Wells Fargo Championship: Lucas Glover Tops Jonathan Byrd In Sudden Death

Jonathan Byrd began the sudden death playoff against Lucas Glover at the 2011 Wells Fargo Championship with a bunker drive on hole No. 18. Glover, once Byrd’s Clemson teammate, countered with a stern shot down the middle of the Quail Hollow Club fairway.

Byrd’s second shot was only slightly better, whistling over the fairway and landing inches from a small stream near the green. It was technically in the hazard, but thankfully for Byrd still on turf. Glover belted his onto the green and enjoyed a decent roll.

Jonathan Byrd and Lucas Glover will head to a playoff to decide the 2011 Wells Fargo Championship at Quail Hollow Club, each scoring 15-under. Rory Sabbatini turned in a scalding 7-under final round score to finish in the mix at 14-under, then retired to the Quail Hollow Club clubhouse to watch the remaining proceedings.

Up by a stroke, Glover tore his drive on hole No. 18 far left of the fairway. Though he’d only hit six fairways on the day, it still meant a challenging recovery -- the hill it wound up on was so steep that a person had to sit in front of the ball to keep it from rolling away as it was marked for Glover’s second shot. He plowed his way out of trouble and near the green, chipping on to the dance floor and in for par.

Jonathan Byrd came into Round 4 of the 2011 Wells Fargo Championship with a 2-stroke lead, which he’s increased to 3 through seven holes. The leaderboard’s front-runner scored birdies on holes No. 6 and 7, extending his advantage over Bill Haas, Brian Davis and Lucas Glover. The former two have just started their back nines, while Glover has completed eight.

Phil Mickelson is nearly done with his day, but has put together an excellent round through 15 holes to enter the top 10 at 11-under. He’s posted six birdies to present a 4-under round thus far. Padraig Harrington has had the hottest Sunday, however, shooting 6-under through 15 holes.

Johnathan Byrd fired a third round 67 to take a one-shot lead in the Wells Fargo Championship at Quail Hollow on Saturday, coming from behind to overtake leader Pat Perez. The two are closely bunched at the top, with Byrd at 15-under for the tournament and Perez at 14-under. Stewart Cink and Lucas Glover are three shots behind the lead at 12-under.

On Sunday, the final round gets underway at Quail Hollow, with the leaders set to take the course at 1:45 p.m. Coverage begins at 3 p.m. on CBS and runs until the tournament concludes. With seven golfers within five shots of the lead, anything can happen in the final round, and we’ll be tracking the action in our Wells Fargo Championship StoryStream.

After the third round of the Wells Fargo Championship, the leader makes some sense: it’s a Byrd that is on top at Quail Hollow.

Jonathan Byrd shot a 5-under 67 on Saturda, to move to 15-under for the tournament and take a one-shot lead on Pat Perez. Byrd’s 67 is his third round in the 60s at the Wells Fargo this week.

Pat Perez still has the lead in the Wells Fargo Championship. But he’s far from the only player shooting well at Quail Hollow.

Perez is 2-under on his third round through 11 holes, and, at 14-under for the tournament, leads Andres Romero and Jonathan Byrd by two strokes. But Romero and others have been hot; Romero is 6-under through 16 holes in his third round, and he isn’t even the low player on Saturday.

At Quail Hollow on Saturday afternoon, most of the Wells Fargo Championship leaders have yet to tee off, but Rory Sabbatini is enjoying a terrific Round 3 to move near the top of the leaderboard. Currently on the 18th hole, Sabbatini is 6-under for the day and tied on the leaderboard with Hunter Mahan, who is catching fire on the front nine.

The South African scored a great front nine, with birdies on the second, third, fifth, eighth, and ninth holes. He stumbled a bit with back-to-back bogeys on the 11th and 12th, but recovered nicely with an eagle on the 16th hole. Sabbatini is now 7-under for the tournament, five strokes behind leader Pat Perez, who tees off at 3:15 p.m. ET.

Pat Perez heads into the third round of the Wells Fargo Championship at Quail Hollow with a two-shot lead over first-round leader Bill Haas after firing a second round 65 to move to 12-under for the tournament. Haas sits in a two-way tie for second at 10-under along with Jonathan Byrd. Lurking three shots back are Phil Mickelson and Lucas Glover at 9-under for the tournament.

The third round gets underway at 7:10 a.m. on Saturday after the field was pared down following the cut on Friday. Defending champion Rory McIlroy was a victim of the cut after a subpar first two days that left him at 3-over for the tournament.

On Friday at Quail Hollow Club in Charlotte, North Carolina, Pat Perez has ascended to the top of the Wells Fargo Championship leaderboard. Phil Mickelson, meanwhile, pieced together a masterful second round to come within three strokes of the lead.

Perez followed up his 5-under Round 1 with a 7-under Round 2 on Friday, as he compensated for two bogeys with nine birdies. The 35-year-old is over two years removed from his lone PGA tournament win, which came in January of 2009.

Phil Mickelson will enter the weekend at Quail Hallow one stroke back of the lead after shooting a 6-under in the second round of the 2011 Wells Fargo Championship on Friday. Mickelson posted an error-free scorecard that boasted three birdies on the front and back 9 en route to a 66. Coupled with his 69 on Thursday, Phil is now 9-under for the tournament.

Bill Haas remains the name atop the Wells Fargo leaderboard after the second round, just as he was at the end of the day on Thursday. He backed up his first round 8-under with a respectable round of 2-under on Friday.

Phil Mickelson has soared up the 2011 Wells Fargo Championship leaderboard in the second round on Friday, shooting a 5-under at Quail Hallow through 13 holes. He is currently putting together the best round of the day, and is now at 8-under for the tournament and in second place. Mickelson’s scoring started early with birdies on his third and fourth holes of the morning. He posted another birdie on the 18th hole (his ninth) and two more on the back nine so far for an error-free scorecard.

The man he is still currently chasing is Bill Haas, who is 1-under on the day through 13, a far cry from the 8-under Haas put together in the first round on Thursday.

After one day of play in the Wells Fargo Championship at Quail Hollow, Bill Hass holds a two-shot lead over the field. Hass fired an 8-under 64 on Thursday to vault into the lead ahead of Jonathan Byrd and David Toms, who each sit at 6-under for the tournament. Lucas Glover and Pat Perez are three shots back at 5-under heading into Friday’s second round.

Rory McIlroy made his return to American soil after a disastrous final round at The Masters, but struggled again on Thursday. McIlroy shot a 75 to open the tournament and sits a whopping 13 shots back in a tie for 107th place. In other notables: Phil Mickelson is at 3-under, in a tie for 11th with Sergio Garcia, Padraig Harrington and others.

Bill Haas took an impressive 8-under score into the Quail Hollow clubhouse at the end of the 2011 Wells Fargo Championship’s first round, putting him two strokes ahead of Jonathan Byrd and David Toms. Haas got hot in the middle of his round, shooting eight birdies between holes No. 2 and 15.

Phil Mickelson is tied for 11th place at 3-under, with world No. 2 Martin Kaymer among the bunch close behind at 2-under. Rory McIlroy struggled to a 3-over final score for the round, bogeying two of his last three holes. Lucas Glover and Pat Perez round out the top five, each finishing 5-under.

On Thursday afternoon at Quail Hollow, Jonathan Byrd and David Toms find themselves sharing a tie for first on the Wells Fargo championship leaderboard. As of this writing, both players stand at 5-under through the first 15 holes.

Toms managed an eagle on the seventh hole, and added birdies on the sixth, 10th, and 14th holes. Toms has 12 PGA Tour wins to his name, but he’s over five years removed from his last championship.

The 2011 Wells Fargo Championship begins at 7 am ET Thursday, when Players Championship hopefuls tee off among the first two groups. All told Quail Hollow Club’s features twelve of the world’s top 25 players, including Phil Mickelson, Martin Kaymer and defending champ Rory McIlroy.

The Golf Channel will begin live TV coverage at 3 pm.

The last time Rory McIlroy played on American soil still lingers in the minds of many, including McIlroy himself. On Sunday at Augusta National Golf Club, McIlroy turned a four-shot advantage into a final round 80 at The Masters, shooting himself out of contention with triple-bogey seven on the 10th hole. This week, he’s back and set to compete in the Wells Fargo Championship at Quail Hollow.

McIlroy sought out advice from a man who knows heartbreak at Augusta National: Greg Norman. ESPN’s Bob Harig caught up with the two in the days leading up to the Wells Fargo Championship and Norman doled-out some friendly advice.

If you’re not already in the field for next week’s Players Championship, there’s one way left to qualify: Win the 2011 Wells Fargo Championship. Rory McIlroy won the 2010 Wells Fargo Championship and given his recent performance at the Masters, he might be set up perfectly to repeat.

A few other former tournament winners will be on hand at Quail Hollow Club, including 2008 champion Anthony Kim, 2006’s Jim Furyk, 2005’s Vijay Singh and 2003’s David Toms. Tiger Woods will skip the Wells Fargo as he nurses a knee injury.