Woods, Mickelson Stay on Pace With Leaders After First Round
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MEDINAH, Ill. — Lucas Glover and Davis Love III are showing they, too, want to play with Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson.
Glover, one of several players still trying to lock up a spot on the U.S. Ryder Cup team, got his bid off to a strong start. He shot a 6-under 66 yesterday to take the early lead at The PGA Championship. Love, who has the longest active streak of Ryder Cup appearances for the Americans but needs a top finish this week to make it seven straight, made the turn at 6-under.
“We’re all chasing the same goal,” Glover said. “It’s just like looking at the leaderboard on the 18th tee on Sunday if you’re in the hunt.You’re all vying for the same thing, you all want it, and that’s the goal.”
Billy Andrade went from seventh alternate to the leaderboard with a 5-under 67. Andrade got into the tournament when Steve Elkington withdrew.
Woods and Mickelson were three strokes off the lead, shooting matching 69s.
“We both played okay today,” Mickelson, the defending PGA champion, said. “But we both had chances to go lower.”
Joining them at 3-under was a pack that included playing partner Geoff Ogilvy, the U.S.Open champion, and Billy Mayfair, who was playing two weeks after surgery for testicular cancer.
“I was just along for the ride,” Ogilvy said. “I had the best seat in the house.”
Sergio Garcia, who made a name for himself with his runner-up finish the last time the PGA was at Medinah Country Club, also shot a 69 to stay even with Mickelson and Woods. Jim Furyk finshed one shot behind them with a 70, Fred Couples carded a 71, and Vijay Singh came in with a 73.
Woods and Mickelson are the top players in the world these days, with 14 majors between them and five of the last seven. But they rarely play together — only 15 times overall. This was only the fourth time at a major, and the first since the final round of the 2001 Masters, which Woods won.
The two aren’t particularly close, either. Fans like one or the other, but rarely both. So it was little surprise that several hundred people hiked out to the par-5 10th, the farthest corner of a 7,561-yard course that’s the longest in majors history, to see them tee off.
“I think most of them got lost, couldn’t find no. 10,” Woods said. “It’s way … out there.”
