SBS Championship, Round 1
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By PGATOUR.COM Staff
OPENING ROUND WINDING DOWN (7:40 p.m.): The first round is wrapping up at Kapalua, where the last player with a chance to catch leader Lucas Glover wasn't able to. That means Glover will take a one-shot lead to Friday over a gaggle of players that includes Nick Watney and Dustin Johnson.
That's quite a turnaround for Glover, who double-bogeyed the first hole. "I wasn't happy going to 2 tee I can tell you that," Glover told GOLF CHANNEL.
If he wasn't happy then, he sure was the rest of the round, which included six birdies, two eagles and just one bogey on his way to a 66.
So will Glover build on his U.S. Open success? It sure looks like it through one round of 2010. Not that success changed him one bit. "Just a little busier," Glover said. "The phone rings more."
Want more proof that Glover won't change much with success? Last year it became well-known how much of a reader he is, specifically books. At the Grand Slam of Golf, Glover was given two Kindles and downloaded three or four books when he first got them. Since then, he's barely used them.
"I have an affinity about having the books," he said. "I like spy novels, a lot of fiction. Reading a little bit of non-fiction now. I finished one last night. I got three more packed."
And three more rounds before he writes a pretty good chapter to the beginning of the 2010 season. -- Brian Wacker
Below is a look at Glover's scorecard (click here to replay his round with Shot Tracker).
ON THE RISE (7:25 p.m.): With a win, a second and a third, plus a 12th-place finish in the FedExCup standings and more than $3 million in earnings, Nick Watney had a career year in 2009. He's off to a pretty good start in 2010, too. Watney has six birdies, no bogeys and is tied for the lead at 6 under with two holes left in his round.
Though he's one of the quietest and most polite players on the PGA TOUR, Watney's numbers last year spoke loudly about his place among the best players under 30 in the game.
Case in point: He was sixth in driving distance, 17th in eagles per hole, 20th in birdie average, 17th in scoring average, second in par-5 performance, third in bounce back. You get the idea.
The Achilles Heel for Watney has always been his putter, something he cured in the early part of last season and so far something that's not holding him back today. Actually, that's not entirely true. Watney has 28 putts through 16 holes today. Not awful by any stretch, but imagine how good he could be with two fewer putts per round? We did last year when he posted five top-15s in a seven-tournament stretch early in the season. -- Brian Wacker
AND THE BIRDIES KEEP COMING (6:50 p.m.): Add Kenny Perry's name to the growing list of contenders at Kapalua. Five players are currently tied for the lead at 6 under --three of whom are in the clubhouse -- and Perry (along with three others) is just a stroke back after five birdies over his last nine holes.
That's not all that surprising given Perry's ability to hit it long and straight off the tee, and he can be a streaky-good putter when he gets the flat stick going. What is surprising is that Perry actually missed a fairway today. He's hit 75 percent of them on a course with the widest fairways these guys will see all year. -- Brian Wacker
BIRDIE BARRAGE (6:25 p.m.): So much for that slow start by Lucas Glover. Since making a double bogey on the opening hole, the defending U.S. Open champion has blitzed Kapalua with five birdies and two eagles. As a result, Glover is the new leader at 7 under with four holes to play in his round.
One big reason he's been able to tear up the course: He hasn't missed from inside 10 feet and has just 18 putts in total. He also finally made a par just now after four straight birdies and an eagle over his last five holes. -- Brian Wacker
SIX-SHOOTERS (6:10 p.m.): The early magic number at Kapalua: 6-under 67. That's what Martin Laird and Nathan Green each shot to take the clubhouse lead here in the opening round.
Each had seven birdies and just one bogey -- Laird on the fourth hole, Green on the eighth -- and both hit nearly the same number of greens in regulation, though Green took fewer putts, 25 to 29.
A win would certainly be huge for either player, especially Laird, a Scotsman who has yet to qualify for the Open Championship, which this year is being played at St. Andrews. -- Brian Wacker
Below is a look at Laird's scorecard (click here to replay his round with Shot Tracker).
Below is a look at Green's scorecard (click here to replay his round with Shot Tracker).
MORE OF MOORE (5:50 p.m.): New year, new equipment deal, same Ryan Moore. Last season, Moore broke through for his first career win on the PGA TOUR with a playoff victory at the Wyndham Championship. We're in just the first event of 2010, and he's already threatening for win No. 2. It's obviously early, but Moore is 4 under through his first 15 holes without a bogey on the card.
Add this start to his third-place finish at the World Golf Championships-HSBC Champions and the four other top-10s Moore had in 2009 and it's no wonder why more than one person liked the former U.S. Amateur champion to build on his 2009 season (click here for more). -- Brian Wacker
STAT OF THE DAY (5:35 p.m.): Lucas Glover had all of two eagles in 2009 -- an amazing number really considering the caliber of player Glover is. Today, he's already equaled that number and did so in just nine holes.
The first eagle came at the par-5 fifth, where Glover reached the green in two before making a 17-foot putt. The second eagle came at the par-5 ninth, which he also reached in two before making a 28-footer.
More importantly, the eagles, along with two birdies, helped erase a double bogey on the first hole and moved Glover to 4 under through 10 holes and within two of the lead. (Click here to follow Glover's round live with Shot Tracker.) -- Brian Wacker
LEADERBOARD CHECK (5:25 p.m.): Martin Laird has moved to the top of the leaderboard at Kapaula with the Scot having just poured in his fourth straight birdie and seventh of the day.
Why this shouldn't be a huge surprise: Laird was a combined 31 under in two of his last three evnts of last season, which included a 63 at TPC Summerlin and a 62 at Grayhawk GC.
Another reason: He's hit 87 percent of his greens in regulation and taken 25 putts through 16 holes. -- Brian Wacker
HOME GAME (5:10 p.m.): You'd think most guys would be excited about a trip to Maui. Not Stephen Ames. "Actually, I'm not really excited," Ames said. He was half-joking, but the fact is Maui has become a second home to Ames and his family. Not a bad choice, especially when you call Calgary, Alberta, Canada your home.
This time, though, Ames, who has a place on Kaanapali Beach, is here to play golf after winning last year's Children's Miracle Network Classic. Not that he wouldn't have been here to play even if he hadn't won the season-ending event.
"I'm always back every year. If I'm playing or not, it doesn't matter," Ames said. "It's a bit of a bonus for being here, or playing, should I say.
"We've been here almost three weeks already. The hardest thing Monday morning was putting on a pair of trousers because I've been in shorts and a swimsuit all this time."
Ames got off to a sluggish start with three bogeys in his first seven holes, but has since gotten to 1 under thanks to three birdies over his last six holes. -- Brian Wacker
GIVING CHASE (4:50 p.m.): John Rollins, who just made the turn at 3 under -- one off the pace being set by Matt Kuchar -- is traditionally not a fast starter.
Last year, he ranked 143rd on the PGA TOUR in first-round scoring average with a stroke average of 71.48. In 2008, he tied for 178th on TOUR with a 72.21 average in the opening round.
Through his first nine holes, he's posted four birdies with a bogey, hitting every green in regulation. -- Mike McAllister
STRONG START (4:43 p.m.): Is Matt Kuchar finally realizing the potential everyone thought he had? He just may be.
As an amateur, he won the 1997 U.S. Amateur and went on to finish in a tie for 21st at the 1998 Masters. Since then, Kuchar's career has had its ups and mostly downs (just 76 cuts made in 152 events between 2002 and 2008, excluding 2006 when he spent most of his season on the Nationwide Tour). Until last season, that is. Kuchar won the Turning Stone Resort Championship -- his first (and only) victory since 2002 -- and he ended 2009 with a tie for seventh at the Justin Timberlake Shriners Hospitals for Children Open and a tie for 19th at the World Golf Championships-HSBC Champions. Today, he's 2 under through his first eight holes and in the lead.
His round today includes an eagle at the par-5 fifth, where he rolled in a 10-footer before following with birdies on each of his next two holes.
The last time Kuchar was at Kapalua, of course, was after that 2002 win at The Honda Classic. If he keeps playing like this, however, there will almost certainly be more trips to Maui in his future. -- Brian Wacker
INSIDE THE NUMBERS (4:30 p.m.): Since the SBS Championship moved from La Costa to The Plantation Course in 1999, only one winner has finished in single digits under par (Stuart Appleby, who won at 8 under in 2006). Meanwhile, five winners have finished at 21-under par at better.
With scores that low, it certainly helps to get off to a fast start, as the players hope to do Thursday. But it's not an absolute must.
Appleby, for instance, won the second of his three consecutive titles despite opening with a 1-over 74 in the opening round in 2005. (It helped that he proceeded to scorch the Plantation course at 22 under in the last 54 holes). In 2002, Sergio Garcia opened with an even-par 73 but eventually won at 18 under.
Here's a look at the winners on The Plantation Course and their opening rounds. -- Mike McAllister
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SLOW START (4:15 p.m.): Defending U.S. Open champion Lucas Glover said earlier this week that his expectations last year were "very little." He was joking, of course, but that's the laid-back nature of Glover.
So what are his expectations for this season, coming off a career year? The same.
"I think other people might [have certain expectations]. That comes with the territory and I understand that," Glover said. "I'm just trying to keep those in check for me personally."
Unfortunately, his start at Kapalua hasn't been what he or anyone has expected, though -- Glover is 2 over through four holes after a double bogey on the first that was the result of an errant approach that found a hazard.
That has Glover a shot out of last place, ahead of only Mark Wilson. Obviously, it's still early. Very early. -- Brian Wacker
CASEY FEELING COMFORTABLE AGAIN (4 p.m.): It looks like Paul Casey is fully recovered from the rib injury that plagued him the latter half of 2009 -- he was 2 under through his first six holes before a double bogey dropped him to even par.
"Every morning I felt it when I woke up and in the evenings, but on the golf course it's been great, and I've not backed off on a single shot," Casey said at last month's Chevron World Challenge -- his first tournament since the British Open. "I was wondering how it was going to react, but I was also wondering what kind of golf I was going to play."
Well, he played well enough to finish in a tie for 11th that included a final-round 64. -- Brian Wacker
Below is a look at Casey's scorecard so far. Click here to follow his round live with Shot Tracker.
GETTING GROOVY (3:45 p.m.): The other big story at Kapalua this week is the new grooves rule (click here for more specifics on the rule from our Adam Barr). In a nutshell, the grooves won't be as sharp and therefore players won't be able to impart as much spin on the ball, especially out of the rough.
Translation: The days of bomb-and-gouge could be numbered.
"The days of guys being ranked 180th in driving accuracy and winning are gone," Nick Price told me at last month's Shark Shootout.
At that time, several players hadn't switched or even practiced with the new grooves. Others, like Chris DiMarco and Ian Poulter didn't expect to see much of a difference. "We can adjust to pretty much anything in six months," Poulter said.
Geoff Ogilvy, meanwhile, didn't need to make any adjustments to his clubs this week in Hawaii since they were already conforming.
"It seems more consistent to me," Ogilvy said of the performance of the new grooves. "Before, sometimes you would get one that would really spin and sometimes one that would not spin. Some guys are having trouble, some are not."
Said Pat Perez: "I'm just in trial and error [mode] right now." You get the feeling a lot of players are. -- Brian Wacker
LEADERBOARD CHECK (3:25 p.m.): Martin Laird has made a nice move to the top of the leaderboard with back-to-back birdies after a bogey at the fourth hole. He's 1 under and tied with Nathan Green, Paul Casey, Ryan Moore, John Rollins and Y.E. Yang.
Of course, it's early -- the Scot, who won the Justin Timberlake Shriners Hospitals for Children Open, was in the first group to tee off -- but there's definitely an international flavor on the leaderboard. Green is from Australia, Casey from England and Yang from Korea.
That's interesting because the last eight titles at Kapalua have gone to international players. Defending champion Geoff Ogilvy is from Australia while 2008 champ Daniel Chopra is Swedish, Vijay Singh Fijian, Stuart Appleby Australian, Ernie Els South African and Sergio Garcia Spanish. Appleby actually won three straight titles from 2004-2006. -- Helen Ross
TALKING TIGER (3 p.m.): It's the 800-pound gorilla in the room. Or Tiger, anyway. While there are 28 players in the field, there's been plenty of talk about who's not at Kapalua -- namely Tiger Woods.
Woods, who hasn't played in the season-opener since 2005, is still on an indefinite leave of absence and no one, including PGA TOUR Commissioner Tim Finchem, knows when he'll be back. That's the biggest difference this year compared to last year, when Woods was recovering from knee surgery. We knew, more or less, when Woods would be back.
"Obviously people want to see him. It also could be a good thing for The TOUR because I think people could maybe see a lot more players that they don't know about," said Pat Perez. "I hope the people can see there is more to the TOUR than just Tiger. We know how great he is. We know the whole thing. No one is questioning that."
Steve Stricker agrees, saying there is more of an opportunity for other players to win with Woods not in the field.
"This [year] could be wide open," said Stricker. "I have a feeling Tiger will be back. He doesn't need many events to get back to the top spot whether it be in the FedExCup or whatever. You never know. He could be out the whole year. I hope that he's back sooner than later. But it does have that feel to start the season, it's wide open."
Added Lucas Glover: "There are a couple of different ways of looking at Tiger's absence assuming it's protracted or short. On the one hand you've got the opportunity to play for more money. On the other hand it could have a bad affect on the TOUR depending on how long it takes."
Y.E. Yang echoed similar sentiments, saying of Woods' and Phil Mickelson's absence in the field that it "gives me two less players to worry about."
Added Stricker: "The TOUR is better and sports are better when he is here. I'm on record saying I hope he comes back tomorrow, as soon as possible, because we need him and sports needs him. You could say, man this is a great opportunity. At the same time say somebody goes out and wins four tournaments, and they happen to be four that Tiger usually plays, do they still get the credit because he wasn't there?"
We'll find out, depending when Woods comes back. -- Brian Wacker
MORE OGILVY, PLEASE (2:40 p.m.): Y.E. Yang wasn't the only one to not have much of an off-season. Geoff Ogilvy played just three weeks ago at the Australian PGA, where he finished in a tie for seventh. That's quite a change from the year before when Ogilvy came off a big break and went on to win at Kapaula. Expect more of the latter in Ogilvy's future, though.
"I think there is a certain appeal to everyone disappearing for three months," said Ogilvy, who played six tournaments in seven weeks at the end of 2009.
As a result of that busy stretch -- plus the impending birth of his third child -- Ogilvy will alter his schedule this year, saying he plans to take "two or three medium-sized breaks" so he can play certain events toward the end of the season.
"It was a busy off-season. If I took a couple weeks out of it, it would have been fun."
As for his chances of defending here, Kapalua isn't a place he played particularly well early in his career -- T19 in 2007, T13 in 2006 -- but his 24-under total last year leaves him feeling confident. We'll see when he goes off in the last group of the day at 4 p.m. ET with Steve Stricker. -- Brian Wacker
YANG'S BUSY MONTH (2:20 p.m.): It's a new year, but some are treating this week's SBS Championship simply as an extension of 2009. Well, at least Y.E. Yang is. Over the last month, the reigning PGA and Honda Classic champion has taken on an Ernie Els-like schedule with stops in China, Los Angeles, Dallas, Korea, Dallas again and finally Maui.
"I wouldn't say I'm in the best shape," Yang said Wednesday through his interpreter. "I'm fairly rested and ready to go with this new season however it feels like it's a continued season."
When asked if he wished the season could start later, like in July, Yang responded in his likeable fashion, "I like golf too much to have that much of a sabbatical."
A side note on Yang: He hopes to inspire his fellow Koreans the way K.J. Choi inspired him. Yang and Choi turned pro around the same time in the late 1990s, but Choi grabbed headlines by playing on the PGA TOUR. Choi got his first victory a few years later with two wins in 2002 (and five more since then), while Yang picked up victories in relative obscurity on the Asian Tour, where he won twice in 2006.
"That inspired me to keep playing," said Yang, who turns 38 next week. "It's not an easy decision, but K.J. enabled that sort of mind set back then when he first entered the PGA TOUR."
Yang tees off at 3 p.m. with Masters champion Angel Cabrera. -- Brian Wacker
WHAT'S AT STAKE THIS WEEK (2:10 p.m.): The guarantee of a return trip to Kapalua in 2011 is wonderful, to be sure. But the winner of the SBS Championship gets a lot more perks than simply starting the season with another stay at the luxurious Ritz-Carlton on Maui next winter.
The champion on Sunday has the luxury of knowing that he's fully exempt for 2011 and 2012. He'll also earn spots in this year's Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by MasterCard, the Masters, THE PLAYERS Championship, Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial, Memorial Tournament, AT&T National and PGA Championship.
Not to mention, the winner of the SBS Championship will earn 500 FedExCup points. Given what transpired last year, the winner likely would sew up a spot in the PGA TOUR Playoffs for the FedExCup, too -- it took 354 points to qualify in 2009 and 494 to advance to the Deutsche Bank Championship the second week.
Oh, and there are Presidents Cup and Ryder Cup points to be awarded -- 1,120,000 for the former and 1,120 for the latter. The Ryder Cup will be held in Wales in September while the Presidents Cup will be played in Australia in 2011. -- Helen Ross
2010 UNDER WAY (2 p.m.): The first tee shot of the 2010 season was struck about 10 minutes ago with Martin Laird and Michael Bradley doing the honors. The two earned their way here with wins at opposite ends of the 2009 season -- Laird won the Justin Timberlake Shriners Hospitals for Children Open during the Fall Series, while Bradley got to the Aloha State thanks to a victory in his first tournament of last year, the Puerto Rico Open presented by Banco Popular.
As for how the two got paired together at Kapalua, the tee times will continue last year's change of pairing the defending champion (in this case, Geoff Ogilvy) with the highest finisher from the FedExCup points list (Steve Stricker). Laird was 146th on the FedExCup list, while Bradley was 139th in 2009.
Bradley and Laird, of course, won just once in '09, but there are a number of players here that had multiple victories. Among them is Ogilvy, who will try to become the first repeat winner here since Stuart Appleby won three in a row from 2004-06. -- Brian Wacker
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