Former Jayhawk Gary Woodland 3 off lead at Charles Schwab Challenge

By Matt Tait Jun 12, 2020

AP Photo/David J. Phillip

Phil Mickelson, Gary Woodland and Kevin Na play on the 13th green without the presence of a gallery during the first round of the Charles Schwab Challenge golf tournament at the Colonial Country Club in Fort Worth, Texas, Thursday, June 11, 2020.

Former KU golf standout Gary Woodland’s hot streak at golf’s first PGA Tour event since the COVID-19 pandemic shut down the sport continued well into Friday afternoon at the Charles Schwab Challenge in Fort Worth, Texas.

After finishing Round 1 at Colonial Country Club with five birdies in his final seven holes on Thursday, Woodland birdied two of his first four holes on Friday and added two more birdies at No. 9 and No. 11 to move to 9-under.

After playing 32 holes of bogey-free golf, Woodland’s streak ended at No. 15, when he carded a 5 on the 428-yard par 4. He followed that up with a bogey on the par-3 16th and fell to 7-under for the tournament with two holes to play in the second round.

Woodland quickly got one of the two miscues back with a birdie at No. 17, and he finished Round 2 with par on No. 18.

Woodland, who shot 3-under on Friday, enters the weekend at 8-under for the tournament and in a seventh-place tie with four other golfers, including first-round leader Justin Rose.

“The leaderboard is a ‘who’s who’ of golf right now,” Rory McIlroy said after a 63, with a bogey on the last hole. “I’m just happy to be in the mix.”

Harold Varner III leads the event at -11, Jordan Spieth sits one stroke back in second place at -10 and three golfers, including McIlroy, sit in a fourth-place tie at -9.

KU adopts NCAA's plan to designate Election Day 2020 as an off day for all student-athletes

Show/Post Comments

Written By Matt Tait

A native of Colorado, Matt moved to Lawrence in 1988 and has been in town ever since. He graduated from Lawrence High in 1996 and the University of Kansas in 2000 with a degree in Journalism. After covering KU sports for the University Daily Kansan and Rivals.com, Matt joined the World Company (and later Ogden Publications) in 2001 and has held several positions with the paper and KUsports.com in the past 20+ years. He became the Journal-World Sports Editor in 2018. Throughout his career, Matt has won several local and national awards from both the Associated Press Sports Editors and the Kansas Press Association. In 2021, he was named the Kansas Sportswriter of the Year by the National Sports Media Association. Matt lives in Lawrence with his wife, Allison, and two daughters, Kate and Molly. When he's not covering KU sports, he likes to spend his time playing basketball and golf, listening to and writing music and traveling the world with friends and family.