SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. – Harold Varner III etched his name into an unusual chapter of the PGA Tour record book by keeping his scorecard clean at the Waste Management Phoenix Open.
While there were birdies and bogeys aplenty during the opening round at TPC Scottsdale, Varner’s 71 remarkably included 18 straight pars. The streak continued Friday, as he went on to par each of the first 14 holes of his second round.
The run of 32 straight pars is the longest to open a tournament on the PGA Tour in the ShotLink era, surpassing K.J. Choi’s mark of 27 in a row at Colonial in 2006.
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“When I got done (Thursday) I was like, ’18 is enough.’ I was hoping we would just blaze the trail today,” Varner said. “Obviously that wasn’t the case to start off.”
Varner finally broke the streak with a 2-foot birdie on the par-5 15th, reaching red figures for the first time. But after 32 in a row he didn’t make a par the rest of the way, alternating birdies and bogeys over his final four holes. That left him right where he started at even, a total that meant he missed the cut by a shot.
Varner has now missed each of his first three cuts to start the year, and he’ll likely look to limit the pars on the card the next time he tees it up.
“It’s crazy. Some days you’re like, ‘Man, I couldn’t buy a par.’ And some days you’re like, ‘I just hate pars,’” Varner said. “It’s just funny to be right in the middle the whole way.”