Compton's club switch pays off

GREENSBORO, N.C. -- Erik Compton changed his clubs in search for a way to change his fortunes on the PGA Tour.

In danger of missing the FedEx Cup playoffs, he entered the tournament at Sedgefield Country Club and ended up as the co-leader after the first round of the Wyndham Championship by shooting 8-under-par 62 on Thursday.

His 7-under 28 for the last nine holes came in unusual fashion, he said.

The birdies I made, one putt that was like 9 feet and the rest of them were inside of 3 feet," he said. "When you don't have to grind over putts, that's nice.

"When you get hot like I did for nine holes, you have to enjoy it, you have to take advantage of it because they don't always come often."

Compton said a relaxing pro-am round Wednesday -- with a group that included Burlington's Laurie Lambert, wife of Elon University president Leo Lambert -- helped set a positive tone.

"I was probably a little bit more loose, really deciding to come here and play at the last minute," he said. "I had a couple of weeks off, so kind of an unexpected round."

The new irons could have made Compton uneasy.

"I'm not one to really ever switch equipment," he said. "I've been using the same equipment for a long time. ... Anytime you take a break and introduce a new set you could (feel strange). I had a decent pro-am, really enjoyed playing with the playing partners and knocked a little bit of rust off."

A few weeks ago at the Quicken Loans National, Compton said he spoke with Tiger Woods and inquired about his schedule.

"I joked, 'Hey, look if you play Wyndham, I'll play Wyndham,' " Compton said.

Sure enough, they're booth on the leader board after one round.

This article was written by Bob Sutton from Times-News, Burlington, N.C. and was legally licensed through the NewsCred publisher network.