If I didn’t see the scorecard with my own eyes I might not have believed it. But there it was … 2-over-par 74. And on the card were four birdies. If anyone ever doubted the heart and determination of Ken Green, Friday’s opening round in the Regions Charity Classic, those doubts evaporated after Danbury’s own posted a round for the ages.
Playing head-to-head on the Champions Tour for the first time since his tragic RV accident last June against a field that included Tom Kite, Fuzzy Zoeller, Corey Pavin, Joey Sindelar and Ben Crenshaw (just to name a few) Green shot 74 to stand tied for 69th after the first round.
Green said before the round that he would be “ecstatic” if he could break 80 all three days. Not only did he do that, he flirted with actually playing par golf, thanks to a solid back 9.
“You’ve got to do it. I’ve got to learn,” he said in an Associated Press story Friday morning. “I’ve got to figure it out, and the only way to do it is to keep playing. I’ve got to keep playing if I’m going to get better.”
Incredible. Playing on a prosthetic leg and having to learn a brand new swing, Green not only held his own, he played damn well under the circumstances, rallying back from difficult front 9 (where he was 4-over at one point) to shoot a 1-under 35 on the back 9.
Green struggled at the start, going par, double bogey, par, bogey after his first four holes to stand 3-over, but he answered with birdies at No. 5 and No. 9 to offset bogeys at No. 7 and No. 8 to make the turn at 3-over 39.
But birdies at No. 10 and No. 13, along with five straight pars, had Green at just 1-over-par heading to 17. He stumbled there with a bogey but parred 18 to complete the 7,473-yard course just 2-over.
Wow.
What a day for Ken Green.
