Cup in Australia, so he had to like what he saw from them in the first round of the Hero World Challenge.
Woodland (pictured) and Reed posted 6-under-par 66s in windy conditions to tie for the lead after the first round of the tournament that Woods hosts at Albany Golf Club https://www.albanybahamas.com in New Providence, Bahamas.
“Sometimes it’s better to miss the green than be in the middle of the green putting downwind,” said Woodland, the reigning U.S. Open champion. “We tried to play into the wind all day today, and we did that. We controlled the golf ball enough where we did that and gave ourselves a lot of chances.”
Woodland made three consecutive birdies through the sixth hole and three more in a row through No. 12.
Reed carded five birdies on the back nine, including four straight through No. 16, where he had only a wedge shot into the green on the 470-yard, par-4 because it was playing downwind.
“Today I hit a soft lob wedge,” Reed said. “The ball is just going forever downwind, and into the wind the ball is going nowhere. You have to be patient and make putts whenever you have opportunity.”
Chez Reavie, who was added to the field last week when Dustin Johnson withdrew to continue rehabbing after a knee injury so he will be ready for the Presidents Cup, was two strokes back in solo third after a 68.
Rickie Fowler, the 2017 champion, shot 69 and is tied for fourth with Justin Rose of England, Justin Thomas and Henrik Stenson of Sweden, while defending champion Jon Rahm of Spain is eighth at 70.
Matt Kuchar totaled 71 and is tied for ninth with Kevin Kisner.
Tournament host Woods, who has won his tournament five times, bounced back from a slow start with three birdies and an eagle in a span of five holes on the back nine before finishing bogey-double bogey to shoot 72 and is tied for 11th with 2015 champion Bubba Watson.
“It was not a very good start,” said Woods, who tied Sam Snead’s PGA Tour record with 82 career victories by winning the Zozo Championship in his last start. “Didn’t play the par 5s well early and then got it going on the back nine a little bit.
“Got myself right there in the mix and then bad shots on 17, 18.”
Jordan Spieth, the 2014 winner, made a triple-bogey 7 on the last hole to open with a 75 and is 16th in the 18-man field.
For complete results, visit https://www.pgatour.com/competition/2020/hero-world-challenge/leaderboard.html
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