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02/26 20:13 CST Opening round at the Cognizant Classic features bird feathers,
shots from the mud and hole-outs
Opening round at the Cognizant Classic features bird feathers, shots from the
mud and hole-outs
By TIM REYNOLDS
AP Sports Writer
PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. (AP) --- Ryan Gerard appeared to clip a bird with a
tee shot. David Ford spent a few minutes in the mud, then went about an hour
without using his putter.
Round 1 of the Cognizant Classic had some weirdness Thursday.
It looked like Gerard hit a bird on the 207-yard, par-3 seventh hole; replays
showed feathers in the air as his shot made its way to the hole, after the bird
flew into the path of the ball shortly after Gerard made contact.
It wasn't clear if the bird was injured. Gerard's approach came to rest about
35 feet from the hole and the highest-ranked player in the field --- No. 26 in
the world --- went on make a two-putt par.
Ford had a lot of adventures.
He started on the back nine and was 1 over when he got to the par-3 17th, his
eighth hole of the day. His tee shot headed toward the water, came to rest in
the mud, and he tried to play from there up a hill toward the green.
The shot made it halfway up, then rolled back to the mud. He tried again. Same
thing. Enough was enough; he walked back to the drop area and wound up making a
quadruple-bogey 7.
"My brain was instantly going towards one bad hole can't do too much damage to
me if I play great the rest of the way coming in, and if my game is good enough
to win, then it should be no problem to have a good finish," Ford said. "Even
with a quad."
The power of positive thinking.
He got those four shots back in two holes, with back-to-back eagles on the
par-4 second and par-5 third --- part of three consecutive holes where he holed
out from off the green. Ford connected from 144 yards out on No. 2, chipped in
from about 30 yards on No. 3, then holed a bunker shot to save par at No. 4
after leaving his previous shot in the same bunker.
"It was insane ... a wild round," Ford said.
Ford finished at 1-over 72. Gerard shot a 2-over 73.
___
AP golf: https://apnews.com/hub/golf
