Will Wilcox opens with 4-under 68 at Frys.com Open after car break-in

Will Wilcox’s 2015-16 PGA Tour season didn’t get off to the best start on Wednesday, when he learned some vandal or vandals smashed in the back window of his Frys.com Open-issued courtesy car and that some of his stuff was missing.

“I was freaking out at first, just sprinting down the steps, because I thought it was going to be my clubs and that would have been the worst thing ever,” Wilcox said Thursday.

Oof looks like there were some ruffians about last night at the hotel pic.twitter.com/2Cp4hq0SUq

— Will Wilcox (@willwilcoxgolf) October 14, 2015

The clubs were safe in his trunk, but the thieves took two new pairs of shoes and a travel bag.

Wilcox’s car wasn’t the only one broken into in his hotel parking lot, with five or six more cars getting the same treatment.

However, the bad luck didn’t carry over into opening-round play on Thursday, as Wilcox opened with 4-under 68 at Silverado Resort’s North Course. Wilcox went out in 30 to surge into the early tournament lead, but came home in a disappointing 38 to leave him five shots behind first-round leader Brendan Steele.

It’s a good effort for Wilcox, who hasn’t played since missing the cut on Aug. 30 at The Barclays, the first leg of the PGA Tour’s FedEx Cup playoffs. A day later, at a charity golf event in Atlanta, Wilcox suffered a bruised knee while trying to get in a rental car. He was forced to pull out of the Detusche Bank Championship, ending his season.

Wilcox, who earned his PGA Tour status despite limited starts last season, was worried going into Thursday that he hadn’t shaken off the ring rust from his time off.

“If I take more than four days off, it gets pretty rusty,” Wilcox said. “Eight days ago, I could barely keep it on the planet. … I get nervous. I don’t want to embarrass myself out here.”

Ryan Ballengee is a Yahoo Sports contributor. Find him on Facebook and Twitter.

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