Nick Price made a 4-foot birdie putt on the 18th hole that was worth nine skins and $190,000 in the Exelon Invitational today.
Davis Love III won five skins and $60,000, while Carlos Franco
won four worth $30,000. Jim Furyk, who served as host of the event,
was shut out.
"If I missed that one, I'd have been really upset," Price said
of the short putt. "It may not have been a major championship, but
your heart still gets pumping."
The 18th was the only hole on the back nine of the 7,012-yard
Wyncote Golf Club where a skin was won by the foursome which have
combined for 34 PGA Tour victories yet only managed 10 birdies
today.
"It was hard to get the ball close to the hole with the wind
and difficult pin placements like they had, and the greens were
slippery," Price said. "The course played tough."
Furyk nearly won five skins worth $105,000 on the 187-yard 15th
hole, but his 15-foot birdie attempt died just before reaching the
hole.
"I really thought I made that one," Furyk said.
"It was a pretty sloppy day golf-wise, and we didn't make many
putts, but it was still a great day," Furyk said.
Price then failed to convert on a 12-footer for birdie, which
would have won the next hole. And Franco pushed a 5-footer for
birdie on 17 that would have given him the hole.
Franco won all four of his skins when he birdied No. 5, a
188-yard par-3, from five feet. Love won two holes on the front
nine by reaching both par-5 holes in two and two-putting for birdies. He
claimed a skin and $7,500 on No. 1 and four skins and $52,500 at
No. 9.
Prior to the round, Furyk and Love discussed next week's U.S. Open, and what it will be like without defending champion Payne Stewart, who died in a plane crash last fall.
"It's going to be a tough week without Payne for all of us in a lot of ways," Furyk said.
"It's going to be strange for the defending champion not to be there," Love said. "He was our friend and his memory will never go away.''
