'Mrs. Lonard' helps 'husband' post opening-round 69
 
May. 10, 2007
Print this page
By Helen Ross
PGATOUR.com Chief of Correspondents

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. -- A new Mrs. Lonard helped the bachelor of the same name carve out a 69 on Thursday that left him in sole possession of fourth place after the first round of THE PLAYERS Championship.

lonard_200.jpg
Caddie Scott Martin and Peter Lonard discuss strategy. (Greenwood/WireImage)

Peter Lonard used the putter to make a 19-foot birdie putt on the 18th hole -- which was the second-hardest of the day -- to seal the round of 3 under that left him two strokes off the lead held jointly by Rory Sabbatini and Phil Mickelson.

"Mrs. Lonard got the punt yesterday and I brought in a new Mrs. Lonard," the Aussie said with a smile. "I've got a mistress here."

Lonard came into THE PLAYERS ranked 148th in putting average and 122nd in putts per round. He had taken to practicing his putting with a ticking device on his cap, hoping the metronome-like noise would help him find some rhythm.

"Two weeks ago I thought I'd never play golf again the way I was putting," said Lonard, who had missed his last two cuts. "You know, I just put in a lot of hard work, and today it paid off. It might be crap tomorrow, I don't know. But we'll find out."

Lonard gave himself plenty of opportunities to make putts on Thursday. He hit 12 of 14 fairways and all but four of his greens in regulation.

Lonard, who is from Sydney, Australia, has a low, boring ball flight that is perfect for gusty days like Thursday at the TPC Sawgrass. At the same time, he said with a wry smile, "I was a bit concerned that I was still going to have to putt and chip."

He knew, though, that THE PLAYERS Stadium is a ball-striker's course -- which would suit the 2005 MCI Heritage champ perfectly. Pete Dye, who designed the Stadium course, teamed with Jack Nicklaus to create Harbour Town, which hosts the MCI Heritage.

"I was looking forward to coming to this course because normally the guys that hit a lot of greens and a lot of fairways do well here, I think, historically," Lonard said. "But I still wasn't sure whether I could putt the same way as I had been and make the cut."

He and Mrs. Lonard seemed to have answered some of those questions Thursday.