Colonial leader Harold Varner III has a chance to make history in Fort Worth
The PGA Tour couldn’t have scripted a better restart to its season.
The Charles Schwab Challenge leaderboard is littered with some of golf’s biggest stars. Rory McIlroy and Justin Thomas are in contention in their Colonial debuts. Justin Rose is in the mix for another plaid jacket. Jordan Spieth has returned to form.
But the biggest storyline is Harold Varner III playing his best golf at a time when our country faces protests across the country against social and racial injustices. Varner is one of two Black players in the field this week, and has risen to the top of a stacked field at 11-under.
It’s Varner’s best start in his PGA Tour career and he has a chance to become the first Black player to win in Colonial history. Tiger Woods finished tied for fourth in his only Colonial back in 1997, the best finish of any Black player in tournament history.
Charlie Sifford played in eight Colonials with a best finish of T15 in 1973. Jim Dent played six times with a best finish of T38 in 1974. Calvin Peete played here twice, finishing T33 in 1986.
Varner is in position to top them all after following his 7-under 63 on Thursday with a 4-under 66 on Friday. He opened the day with a triple-bogey on No. 10, but he would rally. He had a stretch of four straight birdies on his second nine, Nos. 4-7, and another birdie on No. 9.
Varner is doing it with his irons, such as sticking a 220-yard 5-iron to within 4 feet for a birdie on No. 5. And he’s rolling the putter well, evident by his 31-footer for birdie on No. 4 and a 21-footer for birdie on No. 7.
Asked about bouncing back from a triple-bogey start, Varner said: “Just gave myself so many looks. I tripled hole 10, and then on 12 I had like a 3-footer for birdie, so you’re starting to just get a lot of momentum. Even after a triple, you just can’t live in the past. It’s not a great place to be and it’s hard to learn from there.”
The PGA Tour is making a conscious effort to raise awareness for racial injustices this week by observing a moment of silence at 8:46 a.m. every round in honor of George Floyd, a Black man who died while in police custody last month. A Minneapolis police officer knelt on Floyd’s neck for 8 minutes, 46 seconds.
Varner applauded the PGA Tour for doing that, although admitted he was more focused on recovering from his triple-bogey when the horn sounded during his round Friday.
“I was really just focused on playing some good golf,” Varner said. “It’s pretty cool that the tour is doing that, but when you’re out there, you’re just so in the moment. Well, I was anyway. I don’t know, man, I was just trying to make a birdie.”
This story was originally published June 12, 2020 at 7:00 PM with the headline "Colonial leader Harold Varner III has a chance to make history in Fort Worth."
