USPGA AT&T National @ Congressional Country Club, Bo Van Pelt Leads.

        

Bo Van Pelt leads by one shot after the first round of the AT&T National at a tough Congressional Country Club with a -4 under par round of 67, on the par 71 lay-out.

There are three players tied for second spot on -3 under par, they are; V.J. Singh, Brendon de Jong and Jimmy Walker. One shot further back on -2 under par are; Pat Perez, Jason Day and the top story of the day man Billy Hurley 111.

Billy Hurley 111 / Stan Badz/PGA Tour

Billy Hurley 111 has a degree from the United States Naval Academy and has served as a Lieutenant on the U.S.S. CHUNG-HOON. Billy shot a 2-under 69 in the opening round and is just two strokes off the lead of Bo Van Pelt at Congressional Country Club, he is also a one-time U.S. Walker Cup team member who now calls nearby Annapolis home. As Billy said;

“Nobody has ever went to a service academy and played out here. But as far as fitting in out here, the background gives me a little bit of a story. I think there’s certainly a mental toughness that I learned from the Navy that translates well into golf, but the pressures and the life are very different. For whatever reason, I play really good when it’s hot. This is certainly a special tournament, and I think that any time that we as an American public take time to pause and remember, reflect and honor the military, it’s a great thing.”

Bo Van Pelt was happy with his position;

 ”I mean, made a good up and down on 18, hit a good shot there that had gone long into the back bunker and had a pretty tough shot and hit it to about a foot and just kind of kept my momentum going after birdieing 17. Hit a good drive on No.1, it’s just a hole I’ve always kind of hit driver off of to just be aggressive. It’s a tough fairway to hit, and had a good number. Been working on my wedges a bunch. Been feeling like I need to improve in that area. I was working specifically today before I played, a shot I was hitting a bunch. So it was like 98 yards, and when I got 93 I thought I had a pretty good number.”

VJ said he had played well;

” I played well. I hit a lot of good shots, made a lot of birdies, and finally I made a couple of putts, which I guess is the key to playing good golf is you’ve got to make putts, and I did that. I actually thought it had kind of spun back in front of the hole, and all of a sudden this guy behind the green started going nuts. Yeah, you never know when those are going to happen, so it’s nice to get a deuce.  I thought I was going to go out and really shoot a low one, and then I bogeyed three in a row after that. You’ve got to be patient. You’ve got to keep calm out there. I gathered myself and made some more birdies coming in. All in all, I played really nicely, and I’m playing good golf.”

Tiger Woods was never under par in the afternoon and opened with a 1-over 72, he said;

“It’s certainly, I think, a little retribution for what happened last year. Don’t be mad at me. I didn’t play. “

Golfer Matt Every is a Dope

Matt Every’s dope drug suspension is not going to go away easily, it is rumbling on due mainly to the  bizarre interview with the Golf Channel’s Kelly Tilghman. Every maintains that who his friends are and what they do are of no concern to anyone, well he is definitely wrong. His 2010 arrest for marijuana possession and the defensive statement that; “  Honestly, man, I know more people who smoke marijuana than who don’t smoke marijuana”, could seriously hamper his attempts  to garner the endorsements that line the pockets of PGA pros. Every needs to concentrate on some exceptional public relations, starting with distancing himself from the bunch of so called friends who think drugs are OK. His image and credibility have been damaged  he’ll need to learn a bit of proper image strategy. No wonder he is desperate for this episode to fade away, but unfortunately for him every time his name appears at the top of a leader board this silly story will rear its ugly head.

Another sad story surrounding the Sony Open is the verbal set to between Vijay Singh and Rory Sabbatini, who himself is no stranger to controversy. It seems Sabbatini’s caddy, Mick Doran, moved into Singh’s eyeline while he was attempting to putt. V J missed the putt and had words with Doran about the ungentlemanly conduct. At this point Rory vigorously defended his caddy. After the round V.J. said the row was over and it was forgotten. Sabbatini disagreed at demanded Singh apologise to his caddy. I think that’s a bit rich, he should rather be telling his caddy to stand still while other people are putting.