Simpson hits ace in practice

JOHNS CREEK, Ga. -- Webb Simpson gave himself a belated birthday gift.

The 26-year-old former Wake Forest star scored a hole-in-one on the 254-yard 15th hole during a nine-hole practice round Tuesday at Atlanta Athletic Club.

"It looked pretty good and I'd just told Kevin Streelman, '100 dollar hole-in-ones?'" Simpson said. "We didn't really see it go in, but the crowd behind the green screamed."

Simpson, who played in one of the final groups of the Chattanooga Classic in 2008, used a 21-degree hybrid to cover the distance.

"It's such a hard hole and I kind of would have liked it to come during a tournament," Simpson said while signing autographs behind the 18th green. "But you can't really hold aces."

Chubby Slam possible

Chubby Chandler is the Scott Boras of international golfers -- agent to the best of the best.

The Tiger Slam became a golf term when Woods won four straight majors. Another sort of slam is gaining momentum -- the Chubby Slam.

Chandler clients Charl Schwartzel, Rory McIlroy and Darren Clarke have won the first three majors of the year, and a few others are favorites as well this week.

"I'm not impressed with his preparation," Lee Westwood joked of his aptly named agent who weighs about 300 pounds. "He's not been in the gym; haven't seen him on the range yet. He doesn't function well in the heat.

"He drinks a lot, but not water."

Watson all a Twitter

Bubba Watson loves Twitter. He has more than 175,000 followers.

He called golf "boring" Tuesday before practice at the PGA Championship, and he uses social media to show fans the fun side of being a PGA Tour professional.

"All we see on television is the guys bearing down, trying to win golf tournaments, trying to hit good shots," said Watson, the runner-up last year at Whistling Straights. "Twitter and all of these things is to show the fun side, to show that we do have fun and we do have a life."

Watson said he follows the players who follow him on Twitter.

"Well, the second best is probably like Rickie [Fowler] or Ian Poulter," Watson said. "First is me for sure. It's always about me, isn't it?"

Quotable:

"[Fowler] told me to quit being a baby and just play good golf and quit crying all the time and blaming other people, or blaming the wind, or blaming a bad bounce. So he told me to suck it up and be a man."

-- Bubba Watson

"The speed of the greens are right up there [with Augusta National]. I thought the greens were comparable. I've found playing on those fast greens are good for me. You could say that being back in the state of Georgia gives you a little feel of good memories."

-- Masters champion Charl Schwartzel

Q & A

Q: To Darren Clarke. "You mentioned the heat. How do you like playing in the heat? It will be a little different than St. George's."

A: "Obviously I'm a finely tuned athlete, so it should not affect me that much."

Contact David Uchiyama at duchiyama@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6484. Follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/UchiyamaCTFP.

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