Green Reading

Plenty to watch Sunday for Grand Strand golf fans

There are a lot of reasons to watch golf Sunday with both state and local interest.

To start with, Tom Gillis, who played at Coastal Carolina for one season in 1990, is alone in third and just two strokes behind leader Keegan Bradley in the PGA Tour’s HP Byron Nelson Championship in Fort Worth, Texas. Gillis has lost in a playoff on the PGA Tour and is still seeking his first tour victory.

The Byron Nelson will be on Golf Channel from 1-2:30 p.m. and CBS from 3-6 p.m.

On the LPGA Tour, Kristy McPherson is having perhaps her best tournament since returning to the tour from elbow surgery in the offseason. McPherson is tied for 37^th and tees off at 10:53 a.m., though its unlikely she’ll get any play on Golf Channel’s coverage from 5-7 p.m. unless she makes a serious run. McPherson’s best finish in five events this year is a tie for 47^th.

The Web.com Tour will have more interest for Grand Strand viewers this week considering that it’s being staged in the state and has a celebrity pro-am format for the only time this year on the Web.com.

The BMW Charity Pro-Am presented by SYNNEX, with a final round at Thornblade Club in the Greenville area, will be on Golf Channel from 3-5 p.m. Sunday. The BMW is Golf Channel’s first broadcast of the Web.com this year.

The final round could be a career-changer for Mark Anderson of Beaufort, who closed Saturday’s third round with an eagle and three birdies over his last four holes to post a 7-under 64 to take a one-stroke lead over Web.com Tour rookie Franklin Corpening, a graduate of Texas Christian University.

Anderson’s 21-under 194 is a 54-hole tournament record, surpassing the old mark of 20-under by Michael Sim in 2009. It’s also the best first-54 hole score on the 2013 Web.com Tour.

The tournament has already been pretty eventful. Amateur Walt Dennis won a BMW 325i for his hole-in-one at No. 9 at Thornblade Club on Thursday.

Oliver Hudson won the celebrity portion of the event despite missing the pro-am cut on a scorecard playoff. As the low celebrity, Hudson has won a one-year lease on a BMW of his choice.

It’s possible that actor Kurt Russell may be in the gallery, and Wayne and Janet Gretzky may be following their son Ty Gretzky’s group as spectators. Ty is tied for first in the pro-am at 35-under.

Dustin Johnson withdraws for second consecutive week

Dustin Johnson has withdrawn from a tournament for the second consecutive week.

The Coastal Carolina alumnus withdrew prior to his second round Friday in the $9.5 million Players Championship citing a lower back injury.

Johnson shot a 2-over-par 74 in Thursday’s first round and hit balls on the driving range Friday in preparation for his second round, but withdrew prior to teeing off. He was scheduled to go off the first tee at 1:39 p.m.

“Felt good working out this morning but something didn't feel right on the range before the round. Hoping to rebound at the [HP Byron Nelson Championship next week],” read a post on Johnson’s Twitter account Friday afternoon.

Johnson missed last week’s $6.7 million Wells Fargo Championship at Quail Hollow Club in Charlotte, N.C., citing an injury to his left wrist/hand. He withdrew two days before the opening round and never traveled to the course.

Johnson has missed a disturbing amount of time on the PGA Tour in recent years for a 28-year-old who is considered one of the best athletes on tour at 6-foot-4 and nearly 200 pounds and has a golf-specific workout regimen.

He missed the first two events of the 2012 season following arthroscopic surgery on Nov. 29, 2011 to repair damaged cartilage in his right knee, then withdrew from the third event – the Humana Challenge – in the second round because of lower back pain.

He missed nearly three months last year from March to June because of a lower back injury he said was incurred while lifting a jet ski, and has now withdrawn from consecutive events with injuries. Johnson also skipped the 2009 Wells Fargo to nurse a wrist injury.

The Players withdrawal is Johnson’s third this year. Following a win in the season-opening Hyundai Tournament of Champions, he withdrew the following week from the Sony Open in Hawaii after an opening-round 70 because of the flu.

If Johnson’s body allows, he’s planning to play in four tournaments over the next five weeks.

The Byron Nelson is next week at TPC Four Seasons Resort in Irving, Texas, where he has recorded three consecutive top-20 finishes, including a tie for fourth in 2009 and tie for seventh in 2010.

He’ll likely skip the May 23-26 Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial before three straight events in Jack Nicklaus’ Memorial in Ohio, where he also has three top-20s in his past four visits, FedEx St. Jude Classic in Memphis, where he is the defending champion, and U.S. Open at Merion in Pennsylvania.

Johnson has three consecutive top-15 finishes in events he’s finished this year, with a tie for 12^th in the WCG-Cadillac Championship ending March 10, tie for fourth in the Shell Houston Open ending March 31 and tie for 13^th in the Masters ending April 14. He also participated in the Hootie & the Blowfish Monday After the Masters Celebrity Pro-Am on April 15 at Barefoot Resort’s Dye Club.

Dustin Johnson looking to contend for first time at The Players

Tiger Woods' spotty record at TPC Sawgrass, the home of this week's $9.5 million Players Championship. He won there in 2001 but has strugged to contend for a title there since, and has withdrawn because of injury in 2010 and 2011.

The TPC Sawgrass also hasn't been a favorite course of Coastal Carolina alumnus Dustin Johnson.

Johnson is making his fifth appearance in The Players, and his best finish in the previous four was a tie for 34th in 2010. He tied for 57th in 2011, tied for 79th in 2009 and missed the cut in his debut in 2008.

 A 70 is his lowest round among 13 on the course, and he shot an 80 in 2008 and 78 in 2009.

Johnson will be playing his first competitive round Thursday since the Masters. He withdrew from last week's Wells Fargo Championship in Charlotte, N.C., without traveling to Quail Hollow Club, and his agent said he was being cautious with an injury to the top of his left hand or wrist with The Players in mind.

We'll see if Johnson can put a few good rounds together for the first time at TPC Sawgrass.

 

 

 

Regrets? Mickelson has had a few in the Carolinas

It's not just Quail Hollow Club, where Phil Mickelson has four top-fives in 10 Wells Fargo Championship appearances without a win, that has him a bit snakebit. It’s the entire Carolinas.

He has finished second in the U.S. Open five times without a win, and one of those came in the 1999 U.S. Open at Pinehurst No. 2 where Payne Stewart sank an 18-foot par putt on the 72^nd hole to defeat him by a stroke.

On Friday, he called Quail Hollow and the Wells Fargo Championship, and Harbour Town Golf Links and the RBC Heritage in Hilton Head Island the two venues and tournaments he laments not winning the most. He played Harbour Town seven times between 1993 and 2002 and finished third twice, but hasn’t been back since because it falls after the grueling week of the Masters.

“One of my favorite courses we play on tour is Hilton Head,” Mickelson said. “I came close a couple times to winning there and got shellacked by [five-time winner] Davis Love all those years that he was winning. I would have liked to have ended up winning that tournament but it just didn’t happen.”

 

Greens have cost Wells Fargo Championship players

The damaged condition of greens at Quail Hollow Club has undoubtedly cost the Wells Fargo Championship several players the tournament would like to have this year.

Tiger Woods traditionally plays at Quail Hollow but passed this year, and knowing the poor condition of the greens could very well have been a factor.

Dustin Johnson withdrew earlier this week with discomfort in his left hand/wrist, Ian Poulter withdrew after spending Monday at the course and inspecting the greens, and Vijay Singh withdrew Wednesday citing a sore back. Several other players have also withdrawn this week -- well above the norm in the days leading up to a tournament.

The Players Championship is next week, and all of the top players on tour will be in the field. That has to be contributing to the withdrawals, because players don't want to putt on inconsistent greens -- both in speed and condition -- a week before one of the tour's biggest events.

"Some guys get used to maybe certain conditions or may not think it's the best way to prepare for next week," defending champion Rickie Fowler said. ". . . Compared to the greens I grew up on around home and played when I was a kid and through high school golf, these are pretty good."