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Cabrera, Flores share Wells Fargo lead

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While the leaderboard was a star-studded affair through one round in Charlotte, the second day of action saw many of the big names struggle. Here’s how things look after 36 holes at the Wells Fargo Championship, where Angel Cabrera and Martin Flores share the lead:

Leaderboard: Angel Cabrera (-9), Martin Flores (-9), Justin Rose (-8), Shawn Stefani (-7), Martin Kaymer (-6), Kevin Kisner (-6)

What it means: Cabrera held the lead after the first round and now shares it with Flores, who carded a 68 Friday and is in search of his first PGA Tour win. A number of notable names remain within striking range, including former major winners Rose, Kaymer and Stewart Cink.

Round of the day: Golf is a funny game, and Brendon de Jonge can certainly attest to that fact. De Jonge struggled to an 80 in the opening round, failing to record a single birdie, but then turned around and fired a bogey-free 62. The effort tied the Quail Hollow course record, as de Jonge carded seven birdies and an eagle at the par-4 14th hole. After starting the day near the bottom of the standings, the Zimbabwean made the cut with ease and nearly matched Kevin Stadler (81-61, 2008 Frys.com Open) for the biggest turnaround in recent memory.

Best of the rest: Kisner is one of several players in contention for a maiden win, and moved into a tie for sixth with a 6-under 66 Friday. Kisner followed his only bogey of the day at No. 6 with an eagle at the par-5 seventh, and enters the weekend in position to record what would be just his second career top-10 finish on the PGA Tour.

Biggest disappointment: Several big names struggled, including Rory McIlroy (76) and Phil Mickelson (75), who both moved backwards after over-par rounds. They’ll still both play the weekend, though, which is more than can be said for Lee Westwood. After an eventful 1-under 71 Thursday, Westwood carded a 76 that included a trio of double bogeys on Nos. 4, 7 and 16. At 3 over, the Englishman missed the cut by two shots.

Main storyline heading into Saturday: Cabrera is still in search of his first non-major win on the PGA Tour, though he certainly knows how to close after wins at both the 2007 U.S. Open and 2009 Masters. The player to watch at this point, though, may be Rose, who logged a solid effort last week in New Orleans and is still in search of his first win since breaking through last summer at Merion.

Shot of the day: Flores started his round with a bang, knocking in a birdie at No. 10 before holing a wedge approach from 105 yards at No. 11. The birdie-eagle start propelled Flores to an outward 32.

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De Jonge follows 80 with 62

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CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Brendon de Jonge pulled a stunner Friday, equaling the Quail Hollow Golf Club’s course record in the second round of the Wells Fargo Championship.

It wasn’t de Jonge shooting 10-under-par 62 here Friday that was so unexpected. He lives in Charlotte. He knows Quail Hollow. He played some outstanding golf making the International Presidents Cup team last year.

It was that he shot 62 after opening the tournament with an 80.

With eight birdies and an eagle, de Jonge equaled the course record set by Rory McIlroy in the final round of 2010, when McIlroy won this championship.

“I had absolutely nothing to lose starting out this morning,” de Jonge said. “I knew it was going to take a wonderful round just to play the weekend, so it was a little bit easier to relax and be a little bit more aggressive out there.”

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De Jonge went from looking like he had little chance to make the cut to having a chance to win.

“To be honest, I didn’t expect to be playing this weekend, so everything is a bonus,” de Jonge said. “I have to do a good job of starting fresh tomorrow and realizing that it’s a new round.”

De Jonge hit 11 of 14 fairways Friday, hit 13 greens and took just 22 putts. He chipped in from 63 feet at the 14th for eagle.

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Mickelson trails Cabrera by 1 after Wells first round

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CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Phil Mickelson was entertaining to the very end Thursday and finished one shot behind Angel Cabrera in the first round of the Wells Fargo Championship.

Cabrera played in early, calmer conditions and thrived on the new Bermuda greens at Quail Hollow. He made seven birdies, including a 40-footer from just off the green, and turned in a 6-under 66 that stood as the lead the rest of the day.

Mickelson caught him twice and couldn’t hold it.

Coming off his first missed cut at the Masters in 17 years, Mickelson handled the strong, swirling wind in the afternoon for a 5-under 67, tied with Martin Flores. Mickelson hit only one fairway on the back nine. He bogeyed both the par 3s. He chipped poorly and atoned for that with long par putts.

And he wound up with the start he wanted at a tournament he badly wants to win.

”It was important for me to get off to a good start today because I haven’t played as well as I would like to this year, and I haven’t been getting off to great starts,” Mickelson said. ”So I’m always playing from behind. And it feels great to get off to a quick start where I don’t have to feel like I’m playing catch-up.”

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Webb Simpson, the former U.S. Open champion and a member at Quail Hollow, might have joined Cabrera except for the way he finished each nine. He took double bogey on No. 9 when he hit into the trees and three-putted, and made bogey on No. 18 with another wayward tee shot. Other than that, his card was filled with seven birdies for a 68.

Stewart Cink and Jonathan Byrd also were at 68.

Rory McIlroy also had a few patches of wild play – a tee shot down the side of the hill toward the water on No. 16, another that hit a tree and bounced so far left that Boy Wonder thought about playing a shot down a service road behind the corporate tents. Wiser heads prevailed – his caddie’s, in this case – and he limited the damage to bogey.

He still made six birdies and was in the large group at 69 that included U.S. Open champion Justin Rose and Martin Kaymer, who played his final four holes in 2-under par despite not making a birdie or a par. Kaymer went bogey-eagle-eagle-bogey.

”Two eagles in a row, pretty rare. I don’t think I’ve ever done that before,” Kaymer said. ”I missed a lot of short putts today as well, so therefore, 3-under par is OK.”

Cabrera’s round was not nearly that dramatic. He made a couple of long putts, most of the birdie chances one would expect to make and hit it close enough times to post his lowest score of the year, and only his fourth round this year in the 60s.

”It was a very good first round, and we have a lot to go,” the Argentine said through a translator.

Even though he struggled to hit fairways, this wouldn’t classify as a wild round by Mickelson’s standards. But there was rarely a dull moment.

From the trees on the par-5 10th, he escaped with a strong shot just short of the green, only to hit his chip too hard and nearly roll off the green. He holed that from 10 feet for birdie. From the pine straw left of the 11th fairway, he hit a low bullet in good shape just short of the green, only to catch his chip too heavy and leave himself 25 feet short. He made that one for par. And he caught Cabrera at 6 under for the first time with another shot from the pine straw to 4 feet.

But then, Mickelson hit another chip too hard and failed to save par from 15 feet. He tied for the lead again with a solid pitch to 2 feet for birdie on the par-5 15th.

The final three holes were symbolic of the grind.

He rammed a 30-foot birdie attempt some 6 feet past the hole and made that for par. He left a 45-foot birdie putt about 5 feet short and missed that for a three-putt bogey on the 17th. And made a remarkable recovery from a tough lie in a bunker on the 18th.

Being left-handed, his feet were up the slope of a bunker and the ball was well below his feet. Mickelson hit 6-iron from 210 yards and caught it so perfectly that it rolled up the hill and onto the collar of the green just over 40 feet away.

And then he blasted the putt 10 feet past the hole – and made that with a sigh of relief, a par and a good start going into a morning tee time Friday.

”I made a lot of really good putts today, and it covered up some very poor chips – a number of poor chips 15, 20 feet from the hole that should be tap-ins,” Mickelson said. ”Ended up making three out of the four, so it covered up a lot of mistakes.”

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Mickelson wows, but Cabrera leads at Quail Hollow

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Birdies were plentiful Thursday at the new and improved Quail Hollow Club, where Phil Mickelson finally showed signs of life. Here’s how things look after the opening round of the Wells Fargo Championship:

Leaderboard: Angel Cabrera (-6), Phil Mickelson (-5), Martin Flores (-5), Webb Simpson (-4), Jonathan Byrd (-4), Stewart Cink (-4), Rory McIlroy, Justin Rose among nine players at -3

What it means: Cabrera made the most of an early tee time, and by the end of the day he was still the man to beat as he looks to win a non-major on the PGA Tour for the first time. Mickelson briefly drew even with the Argentine, but even though a late bogey dropped him back he still appears to be in good position to record his first top-10 finish this season.

Round of the day: Cabrera has had a forgettable season, with seven missed cuts in nine starts and no top-40 finishes, but he took a big step toward rectifying that with an opening 66 at Quail Hollow. The two-time major champ notched seven birdies against just one bogey, including a stretch of four straight birdies from Nos. 9-13. Cabrera was third here in 2010 and after one round, he’s again in line for another high finish in Charlotte.

Best of the rest: Mickelson got off to a hot start, with six birdies across his first 12 holes to move in front before a bogey on the par-3 13th. He again tied Cabrera after another circle at No. 15, but his short par putt at the 17th caught the edge and lipped out. Despite the hiccup, Mickelson was left with a 5-under 67 that marks his lowest score since an opening 66 at the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am.

Biggest disappointment: Bill Haas was born in Charlotte and went to school at nearby Wake Forest, but despite the local ties he struggled to a 3-over 75 in the opening round. Haas was making his first start since a wrist injury forced him to withdraw from the RBC Heritage, and the former FedEx Cup champ made six bogeys on his round, including three straight from Nos. 16-18. While he finished with three birdies across his last five holes, he still faces an uphill battle just to make the cut.

Main storyline heading into Friday: Cabrera’s name may currently occupy the top spot, but there are several big names still within striking distance after one round. In addition to Mickelson and Simpson, a Quail Hollow member who opened with a 4-under 68, both McIlroy and reigning U.S. Open champ Justin Rose carded rounds of 3-under 69.

Shot of the day: Martin Kaymer holed a 66-yard pitch for eagle at the par-4 eighth hole, an impressive shot that became even more impressive considering the fact that it followed an eagle at the par-5 seventh. The stretch buoyed Kaymer to a 3-under 69, and he became just the third player this season to record back-to-back eagles on the PGA Tour.

Quote of the day: “I holed some nice putts today, which was good to see. At least it tells me the stuff I’m working on is going in the right direction.” – McIlroy

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Quail Hollow gears up for PGA without major field

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CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Quail Hollow had the energy of a major when it first returned to the PGA Tour schedule 11 years ago.

Now it’s gearing up to host the real thing – the 2017 PGA Championship – with new grass on the greens and an exciting renovation of its daunting, three-hole closing stretch known as the ”Green Mile.”

”It’s a beautiful test of golf,” Phil Mickelson said Wednesday. ”There is not much you can do to this tournament to make it better.”

All that’s lacking is a major field for the Wells Fargo Championship.

Mickelson and Rory McIlroy are on opposite sides of the draw when the tournament gets started Thursday, and any event would love to have those two stars. But they are the only players from the top 10, and while that’s one more than last year, it’s a mighty change from the time when Quail Hollow once attracted everyone from the top 10, and 27 of the top 30 in the world.

Some of that is scheduling.

There has been only a two-week gap between Augusta National and Quail Hollow the last two years, instead of a three-week break. That’s a product of how the calendar falls, and in golf, the calendar is built around the Masters being held the first full week in April. Masters champion Bubba Watson won’t return until next week.

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Some of it has to do with injuries. Tiger Woods is a regular at Quail Hollow (and a past champion), but he is recovering from back surgery. Jason Day is sitting this week out to let his injured left thumb fully heal.

More players are involved in corporate programs with RBC (Hilton Head) and Zurich (New Orleans), and The Players Championship with its $10 million purse is next week. Others, such as Jordan Spieth, have back-to-back events in their native Texas after The Players.

And perhaps there is the memory of last year, when a combination of factors led to the bent greens having large patches of no grass. Nine players withdrew the week of the tournament. Even with new greens that roll beautifully, it usually takes at least a year for the grass to fully settle.

”I think some players probably wanted to wait a year and maybe play someplace they haven’t played,” Mickelson said. ”But I was so excited to come and see it, because I just knew that they were going to get it right, and they sure did. It’s really fun to play.”

For now, Mickelson and McIlroy are eager to embark on what amounts to the second stage of the season. The Masters is over. The U.S. Open looms just over a month away. And it starts with a tournament that keeps trying to get better even when it was great.

The greens are now Bermuda grass and rolling beautifully, though typical of new greens, they are firm with bounce. Some of the sharp edges on the putting greens have been softened, allowing for a variety of shots into the greens.

The slopes aren’t nearly as severe on Nos. 12 and 18. The latter was so tough one year that Mickelson had a birdie putt and told his caddie not to tend the flagstick because Mickelson felt playing 6 feet away from the cup was his best chance to make par.

But the biggest change is found on the 16th hole.

Off the tee, the fairway now runs left of a large oak tree instead of to the right of it. The lake is well below the left side of the fairway, although a wild hook by a power player could bring water into play. The green has been moved 80 yards to the left with water along the left side and round to the back.

”Before that it was a tough hole,” Webb Simpson said. ”Now it’s a really tough hole.”

The tee on the 221-yard 17th hole has been shifted to the left, allowing for a more straightforward shot over the water to a green that is nearly an island. But it’s a long shot. With the back tee, players had to hit a hybrid or long iron into the green.

”If you play it all the way back, there would be probably 70 percent of all players will bail out right and try and chip or putt it and try and make bogey,” Jonas Blixt said.

And if the 18th wasn’t difficult enough, it was stretched out slightly to 493 yards.

Still, the course looks as pure as it usually does, especially the greens.

”For how new the greens are, I think they’re in fantastic shape, especially after what happened to the greens last year,” McIlroy said. ”It’s obviously a great improvement, and I’m sure they will be looking toward the PGA in ’17. They will be perfect.”

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