WGC – Bridgestone Invitational – 1st Round Notes

First-Round Notes – Thursday, August 1, 2013
Weather: Mix of sun and clouds. High temperature 76 degrees with WNW winds 10-15 mph.
First-Round Leaderboard
Webb Simpson             64 (-6)
Henrik Stenson           65 (-5)
Ryan Moore                  66 (-4)
Chris Wood                   66 (-4)
Tiger Woods                 66 (-4)
Keegan Bradley           66 (-4)
Webb Simpson leads the 2013 WGC - Bridgestone Invitational on his debut.  (Photo - Eoin Clarke/www.golffile.ie)

Webb Simpson leads the 2013 WGC – Bridgestone Invitational on his debut. (Photo – Eoin Clarke/www.golffile.ie)

Webb Simpson (64)

Webb Simpson is making his Bridgestone Invitational debut this week. He missed 2012 in his first year of eligibility after the birth of his daughter Willow Grace the Saturday prior to Bridgestone Invitational week.
On the season, Simpson ranks 17th in the FedExCup standings with four top-10 finishes in 18 starts, including a playoff loss to Graeme McDowell at the RBC Heritage.
Simpson led the field in birdies in the first round with eight.
The first-round 64 for Simpson was two off the first-round, tournament record of Adam Scott (2011).
Sixty-first on TOUR in Strokes Gained – Putting entering the week (.200), Simpson is second in the Bridgestone Invitational field in Strokes Gained – Putting through the first round (5.301).
Webb Simpson’s 18-hole lead is the fourth of his PGA TOUR career:
Tournament                                                     Finish
2013 WGC-Bridgestone Invitational                 1
2012 BMW Championship                                  T51
2012 Wells Fargo Championship                       4
2011 The McGladrey Classic                                2
The first-round leader and 2011 U.S. Open champion Simpson is looking to become the seventh major champion to win a World Golf Championships event in the last five years (2009-2013).
In the last five years, the following players have won both a World Golf Championship and a major championship:
Player                 WGC title(s)                                                                                Major title(s)       
Keegan Bradley    2012 Bridgestone Invitational                                             2011 PGA Championship
Ernie Els                  2010 Cadillac Championship                                              2012 Open Championship
Martin Kaymer    2011 HSBC Champions                                                          2010 PGA Championship
Phil Mickelson       2009 Cadillac Championship, 2009 HSBC Champions  2010 Masters, 2013 Open Championship
Justin Rose             2012 Cadillac Championship                                                2013 U.S. Open
Adam Scott            2011 Bridgestone Invitational                                              2013 Masters Tournament
Henrik Stenson (65)
Henrik Stenson’s best finish in six previous Bridgestone Invitational starts is T13 (2005). He is making his first stroke-play start at a World Golf Championships since the 2010 HSBC Champions.
Stenson finished second in his last outing at The Open Championship and has four top-10 finishes in 2013, matching his career-best (2008 and 2009).
Tiger Woods (66)
Tiger Woods led the field with 16 of 18 Greens in Regulation (88.89 percent). He entered the week 33rd on TOUR (67.44 percent).
Woods (66) has won four of five previous starts at the Bridgestone Invitational when posting opening rounds of 66 or lower. His first-round scoring average at the Bridgestone Invitational is 67.43.
Year                             First-round score               Finish
  1.                             6                                       —
2005                             66                                       1
2003                             65                                       T4
2001                             66                                       1
2000                             64                                       1
1999                             66                                       1
Tiger Woods has dominated the World Golf Championships since the series’ inception in 1999. Earlier this year, he hoisted his first World Golf Championships’ trophy since 2009 at the Cadillac Championship. Woods’ record of 17 World Golf Championships event titles in 41 starts gives him a winning percentage of 41 percent in the series.
Tiger Woods and the World Golf Championships
Tournament                             Starts               Victories          Top 10s
Accenture Match Play                13                     3                      7
Bridgestone Invitational            13                     7                      11
Cadillac Championship              13                     7                      12
HSBC Champions                          2                      0                       2
Totals                                               41                     17                    32
Tiger Woods at the Bridgestone Invitational
Year                          Finish    
1999                          1
2000                          1
2001                          1
2002                          4
2003                         T4
2004                          T2
2005                          1
2006                          1
2007                          1
2009                          1
2010                          T78
2011                          T37
2012                          T8
Woods’ official World Golf Championship Victories (17)
Bridgestone Invitational                            1999, 2000, 2001, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
Accenture Match Play Championship   2003, 2004, 2008
Cadillac Championship                              1999, 2002, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2012
Keegan Bradley (66)
Defending champion Keegan Bradley (T3) is looking to become the first repeat winner of the Bridgestone Invitational since Tiger Woods (1999-2001 and 2005-2007). The last player to defend a title on the PGA TOUR was Woods who earlier this year won the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by MasterCard for the second straight year.
Jim Furyk (67)
Fresh off a T9 at the RBC Canadian Open, Jim Furyk (67) has not had consecutive top 10s since the 2012 BMW Championship and TOUR Championship by Coca-Cola.
Bill Haas (67)
Bill Haas is currently tied with Brandt Snedeker for most top-10 finishes on TOUR in 2013 with eight.
Jason Dufner (67)
After a career-best two wins and eight top-10 finishes in 2012, Jason Dufner has managed just one top-10 finish in 2013, a T4 at the U.S. Open.
Phil Mickelson (72)
Since a runner-up finish at the inaugural Bridgestone Invitational in 1999, Phil Mickelson has just has one top-20 finish, a T4 in 2008, over his last 13 starts at the Bridgestone Invitational. Mickelson did win the 1996 NEC World Series of Golf, also held at Firestone CC.
Hideki Matsuyama (72)
With his T16 finish at last week’s RBC Canadian Open to go along with top 10s at both the U.S. Open and The Open Championship, Japan’s Hideki Matsuyama has been extended an invitation to join the PGA TOUR as a Special Temporary Member for the remainder of the 2013 season. With 229 Non-member FedExCup points and $501,907 in earnings in just three professional starts, Matsuyama has surpassed last year’s No. 150 in earnings ($474,295) and has through the Wyndham Championship to earn his 2013-14 TOUR card through the Non-member Money List (currently $537,364) or Non-member FedExCup Points List (currently 339 points).
During the course of the 2013 season, Thorbjørn Olesen of Denmark, Gonzalo Fernández-Castaño of Spain and Jordan Spieth have joined the TOUR as Special Temporary Members, with Spieth subsequently joining the TOUR after his win at the John Deere Classic.
Matsuyama, who finished T10 at the U.S. Open and T6 at The Open Championship, has elevated himself to No. 33 in the Official World Golf Ranking and to seventh in The Presidents Cup standings for the International Team entering the World Golf Championships-Bridgestone Invitational. The top 10 international players (non-European) in the Official World Golf Ranking through the Deutsche Bank Championship will qualify for the International Team.
Miscellaneous information
The field of the World Golf Championships-Bridgestone Invitational is 73 players from 19 countries including 48 of the top 50 players from the Official World Golf Ranking. The players who qualified but are not playing are Louis Oosthuizen, Jordan Spieth, Peter Senior and Hunter Mahan. Oosthuizen, who withdrew due to a hip injury suffered at The Open Championship, receives last-place unofficial money to be donated to a charity of his choice.
Notables in the Bridgestone Invitational field looking to move inside the top 125 to qualify for The Playoffs:
Player                          FedExCup rank                  R1
Nicolas Colsaerts             125                                     72
Martin Kaymer               131                                     74
Tommy Gainey               135                                     74
Peter Hanson                   140                                     70
Tiger Woods, Matt Kuchar, Brandt Snedeker and Phil Mickelson are the four players with multiple PGA TOUR victories in 2013, propelling them into the top four spots in the FedExCup, respectively.
Player                    Points        Points behind No. 1           R1
Tiger Woods           2,481          —                                                66
Matt Kuchar            2,203          278                                        72
Brandt Snedeker     2,178          303                                        72
Phil Mickelson         2,118          363                                         72
Bogey-free rounds: Henrik Stenson (65), Keegan Bradley (66)
Notes compiled by Joel Schuchmann, PGA TOUR.
Please visit www.pgatourmedia.com for further information.


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