Former University of Kansas golfer Gary Woodland returned to action from a one-week break to shoot a one-over 73 during Thursday’s opening round of the Workday Charity Open in Dublin, Ohio.
Woodland started his round on the back nine and went bogey-birdie-bogey-birdie to get things started.
He added a double-bogey on the par-3 16th hole to move to two over par after nine holes.
Woodland bogeyed again at No. 4 (his 13th hole of the day), but salvaged the round with a strong finish.
The Topeka native birdied two of his final five holes — Nos. 5 and 8 — to move closer to even par by day’s end and will look to take that momentum into Friday’s second round.
Woodland got off the tee at an average of 311.5 yards per drive on Thursday. And he hit nearly 78% of the course’s greens in regulation (on in one on a par 3, two on a par 4 and three on a par 5). But he lost 1.35 strokes to par on the putting green on Thursday.
Woodland will begin Round 2 at 6:34 a.m. Friday in a tie for 89th place.
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.
