Wachovia Championship Opening Rounds
Whenever there is a star-studded field it always seems the best rises to the top.
At this year’s Wachovia Championship, the world’s number one and seven players sit atop the leaderboard along with Aaron Oberholser at 6-under par.
Tiger Woods and Vijay Singh both put together solid early rounds on Friday, Woods shooting a 68 and Singh a 71. With Woods and Singh in the clubhouse, there were a bevy of players who challenged their top spot. Jason Bohn, Ted Purdy and Carl Pettersson all held a share of the lead at 6-under, but none of them could break .
The one player who did break through to grab the lead was Padraig Harrington. Paddy had a roller coaster day on the difficult Quail Hollow course in Charlotte, North Carolina. The front nine saw him struggle to the tune of a 39 while not hitting a single fairway. But, with a new nine came new hope. Harrington reeled off four consecutive birdies to start his back nine and got to 7-under. The first day leader held the lead again and as quickly as he regained it he lost it. He finished bogey, triple bogey to drop from 7-under to 3-under.
Oberholser, on the other hand, finished his 2nd round strong. A Bay Area native and San Jose State graduate shot a 3-under 69 on day one and was three strokes behind Harrington. He came back on Friday with another solid 69, thanks in part to three birdies to end his round. Oberholser has fought major back problems for the past two years with those troubles forcing him to withdraw from this year’s Mercedes Benz Championship. But, since the Mercedes, Oberholser has not missed a cut and has accumulated two top ten finishes.
This championship always hails a deep field, giving it an almost major championship feel. With the Players Championship next week, it is evident some of the top players in the world are playing this week to get their game tuned-up for the Players and it looks like some players will need some extra tweaking between now and next week.
Last week’s winner and runner-up at the EDS Byron Nelson will not be playing this weekend with Scott Verplank missing the cut by seven strokes and Luke Donald missing it by one stroke.
The world’s number two ranked player, Jim Furyk, missed his second consecutive cut with his second round 79. Furyk has not had a top ten since the Nissan Open.
With so many struggling on a course that demands a straight driver and solid putter, there are still several players within striking distance of the lead. 11 players are within three strokes of the lead and Lefty, Phil Mickelson, is only three strokes off the pace at 3-under par.
The Wachovia Championship continues with weekend play so check-in with hookedongolf.com later this week for continued coverage and results.
