CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Peter Malnati had missed eight consecutive cuts heading into the first round of the Wells Fargo Championship.
So of course he shot 4-under-par 67 on Thursday at Quail Hollow to get on the first page of the leaderboard.
Golf is goofy.
“I’m pretty honest with myself. There are times when I know I’m awful,” said Malnati, who has fallen to No. 165 in the official world golf rankings. “I’ve been way off for the last couple months frankly, but here in the last three or four weeks I’ve started to hit some really, really good shots. They’ve been flanked with awful ones and that’s why my scores stink, but the really, really good shots are there.
“You don’t hit good shots if you’re not doing something right. So to me, like trying to get back to playing good golf has been more about elimination than addition. The good is there, I’ve got to get rid of some of the bad. I don’t exactly know how to do that; if I did, I wouldn’t ever play bad, but I’m moving in the right direction right now and that’s fine.”
Wells Fargo: Leaderboard | Photos
Malnati last saw a weekend of golf when he tied for 10th in the Farmers Insurance Open in January. Then he started slamming the truck and heading home after two rounds.
“I’ve had times Friday nights, just felt really awful. That’s just kind of the nature of this business, I think,” he said. “There are a few guys who are good enough that they can still make cuts even when they’re not playing well. I’m not in that category yet. Missed cuts are a part of the business. That’s not to say it’s easy, but I never woke Saturday morning and said I need to go find something new. I need to find a new philosophy, a new swing, a new anything.”
His swing worked just fine in the first round as he went around the tough track without a bogey. Malnati said it felt really nice to go around this difficult layout without getting out of position very often. Now he’s in position to make his second cut of the year as he chases his second PGA Tour title.
“No one made it to the PGA Tour by fluke or by accident. We made it out here because we did a lot of things right and played a lot of good golf. So there’s something innately good in what we did to get here, and I try to remember that even when I get in one of those down times,” he said. “And I wasn’t always good at that, by the way. I’ve panicked plenty of times over the years.
“I’ve had some Friday nights and Saturday mornings when I was just really bummed, really down this year. It stinks. But at the end of the day, I get to wake up every morning and I’m playing golf on the PGA Tour. That’s a dream come true. So my goodness, how bad can it be?”
