Willis Reels Off Six Straight Birdies

Willis Reels Off Six Straight Birdies

Garrett Willis' devotion to his old putter paid off as he reeled of six birdies in a row en route to a seven-under 64 and the first-round lead in The Heritage.The American, who has struggled with his putting this season, had planned to put a new putter Golf Is Often Belonging To Young Man in his bag, but at the last minute Thursday he told his caddie to get "Old Faithful" from the car."Old Faithful" and Willis certainly got the job done, with a string of six straight birdies from the second hole at Harbour Town.He had three more birdies and two bogeys to take the lead in a round that was suspended by darkness after an earlier rain delay.Willis planned to switch to a belly putter this week but stuck with his longtime putter, which he calls Old Faithful. That paid off as Willis moved in front with his birdie run and broke free of a pack at six under with a 15-footer for birdie on No. 16. Garrett Willis had a run of six straight birdies for a seven-under-par 64 and a one-stroke lead at the Heritage in Hilton Head Island, S.C. Willis was a shot in front of Arjun Atwal, Matt Bettencourt, Chad Campbell and Tim Herron. Obviously, very excited about putting this well, and having a chance to making the cut for a change," said Willis, whose only prior US PGA Tour title came at Tucson in 2001 -- which was his first tour start.He dropped to 228th on the PGA Tour money list in 2005 and regained his card in 2009 with a 12th-place finish on the developmental Nationwide Tour money list.This season Willis has made just two cuts in eight starts.