Overton leads by one over Palmer at Nelson – Byron Nelson Championship
IRVING, Texas – Jeff Overton has struggled with his putting this year, but that took a turn for the better on Thursday at the Byron Nelson Championship. Overton holed a putt from just over 34 feet at the 12th, and that helped him finish off one of his best putting days of the year. He carded at 6 under 64, one shot better than Ryan Palmer and two clear of a group of nine players that included Dustin Johnson, Sergio Garcia and Jeff Quinney.“It was a crazy day, definitely it's nice having confidence because of last year,” Overton said of his tie for second a year ago. “I knew I played well. I just wanted to keep things rolling and made a good par save my second hole, and then somehow I made a -- like I hit an awesome two shots and almost made it from the middle of the fairway, but I had a twelve-footer that broke a lot and I thought I missed it, and it actually went in, and it seems like the first time I've seen a putt go in in four weeks of this stretch I've been on.
And next thing, I was able to hit a lot of great shots and strike out early. I never had a chance of making bogey from there.”
While Overton was pleased to get the putter going, Palmer was pleased to play well on a course that he has rarely made a cut on. He took a different approach to playing the TPC Las Colinas and, at least in round one, paid instant dividends.
“Coming into this week, Randy Smith and James, my caddy, and I talked about it, and we pulled a page out of the Phil Mickelson book, and I gave James the reigns,” said Palmer.
“And they mapped out what they wanted me to do, Randy and James, and all I did is get on each tee and waited until he told me what to do. He told me what side of the tee box to get on, and what side he wanted me to be on, what target he wanted me to hit, and it was my job to hit the shot. I think there is something there because I was really relaxed and calm and at ease. It came easy, it seemed like.”
With James playing the roles of director and navigator, Palmer stuck with the plan. There were, however, a couple of times where he wasn’t totally sure of the direction offered.
“The worst was -- one of them was 18,” he said. “The tee was playing short, so I felt like the fairway was wider past the water, and there was one time -- I never said anything or questioned, I thought to myself for a minute and I thought, okay, no problem, went with it. And I was trying to think of the other one. Might have been 9, I think, I didn't like, but anyways -- it was No. 3.
“He wanted me to hit 3-wood, and I was questioning it, and thinking the 5-wood was a good club, but I stuck with it and hit a good tee shot, and those were the two times I thought about it, for a minute, going, ‘I'm not sure about this,’ but that was my goal, whatever he said I was going to hit it, just not to even think about it.”
Garcia, who won here in 2004, was seeing the course for the first time on Thursday because he was bothered by a problem with a finger. He was impressed with the condition of the course, and particularly the greens, following the severe weather that came through the area on Tuesday night and causing damage due to a sizable hailstorm.
“Disappointed on Monday to have to pull out of the qualifier for the British Open, which is my favorite tournament to play and just a little bit of an infection in my finger on the left hand, nail infection,” Garcia said. “It got so sore that I couldn't really grip the club properly.
“Well, but the good thing is that the doctors and the people here on the tour helped me out Monday, Tuesday and yesterday, and it definitely feels better. Just a little sore but definitely I can play without having to think about it, which is good.”
Lift, clean and place rules were in effect for the round allowing players to get relief from mud and damaged areas from the storm. Overton said he didn’t find mud to be much of a problem in the afternoon, which could be an indication that the ball will be played down the rest of the week with good weather expected.
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