Superb round points May in right direction
It was one of those magical rounds. The kind every golfer who ever picked up a club dreams of having.
Virtually every time Bob May took a swing Thursday at TPC Summerlin during the first round of the Frys.com Open, he got something positive out of it. And when May pulled out his new belly putter and sent the ball on its way, more often than not it landed in the hole.
May, a Las Vegas resident and 16-year PGA Tour veteran who hasn’t won in seven years and has battled back problems the past few years, turned back the clock with a brilliant back nine, picking up four strokes when he went birdie-birdie-eagle on Nos. 13 through 15.
He didn’t falter down the stretch, making birdies on the par-3, 196-yard 17th and on the par-4, 444-yard 18th to finish at 9-under 63, one shot ahead of Jason Gore and two in front of D.J. Trahan, Jeff Overton, Rich Beem and Cameron Beckman.
Gore also finished strong on his back nine, carding consecutive birdies at TPC at The Canyons on Nos. 5 and 6 (he began his round at No. 10) in recording his 8-under 63. The Canyons is a par-71 course, and 72 is par at Summerlin.
"I’ve been hitting the ball well this year. I just haven’t been scoring," said May, who missed 12 weeks with hip and back problems and has been limited to 12 events in 2007.
"That’s so disappointing. I still feel like I’m trying to fight my way in. But I putted better, and I hope it continues."
May is feeling better thanks to his work with local physical therapist Tim Soder. But there’s nothing like a hot putter to make a golfer feel good all over. May needed just 25 putts to complete his first round.
"I had to be talked into using it," he said of the belly putter, which has an extra long shaft and forces the golfer to stroke the ball upright rather than hunched over as with a conventional putter. "I used it last week and decided to stick with it."
The local PGA Tour stop has never been good to May. In seven prior appearances, dating to 1994, his best finish was a tie for 13th in 1999.
May has missed the cut twice and has won $181,260, but maybe Thursday’s round is the spark he needs to get going. His round didn’t start out well as he bogeyed his first hole. But he bounced back by making an eagle on the 492-yard, par-5 No. 3 for the first of his two eagles on the day.
"I just tried to be patient," May said of his bogey to begin the round. "I knew there were a lot of holes left."
May will tee off at The Canyons at 7 a.m. today, and the wind could be considerably stronger than it was Thursday, when optimum conditions prevailed and 110 players in the field of 144 broke par.
Gore had little problem negotiating his way around The Canyons thanks to his caddy, former club pro Mike Messner. Gore carded 10 birdies, and other than a hiccup on his third hole when he hit into the sand and three-putted for a double bogey on the par-3, 150-yard No. 12, he had no mishaps.
"I was even at that point, and we were only three holes in," he said. "I wasn’t going to make a big deal out of it. Especially when I knocked in a 10-footer for birdie on the next hole. That let the steam out of the ears."
Trahan and Overton teed off early Thursday, and their rounds of 7-under 65 held up for a good portion of the day. Then came the late charge by May and Gore, and though Trahan and Overton fell from the top of the leaderboard, neither was disappointed with his first day in Las Vegas.
"You have to shoot low," Trahan said. "It’s Vegas. You have to hit some good shots and make some putts. Fortunately, I was able to do that."
Overton, who is in his second year on the tour, also carded an eagle on No. 3, sandwiched between birdies on Nos. 2 and 4, to get off to a quick start. At one point, he was 8 under par before finishing his round at 7 under.
"I haven’t hit that many balls this week, and I didn’t really know where it was going for the most part," he said. "When I eagled the third and then made birdie, I’m like, ‘This could be a pretty good round.’ "
Contact reporter Steve Carp at scarp@reviewjournal.com or (702) 387-2913.
News, informationFRYS.COM OPEN LEADERBOARD s-TPC Summerlin, par 72 c-TPC Canyons, par 71 Note: The scores are listed in par order because of the difference in par on the two courses being played. Bob May 33-30–63s Jason Gore 31-32–63c D.J. Trahan 32-33–65s Jeff Overton 30-35–65s Cameron Beckman 35-30–65s Rich Beem 31-33–64c Nine tied at 6 under par.
