Bad Stomach No Problem for Verplank - September 4th

NORTON, Mass. – Scott Verplank has a word of caution for you: stay away from lobster ravioli.

That is, unless you want to shoot a great round of golf.

Verplank fired a 6-under-par 65 Friday in the opening round of the Deutsche Bank Championship to land among the leaders in the second PGA TOUR Playoff event. That performance certainly surprised Verplank as just hours earlier he was struggling to stand battling what he felt was an upset stomach after ingesting a plate of lobster ravioli at dinner on Thursday evening.

Verplank’s good friends, Steve Stricker, also had the lobster ravioli on Thursday. He had a similar result as Verplank, though his didn’t have anything to do with an upset stomach. Stricker went out on Friday and, paired with Tiger Woods and Heath Slocum, shot a blistering 8-under-par 63 and is the leader after the morning wave of players at the Deutsche Bank Championship.

His friend, Verplank, on the other hand was worried more about having to withdraw than about firing a low number.

“I could barely make it out there this morning,” said Verplank. “I called [Stricker] and said, ‘Are you not feeling well?’ He said, ‘No, I’m fine.’”

While both golfers played amazing golf on Friday morning, Verplank certainly had the most to overcome.

“I mean, I was bad last night,” said Verplank. “I got about two or three hours of sleep, broken up.

“I was really just hoping to survive today, and you know what, maybe that’s what I needed.”

Certainly stomach problems weren’t what Verplank wanted, but he admitted he was more relaxed on the course, focused more on keeping his breakfast down that swinging his clubs.

“I was more worried about putting one foot in front of the next one versus anything else,” said Verplank.

It helped that things started fast. Verplank rolled home an eagle putt on the par-5 2nd and followed that up with birdies at 4, 6 and 7 to post a 5-under 31 on the front nine. The back became a battle against fatigue, but a great approach to the par-4 17th and a birdie at the par-5 18th salvaged an impressive score.

“I started feeling the effects of it on the back nine,” said Verplank. “I was dragging a little bit.

“And then I got a couple of breaths in my body. I hit a really nice shot on the 17th, hit a 9-iron about three feet. And then 18, I had to lay up because I hit my drive a little too far left and hit it about eight or 10 feet behind the hole, and [the putt] went in.”

The solid start is well-timed for Verplank who currently sits 37th in the FedExCup standings. Though he’s almost guaranteed a spot in next weekend’s BMW Championship, he’s looking for a few solid scores this weekend in Boston to move up in the standings and solidify a spot in the season-ending TOUR Championships.

When asked if he’d like a plate of lobster ravioli to encourage another solid showing on Saturday, Verplank declined.

“I’m going to eat something a lot more bland.”