Nick Watney fired an opening-round 8-under 64 Thursday to take a one-stroke lead into the clubhouse at the Players Championship. Watney, cousin of everybody’s favorite Boston Red Sox reporter, NESN’s Heidi Watney, started on the back nine at TPC Sawgrass and wiped out an early double-bogey with an eagle on the par-5 second hole.
Almost flawless. On a day when Tiger Woods’ withdrawal after nine holes overshadowed play at what the PGA Tour likes to call golf’s “fifth major,” Watney was nearly flawless. The winner of the 2011 Cadillac Championship was not the only golfer schooling the Pete Dye-designed track. Lucas Glover, still sporting the beard he wore to victory at last week’s Wells Fargo Championship, eagled the par-5 ninth hole and carded a birdie on the infamous par-3 17th on his way to a 65.
Glover, who had struggled after winning the 2009 U.S. Open, was coming off last week’s playoff win at Quail Hollow. The 31-year-old from South Carolina hinted that, while his hirsute look just happened, he might not shave it any time soon.
“I don’t know how long [the beard will last], to be honest with you,” Glover told reporters Wednesday. “It was just something that cropped up in the offseason out of laziness...and I thought ‘I’ve got to get this mess off my neck because it looks goofy,’ and next thing you know somebody said it looks good, so here it is.’’
You’ll be glad to know, by the way, that The Beard has its own Facebook page.
No inkling. With several players, including Phil Mickelson (1-under through 10) still on the course, Martin Kaymer, one of Woods’ first-round playing partners, and Rory Sabbatini lurked just three shots off Watney’s lead. Kaymer said he had no idea that Woods was hurting.
"He hit good shots as well as bad,” Kaymer said to reporters following his round. “ I didn't really notice he was in pain."
Sabbatini, of course, is a story unto himself. Recent reports suggested that the tour may suspend the fiery South African for his latest outburst, an expletive-laced set-to with Sean O’Hair at last month’s Zurich Classic.
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