2012 Wells Fargo Championship Final Round Thread

Fantastic leaderboard, immaculately conditioned course and a place that usually produces super finishes. Should be a dandy in North Carolina, assuming no one steals a leader's golf ball.

Fan On Tiger's Stolen Ball: “I know for a fact that I did not see anybody who rushed away"

You'll be shocked...SHOCKED...to learn that a fan, Chris Kroeger talking to Steve Elling, is disputing the notion someone might have picked up Tiger's ball on Friday at the Wells Fargo Championship.

Kroeger's morning-after version is pretty convincing.

He said he was standing on the left side of the putting green on the fifth hole when Woods sent his approach from 261 yards deep into the trees.

“It came behind us, over our heads,” he said. “I heard nothing but leaves, and not any clean contact with any trees. I don't think the ball kicked out and I did not see any ball on the ground.”

He estimated that perhaps 50 people were in the area when the shot was struck, and they began searching for the ball immediately. As the rest of the Woods gallery caught up, it swelled to at least 300, Kroeger said. Marshals began moving fans back as Russell arrived and asked spectators what they had seen.

Two male fans, including one very vocal man, insisted they had seen the ball on the ground. Trouble is, Kroeger is pretty sure they were not among the original throng of fans who were greenside when the shot was hit in the first place.

“I had never even seen that guy,” Kroeger said.

REWARD! Tiger's Stolen/Lost/Disappearing Ball!

Doug Ferguson with the strange saga of Tiger's lost/stolen/disappearing/still-in-the-tree ball at Quail Hollow. Can't wait for the follow-up stories and of course, the video.

Well, the follow-up stories anyway.

“These are the kinds of stories you hear from the past.”

He trails the first round Wells Fargo Championship leaders by one but as Sean Martin explained before an opening 66, Patrick Reed is just the kind of refreshing, retro, free-market success story that the tour needs more of. But with fewer Monday qualifiers and Q-School's demise, don't count on them coming along too often.

Reed was a first-team All-American last year at two-time national champion Augusta State but is without status on any major tour. After finishing 35th at the Texas Open, he made the nine-hour drive with his fiancee, Justine Karain, to New Orleans. They arrived at 2:45 a.m., sleeping four hours before the Zurich Classic’s Monday qualifier. An 8-iron to 2 feet on the second playoff hole earned him a second consecutive start. He birdied five of his final eight holes at TPC Louisiana to tie for 24th.

The pair took a circuitous route to this week’s Tour stop in Charlotte. Their first flight went from New Orleans to Chicago’s Midway International Airport. The next one landed in Greenville, S.C., some 90 minutes from Charlotte. They arrived at the hotel around 1:15 a.m. Monday, with another Monday qualifying round awaiting. He shot 65 to advance to the Wells Fargo Championship.

Reed is accompanied by his fiancee, Justine Karain, who works as Reed's caddie.

“It’s been a very hectic couple of months, but a very happy couple of months,” Reed said. “I’m in a great state of mind and very happy. She’s keeping me calm. She’s the most positive one on the golf course. When I get down, she picks me up.”

Reed proposed to Karain, whom he met while attending high school in Baton Rouge, La., in January, shortly after returning from a victory in a professional event in Trinidad & Tobago. They also moved to Houston that month.

She does more than carry the bag. Karain, a former high-school golfer, helps read the putts.

Tour Finally Puts Quail Hollow Fazio Tee To Rest

Players have long hated a back tee added by the course renovator-to-the-stars and like so many of his modifications to tournament courses over the last decade, the back tee on Quail Hollow's par-3 17th will be retired to the delight of players.

Steve Elling reports.

"I think it's a great decision just because of the way the green is designed," said Phil Mickelson, who was one of those who pushed for the modification.

"It's designed to receive the shot from over there," he added. "When the green gets firm like it will be this week it's a much better hole from over there. There is more decision-making and more risk-reward as opposed to 100 percent defense. I think it's a great hole from over there."

Update on 2012-05-03 14:37 by Geoff

**Ron Green Jr. has the full story behind the tee change including a priceless quote from Tiger and some insight into the thinking of architect Fazio and Johnny Harris, Mr. Quail Hollow.

First, Tiger on seeing the left tees in use.

Pleased with what he saw, Woods told a hole marshal, “We used to play this as a short par-4.”

And...

“Clearly Tom Fazio and I didn’t get the message like everyone else did,” Quail Hollow president Johnny Harris said.

“We finally decided to listen to the pros. We can make the course unplayable if we wanted to but that’s not our intention. We have nine years of data from the right side. Now we can get it from the left side.”