A wet week, compounded with persistent rain overnight on Wednesday led to a decision by the PGA Tour to allow the players to lift, clean and replace balls in the fairway all day on July 4. The question is will the Old White firm up if the rain stays away for good? In Bubba Watson’s opinion, the fairways are going to be soft all week. “The greens might get a little bit tougher, but not much,” he said.</span></p>
<p align=”justify”><span style=”font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt”>After Day 1 of the 2013 Greenbrier Classic, Tommy “Two Gloves” Gainey and Johnson Wagner are tied atop the leaderboard, having shot 8-under 62, a two-stroke lead over Webb Simpson and Jin Park, both at 6-under, heading into Friday.</span></p>
<p align=”justify”><span style=”font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt”>Wagner was on pace to shoot sub-60 on Thursday, making eagle on No. 12 to drop his score to 8-under on the day. He made par on his final six holes to tie Gainey, however. Neither of the leaders bogeyed any of their 36 combined holes played.</span></p>
<p align=”justify”><span style=”font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt”>”I’m very happy that I got my round in without delays because I believe, as I’ve heard, there’s more rain coming,” Gainey said, who gave a lot of credit to his success to his equipment. “I put a new Callaway driver in the bag,” he said. “I missed one fairway with this new driver, and that says a lot. If I can hit fairways, I can score. With soft greens, I made some putts.” {{more}}</span></p>
<p align=”justify”><span style=”font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt”>Wagner had been struggling coming into The Greenbrier Classic. His last seven tournaments included six missed cuts and a withdrawal at the Memorial, another cut he would have surely missed. He’s made just six cuts in 18 events this year, the last coming in the RBC Heritage at Hilton Head Island in late April.</span></p>
<p align=”justify”><span style=”font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt”>The Old White TPC may have also aided Wagner’s turnaround. He played on the course three or four times a year while at Virginia Tech, and he’s played in each of the three previous Greenbrier Classics, finishing 11 th in 2011.</span></p>
<p align=”justify”><span style=”font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt”>”I’ve always loved The Old White,” said Wagner.</span></p>
<p align=”justify”><span style=”font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt”>Bubba Watson headlined an all-left-handed trio that included fellow fan favorite Phil Mickelson and 2012 Greenbrier champion Ted Potter, Jr. Watson took low honors in the group, carding a 2-under-par 68 – erasing a pair of bogies with four birdies. Potter finished at 1-under, while Mickelson, trying to make his first Greenbrier Classic cut in three tries, took a triple-bogey on the par-5 17th, after hitting his tee shot into the water, and then bogeyed the par-3 18th to finish with a 4-over 74.</span></p>
<p align=”justify”><span style=”font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt”>Huge galleries followed the star-powered grouping, much to the delight of The Greenbrier chairman and CEO Jim Justice.</span></p>
<p align=”justify”><span style=”font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt”>”This is just great, he said, watching fans pour down the hill from the 11th tee to keep pace with the group. “The crowds are huge, and the roars sound just like Augusta.”</span></p>
<p align=”justify”><span style=”font-family: Arial; font-size: 10pt”>Tom Watson, the 2014 Ryder Cup captain and The Greenbrier’s pro emeritus, turned back the clock with a 68. The 63-year-old was just six shots out of the lead on Thursday.</span></p>
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