Webb Simpson charges ahead in Sony Open

Webb Simpson leads the Sony Open in Hawaii after a solid second round 62

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Webb Simpson at the Sony Open in Hawaii

 

Edited by Anand Datla

 

January 16, 2015: Webb Simpson made his debut with a conventional putter Thursday at the Sony Open in Hawaii and might have wished he had used one sooner.  One year away from the new rule that outlaws anchored strokes, Simpson ditched his belly putter for a regular one for his 2015 debut and ran off eight birdies over his last 10 holes for an 8-under 62 that gave him a share of the early lead with Paul Casey.

 

On a day that made the 144 players feel they were in paradise, Simpson and Casey led a morning of low scoring.  What set them apart is how they got there — Simpson with his conventional putter, Casey with his return to Honolulu for the first time in a decade.

 

Camilo Villegas would have joined them at 62 except for failing to make birdie on the par-5 18th hole. He shot 29 on the front at Waialae before cooling slightly for a 63 and was tied for third with FedExCup points leader Robert Streb. Rory Sabbatini had a 64, while Jason Day and Matt Kuchar were in the group at 65.

 

Defending champion Jimmy Walker was among those playing in the afternoon.  Casey says he gave up his European Tour membership to concentrate on playing the PGA TOUR, spending time with his newborn son and getting his game back into the top 50 in the world. He hasn’t played in a Ryder Cup since 2008. He hasn’t been in the top 50 in nearly three years.

 

And that’s why it has been 10 years since he has been at the Sony Open. He typically is starting his season in the Middle East.  “For as long as I’ve been professional I’ve been a member of the European Tour,” Casey said. “For a long, long time now, I’ve been trying to play both the PGA TOUR and the European Tour, and some years I’ve done it brilliantly, and other years I’ve failed miserably, and I just didn’t want to keep putting myself in kind of a position where I’m struggling to fly around the world.”

 

Playing both tours is easier from inside the top 50, which effectively guarantees four majors and four World Golf Championships. Casey, who won the Dutch Open last year, is now at No. 78.

 

Simpson said he stopped off in Las Vegas to work with Butch Harmon on his way to Hawaii to make sure he was up so speed with swing changes he made in the fall. But this day was all about his putter. He won the U.S. Open in 2012 with the belly putter, which has been his club since the fall of 2004 when he was at Wake Forest. And he used it last fall in Japan, but there was something about a PGA TOUR event that made him nervous.

 

“It was one of my best putting rounds I’ve ever had, to be honest,” he said. “I’ve been putting well with it, but it’s easy to putt well at your home course playing with your buddies. So today there was a lot of pressure. Didn’t sleep that great last night, but had a good morning, talked to my wife, good warmup, and it was big to see a few putts go in early. Real thankful for how the day unfolded.”

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