Levin, Stanley opens with 62s to lead at Torrey
January 27, 2012
SAN DIEGO (AP)—Spencer Levin and Kyle Stanley knew they had to post low scoreson the easier North Course at Torrey Pines to get off to a good start Thursdayin the Farmers Insurance Open, and did even better than they expected.
Stanley made eagle on his final hole for a 10-under 62, his best score intwo years on the PGA Tour. Levin shot 29 on the back nine and had a 62, matchinghis career best on tour, as they claimed a share of the lead after the firstround.
“I played the pro-am on the North Course yesterday. There were just a lotof birdie opportunities out there, so I knew there was a good score—maybe not10 (under), but I’ll take it,” Stanley said.
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They were a shot ahead of Bill Haas, who had a double bogey on his 15th holeand still managed a 63. The top 12 on the leaderboard played the North, whichplayed slightly more than 3 1/2 strokes easier than the South Course, whichhosted the U.S. Open four years ago.
The best score from the South was Marc Turnesa at 66.
Phil Mickelson, meanwhile, went south on the South. The three-time championhit into 11 bunkers, missed a 3-foot birdie putt on the final hole and signedfor a 77. It was his highest score at Torrey Pines since a 78 in the third roundof 2005.
“I made some bad swings just in the wrong spot and so forth,” Mickelsonsaid. “I felt like my game was ready heading in, and I don’t know what to sayabout the score. Because it was pathetic.”
A year ago, the fairways were pinched in and the rough was unusually high onthe North Course, helping to make up for the 604-yard difference between the twocourses. Based on the scores, that’s no longer the case.
Vijay Singh, Rod Pampling, Josh Teater and PGA Tour rookie John Huh were at64, with Huh making three eagles. Camilo Villegas and Justin Leonard were amongthose at 65.
Of the 54 players who shot in the 60s, only 13 of them were on the SouthCourse. One of them was Paul Goydos, who doesn’t buy into the theory that withtwo vastly different courses and said the tournament really doesn’t start untilSaturday when everyone has played both.
“Ten under is leading the tournament, and anyone who says differently isfull of it,” Goydos said. “I looked at the leaderboard.”
He would argue that some players simply have better vibes on the differentcourses. What might be a big difference to one player might be much less toanother.
“All I know is that I’m six shots back and I’ve got to deal with it,” hesaid.
Levin noticed only one big change in his game, and that was putting the ballin play. That made quite the difference, setting up short irons and plenty ofbirdie opportunities.
“I had some putts for birdies instead of pars, and kind of added up to agood score,” Levin said.
The turning point came when Levin thought he might made bogey. He drove intothe bunker on No. 7, leaving him an uphill shot to a difficult green, blockedpartially by a tree.
“I was thinking I wouldn’t have a shot. I was thinking it’s probably goingto be a bogey, and I’ll go back to even (par),” Levin said. “I cut an 8-ironaround and go on the right side of the green and hit a 20-footer—it probablybroke 10 feet—and I made it. So it felt like at least a one-shot swing.”
He followed with a birdie on the par-5 ninth, and making the turn at 3 underinstead of 1 under changed everything for him.
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