CHARLOTTE OBSERVER

By Tom Sorensen
tsorensen@charlotteobserver.com

Posted: Friday, Apr. 30, 2010

I picked Van Pelt to win the Wells Fargo Championship before the tournament began. Some of my golf expert friends ripped me. "How can you pick him? You've never heard of him. You don't even know his first name."
Of course I know his first name. It's Van.

Who leads after the first round?

Pelt.

He has one stroke on the pack, nine on Tiger Woods and 23 on Parker McLachlin.

McLachlin shot a 12 on No. 7 Thursday, as opposed to a seven on No. 12. We usually ask a golfer to take us through his round. I wanted to ask McLachlin to take us through his hole. But he wasn't talking.

Tiger is tied for 88th. Maybe he'll make a run today and return to contention. Maybe he'll miss the cut and return to Florida.

Tiger was not his happy, fan-pleasing, nice-to-see-you, how's-the-family friend of the world that he was at the Masters. That wasn't him.

This was not him, either. He played uncertain, perplexed.

Despite Tiger's struggles, fans won't abandon him. In sports, as in life, it's not so much what you do as who does it.

Tiger's gallery Thursday looked like Concord Mills the day after Thanksgiving. He finished his round shortly after noon, and when he departed, thousands of fans went with him.

The course was as empty as I remember it. Phil Mickelson, Jim Furyk and Rory Sabbatini, who began their round after Tiger finished his, attracted a nice crowd, SouthPark the day after Thanksgiving. Otherwise, you could walk to any tee or green and see anybody you wanted to see.

Earlier, I had followed two players I thought would contend - Tim Herron and Anthony Kim. But the longer I was with them, the worse they shot. I like both, so I abandoned them and followed players I had never heard of, and thus might not like.

You can jinx players. You also can jinx yourself. Security escorted two fans out of the golf club and into a taxi. Security almost never kicks fans out of the tournament. What do you think the two guys did? I'll give you one guess.

Ha! You picked the obvious one - they were caught wearing tattoos. Good guess, but you're wrong.

They drank beer and became loud.

Voices carry. As Tom Gillis of Lake Orion, Mich., moved into position to putt on 18, the crowd around him swirled, fans not realizing that some golfers had the audacity to play after Tiger finished.

"Could you hold up on the path, please?" Gillis' caddy asked of fans.

The caddy didn't yell, didn't raise his voice. The place was so quiet he didn't have to.

One man continued to walk.

"Sir?" the caddy asked, again without yelling.

Sunburned and smiling, the fan looked up and finally halted.

Here's how empty the course was. Matt Jones, Jarrod Lyle and Raleigh's Garth Mulroy attracted a gallery of 11, and nine were inside the ropes.

Each of the nine had a specific assignment. Three played, three caddied, one carried the sign with the golfers' scores, one was assistant sign carrier and one carried a clipboard. The clipboard carrier didn't have an assistant.

The two gallery members outside the ropes also carried something - a can of Heineken.

Van Pelt, meanwhile, is carrying this tournament. You heard it here first.