Times wires
Thursday, April 21, 2011
HILTON HEAD ISLAND, S.C. — Garrett Willis couldn't give up on "Old Faithful," no matter how many flashy, new belly putters he tested out this week.
Willis entered the Heritage seeking answers to his poor putting and had planned to park his longtime Scotty Cameron model. But as he walked to the range Thursday morning, Willis just couldn't go through with it and asked his caddie to "go back to my car and get 'Old Faithful.' "
Good thing he did. Willis made six straight birdies on the front nine on the way to 7-under 64 and a one-shot lead in the suspended first round of the Heritage.
"Obviously, very excited about putting this well and having a chance to making the cut for a change," Willis said.
He held a one-stroke edge over Arjun Atwal, Matt Bettencourt, Chad Campbell and Tim Herron, and was two shots in front of Mark Wilson, Camilo Villegas and 2009 Heritage winner Brian Gay.
Luke Donald, No. 3 in the world, led a group at 67 in a round slowed by a rain delay of 2 hours, 16 minutes. Because of the delay, 18 players were unable to finish before dark.
Donald could move to No. 1 with a win.
Willis' only PGA Tour victory came at the Touchstone Energy Tucson Open in 2001, also his first start on tour. It has been a struggle for Willis to keep his pro career going at times. He fell to 228th on the money list in 2005 and regained his playing privileges in 2009 with a 12th-place finish on the Nationwide Tour money list.
The putting problems surfaced this season as Willis has made only two cuts in eight tournaments, shooting 78-78 last week for an early exit in the Texas Open. He's 177th in the tour's putting rankings and got fed up giving away strokes on the green.
"We can't make them all. I'm fully aware of that," he said. "But for some reason some of these guys do week in and week out.
"I made putts today that I normally don't make."