Putnam plays chess during delay, shoots 6-under at Valero
Andrew Putnam shot 6-under 66 at the Valero Texas Open after playing chess during a delay. Mark Hubbard leads.
SAN ANTONIO – Everyone else in the field at the PGA Tour’s Valero Texas Open was playing checkers and Andrew Putnam was playing chess on Thursday. At least, that’s how he spent a weather delay at TPC San Antonio’s Oaks Course when lightning pushed back his first-round tee time for 90 minutes. Putnam enjoyed a game of chess with his middle son, Paxley.
Then he went out and shot 6-under 66 in the afternoon once the tournament got underway, recording his best score in his last 22 rounds on Tour and his lowest 18-hole score in 22 career rounds in the Valero Texas Open. “This is always a course I kind of circle on the calendar as favorable,” he said. “It's a course that fits my game.
You've got to drive it straight, and premium on irons. ” Putnam was sharpest with a 9-iron in hand, stiffing multiple shots with that club to 2-3 feet. “I think I had three of them on the back nine I kind of tapped in, and a couple good wedge shots,” said Putnam, who carded 31 on the back nine, his first nine of the day.
It marked his first opening round in the 60s in nine starts in the event. Putnam, who started the season with a T-2 at The American Express in January, has been playing with conditional status out of the Nos. 111-125 category.