Glover leads by two after Day 1 at Port Royal

U.S. Open champion Lucas Glover had a day to remember Tuesday, as he fired a course-record 65 to grab a two-shot lead over Stewart Cink. Glover averaged a mere 1.56 putts per hole, and drained monster putts of 60-plus feet on both Nos. 4 and 17.

By Josh Ball, PGA.com Contributor

SOUTHAMPTON, Bermuda -- Lucas Glover fired a Port Royal course record 6-under-par 65 Tuesday to take charge on Day 1 of the PGA Grand Slam of Golf.

The U.S. Open champion had a day when his putter rarely failed him, carding six birdies and an eagle. Only bogeys at Nos. 13 and 16 stopped him from taking complete control of the tournament as he averaged a mere 1.56 putts per hole, and drained monster putts of 60-plus feet on both Nos. 4 and 17.

And while the rest of the field endured an up-and-down day of birdies and bogeys, Glover’s consistency was the difference between his round and those of the rest of the field.

The American hit 12 fairways, and even when he missed the fairway he invariably made the green with his approach. His performance was all the more impressive given he was seeing most of the course for the first time after Monday’s pro-am was largely washed out.

“I played well,” said Glover. “I’m really pleased with my round; I didn't know what to expect.

“I think, truthfully, not seeing the course might have helped, because we might not have known where some of the trouble was,” he added. “I think that's true on any course. Sometimes you can overthink, so tomorrow, it will be one or the other; we will either know it a little better or we will be more scared.

“But you know, I think with a yardage book and good conditions, I think anybody could have done what we all did today and that was go around with a pretty good round.”

That isn’t to say that Glover is planning to adopt the strategy of not looking at a course before the first round for every tournament. This is a different week, with a different approach.

“I don't think I’d do that,” he said. “Yesterday was extreme circumstances. Obviously I would have liked to have ridden the rest of the holes, but I was too wet and wanted to go home.”

Glover will go into Wednesday’s second round with a two-shot lead over fellow American Cink, and despite the $600,000 first prize plans on having fun, first and foremost.

“I'm just going to have fun tonight, come out tomorrow and get loose and go have fun,” said Glover. 

“That's what we are here for,” he added. “We tried -- every one of us tried hard today, but we had fun in between shots and cut up and picked on each other a little bit, so we'll do the same thing tomorrow.”

Cink’s solid round of 67 was built around his ability to get up and down at important moments. Level with Glover at 3 under at the turn, Cink moved to 4 under when he chipped in for a birdie at No. 10.

But the British Open champion then dropped a shot at the par-3 13th when he found the greenside bunker and hit his second shot too far past the hole.

From then on, however, he didn’t drop a shot and even made up some ground on Glover when he got up and down at 16 after all the players had found sand at the 235-yard par 3.

Cink generally played well, and is confident that after seeing the greens properly for the first time, he will leave fewer putts out on the course on Wednesday.

“I think the greens are -- they are tricky to read, because in Bermuda Grass, they are more grain and they are too young to have grain established,” said Cink. “So you think keep thinking there's some grain going towards the west or some grain going maybe down towards the coast, but it's not happening, you're not finding any grain.

“I tended to over-read the grain in my putts today and I'll maybe slightly adjust for tomorrow.”

Of the four, Angel Cabrera will be the most disappointed with his day. He was level with Glover and Cink at the turn, the wheels started to come off his round at 16.

The only one to actually hit the green, he rolled into the backside bunker, left his second shot short and two-putted.

The Masters champion then imploded on the next hole. Flirting with the water on his drive, he stuck his approach into the steep slope at the front of the green, fluffed his third and fourth shots and two-putted from 14 feet. The Argentinian ended his day five shots behind Glover and will need something special to catch the leader.

Y.E Yang, meanwhile, was just happy to get off the course without the embarrassment of finishing over par.

The PGA Championship winner’s woes began at the fourth, where his second shot out of a fairway bunker struck the lip and then careened into a tree. He struggled to a double-bogey 6, dropping back to even par after a good opening and never really recovered.

“It was certainly discouraging,” said Yang. “I probably didn't calibrate my angle enough to get up and down easily enough. That, as you said, sort of set the tone. I was on a good pace, and then hitting a ridiculous shot like that, in a bad way, sort of got a bit discouraging.”

Even though he birdied the seventh, it came after another duffed shot out of a fairway bunker, when he again hit the lip and the ball traveled just 10 yards.

The back nine was more of the same, and when he did miss the sand, he struggled with his overall accuracy, finding just 10 greens in regulation.

Ironically, both he and Cabrera had fewer putts than Cink and Glover, but it invariably took them longer to get the green.

The only consolation for Yang is the fact that he is still recovering from jet lag, and another good night’s sleep should get him back to something approaching his best.

“I tried my best,” said Yang. “Unfortunately I didn't hit under par. Fortunately I didn't embarrass myself by hitting over par. Hopefully tomorrow I'll end in on a stronger note.”