Gary Woodland tees off on the second hole during a practice round for the Masters golf tournament Tuesday, Nov. 10, 2020, in Augusta, Ga. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)
Former University of Kansas golf standout Gary Woodland shot a 4-under-par 67 during Thursday’s first round of the Wells Fargo Championship at Quail Hallow Club in Charlotte, leaving him just three strokes back of first place and among the leaders.
Woodland finished the day in a tie for fourth place after firing six birdies with just two bogeys during his opening round.
Phil Mickelson sits in the lead all by himself after the first 18 holes. Mickelson shot a 7-under 64 on Thursday.
Kyoung-Hoon Lee and Keegan Bradley are tied for second at 5-under and Woodland is tied with Peter Malnati, Tommy Fleetwood, Luke List, Keith Mitchell and Kyle Stanley.
Woodland will begin his second round at 6:45 a.m. Friday and will be playing with Canadian golfers Nick Taylor and Corey Conners.
Woodland missed the cut last week at last week’s Valspar Championship after finishing in a tie for 40th at the Masters in mid-April.
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.
