Irish falter at Sawgrass
It was a bad day at the office for the Irish at the Players Championship at Sawgrass yesterday, as Darren Clarke and twice runner-up Pádraig Harrington scored disappointing 73s.
Both had more than golf on their minds, however. Clarke’s wife Heather is fighting cancer and Harrington’s father died from the illness last summer.
Clarke commented: “We had a few chats – personal issues.”
They are a long way behind leaders Davis Love and Jim Furyk, who opened with 65s.
Clarke had much in common with playing partner Tiger Woods. The American did not practice on the eve of the event, deciding instead to visit his father who has also been stricken with the disease.
“My father was not feeling well and I needed to go and see him and turn his spirits round,” said the world number one. “Hopefully we did that and he will improve now.”
“He is fighting just like I am out here – we are both stubborn people.
“It puts things into perspective. Any time your parents aren’t doing well it’s tough. It’s one of those situations that everybody has to deal with at some time in their lives and now it’s our time.
“I was just trying to make him understand that I love him dearly and want him around as long as possible.
“He needs something to look forward to each day, so hopefully I will get on TV and hit some good shots.
“When I got there he said ‘what the Hell are you doing here?’ and it was nice to hear that.”
Twice winner Love and Furyk lead by two overnight from Australian Robert Allenby, Spain’s Miguel Angel Jimenez and 48-year-old Bernhard Langer, twice a runner-up.
The richest event in golf failed to bring the best out of Ian Poulter and Colin Montgomerie, however.
The pair – one needing to finish in the top three to qualify for the Masters, the other trying to avoid the worst run of results of his career – could do no better than level par 72s after finishing with bogey sixes.
Montgomerie, who will have to break par in the second round to not suffer a fourth successive missed cut, was not in the mood to talk much afterwards. “I am just not playing very well,” he said.
But Poulter did not mind revealing a frustration which he did well to keep a lid on.
“I feel like taking my putter into the car park and giving it a right good thrashing,” said the Milton Keynes player. “I am playing great, but I am just not making any putts.”
“I have tried to change the putter a couple of times, but I have had it for three and a half years, won the Volvo Masters with it and I keep giving it another chance.
“I am not sure how many more I will give it, though.” And when asked if he might take it back to his hotel room to work on his stroke he added: “If I did that I think I might smash the room up.”
Phil Mickelson’s 70 came despite a double bogey five at the island green 17th. The hole has bad memories for the left-hander. In his previous two visits he put three balls into the lake and one more followed on his return.
Ireland’s other contender Paul McGinley looks to be out of the running, having only managed a disastrous opening 77.
USPGA Tour Players Championship, TPC Sawgrass, Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, United States (USA unless stated, par 72):
65 Jim Furyk, Davis Love
67 Robert Allenby (Aus), Bernhard Langer (Ger), Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spa)
68 Arron Oberholser, Ben Crane, Jose Maria Olazabal (Spa), John Rollins, Vijay Singh (Fij), Bo Van Pelt
69 Joe Durant, Rocco Mediate, Steve Flesch, Olin Browne, Retief Goosen (Rsa), Mark Calcavecchia, Thomas Bjorn (Den), Billy Andrade, Fredrik Jacobson (Swe), KJ Choi (Kor), Fred Couples, Henrik Stenson (Swe)
70 Brian Davis (Gbr), Brad Faxon, Phil Mickelson, Sergio Garcia (Spa), John Daly, Fred Funk, Tag Ridings, Harrison Frazar, Daniel Chopra (Swe), Kirk Triplett, Jeff Sluman, Chad Campbell, Craig Parry (Aus), Adam Scott (Aus), Shingo Katayama (Jpn), Lee Westwood (Gbr), Tom Pernice
71 Jeff Brehaut, Dean Wilson, Mark Hensby (Aus), David Duval, Rich Beem, Robert Gamez, JB Holmes, Jason Bohn, Mark Brooks, James Driscoll, Charles Howell, David Howell (Gbr), JJ Henry, Pat Perez, Robert Damron, Greg Owen (Gbr), Patrick Sheehan, Joey Sindelar, Peter Lonard (Aus), Stephen Ames (Can), Mike Weir (Can), Carlos Franco (Par), Zach Johnson, Carl Pettersson (Swe), Tom Lehman, Nick O’Hern (Aus)
72 Stephen Leaney (Aus), Ian Poulter (Gbr), Doug Barron, Jespe Parnevik (Swe), Michael Campbell (Nzl), Heath Slocum, Nick Price (Zim), Rory Sabbatini (Rsa), Colin Montgomerie (Gbr), Ernie Els (Rsa), Tiger Woods, Tim Herron, Nathan Green (Aus), Jonathan Byrd, Angel Cabrera (Arg), Jerry Kelly, Richard Johnson (Swe)
73 Dudley Hart, Jeff Maggert, Ryuji Imada (Jpn), Bart Bryant, Stuart Appleby (Aus), Vaughn Taylor, Woody Austin, Steve Jones, Charles Warren, John Huston, Tommy Armour, Steve Lowery, Brett Quigley, John Senden (Aus), Tim Petrovic, David Toms, Darren Clarke (Irl), Padraig Harrington (Irl), Ben Curtis, Sean O’Hair, Stewart Cink, Luke Donald (Gbr), Todd Fischer
74 Bob Tway, Bob Estes, Corey Pavin, Rod Pampling (Aus), Camilo Villegas (Col), Kevin Sutherland, Kevin Na
75 Hidemichi Tanaka (Jpn), Todd Hamilton, Shaun Micheel, Brian Gay, Brandt Jobe, Justin Leonard, Loren Roberts, Ryan Palmer, Scott Verplank
76 DJ Trahan, Lucas Glover, Nick Faldo (Gbr), Wes Short, Kent Jones, Arjun Atwal (Ind), Billy Mayfair, JL Lewis
77 Jason Gore, Jonathan Kaye, Tim Clark (Rsa), Ted Purdy, Aaron Baddeley (Aus), Paul McGinley (Irl)
78 Geoff Ogilvy (Aus), Shigeki Maruyama (Jpn), Justin Rose (Gbr)
79 Craig Perks (Nzl)
80 Joe Ogilvie, Craig Barlow, Hank Kuehne
82 Scott McCarron
Withdrew: Steve Elkington (Aus).
