Garcia, Woods all business at BMW; Kuchar fires 61
If the thousands of fans ringing the first tee box and lined up five-deep along both sides of the fairway were expecting to see some fireworks before the much-anticipated Saturday morning pairing of Tiger Woods and Sergio Garcia at the BMW Championship at Conway Farms, they had to be a little disappointed.
Instead, what they saw were two players who clearly aren't best of friends, shake hands, wish each other luck and get on with their business.
No fuss, no muss.
The bad blood between the pair dates back years. It reared its head again this season at The Players Championship when Sergio accused Woods of causing a ruckus by pulling a club out of his bag while Garcia was in the middle of his swing.
Things got uglier this summer when Garcia joked that he would “serve fried chicken” to Woods if he asked him to go to dinner at the U.S. Open. That led to Garcia issuing a public apology as well as a private one directly to Woods in the form of a note left at his locker.
Garcia was the first to arrive on the tee Saturday, and he received a pleasant round of applause from the riled-up fans. But when Woods, dressed in a raspberry shirt and gray pants, made his way over from the driving range a few minutes later, the place went bonkers.
Woods, who caused a stir Friday when he received a 2-stroke penalty for not taking a penalty when his ball moved on the first hole, approached Garcia and his caddie on the tee box and shook their hands.
Then both men were introduced, laced perfect iron shots down the middle of the No. 1 fairway, and got on with their round.
While Woods and Garcia were teeing off, Matt Kuchar was thrilling the fans who arrived early with a scorching morning round of 61 to move all the way from 61st place to a temporary tie for ninth.
Kuchar was a double eagle away from tying Jim Furyk's record-breaking round Friday.
He ended up with a birdie.
“I got off to a good start and then had a thought on the last hole: 'Gosh, if I hole this one out from the fairway it's a 59,” Kuchar said. “I think I got to at least scare the hole a little bit.”