After shaky start, birdie spree on final holes lifts Gastonia’s Harold Varner to 5-under 67
Harold Varner III had a good reason to be happy after Thursday’s opening round in the Small Business Connection Championship.
Varner overcame a shaky start to shoot a 5-under 67 at River Run Country Club. It was his best opening round on the PGA Web.com Tour in two months.
Varner, a Gastonia native and East Carolina alum, made six birdies – including a run of four straight to close out Thursday’s round – to offset a bogey. That’s left him in a seven-way tie for seventh place, four shots behind leader Brett Stegmaier’s 9-under 63.
“It was a little rocky at the start – I hit it everywhere,” Varner said. “It’s kinda hard to explain, but I just didn’t hit it off the tee very well. But I made some good putts, some long putts.”
While Varner could have finished the round with a better score – he missed four putts of 15 feet or less for birdie, and was close on two other long putts – it also could have turned out much worse.
Three times Varner saw his shots off the tee go into the woods at River Run, all resulting in having to take a drop and a one-stroke penalty.
While that cost him a bogey on No. 7, Varner managed to save par on two other holes with some spectacular shotmaking. He drove to within 25 feet for a par putt on No. 5, and another strong approach shot left him with a 2-foot par putt on No. 13.
“That’s when you know the day’s going well,” Varner said. “I just knew that if I could get the ball in play, I was going to give myself looks. I was making putts. I just didn’t do that at the start.”
Varner did it at the finish, though.
He sank an 8-foot putt for birdie on No. 15, followed that with a 6-foot birdie on No. 16, dropped in a slow roller from 25 feet for birdie on No. 17, then capped the day with an 8-foot birdie putt on No. 18.
“I know the low numbers are there, I just have to get that consistency,” said Varner, who also had birdies on Nos. 2 and 6. “I had the consistency last year, but not the low numbers.
“I’ve just got to keep giving myself chances. I’ve got to get it in play. Dropping the ball isn’t the way to do that.”
This story was originally published September 17, 2015 at 6:23 PM with the headline "After shaky start, birdie spree on final holes lifts Gastonia’s Harold Varner to 5-under 67."