Los Angeles: Cam Davis, an Australian, shot an eight-under par 62 on Thursday to take a two-stroke lead in the first round of the Sony Open, the first full-field competition of the US PGA Tour season, which is currently suspended. At the 13th hole in Honolulu, Hawaii, Davis made a run of four consecutive birdies with a 37-foot putt, defying the windy afternoon conditions. He shot a 21-foot birdie at the 15th to take a share of the lead, having previously rolled in a 10-footer at the 14th.
With a one-shot lead following an eight-foot birdie at the sixteenth hole, Davis completed his career-low round on the PGA Tour with a closing birdie at the par-five eighth. When play was suspended due to darkness with twenty-six players still to finish the first round, he was two strokes ahead of Taylor Montgomery, who had set an early target with a six-under round sixty-four. Davis acknowledged the wind was challenging but his familiarity on the greens made up for it.
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“I was seeing the green reads pretty well for some reason today,” he stated. “I felt like I was seeing them well and putting decent speed and just hitting good putts on top of that.”(I) just kind of gradually worked up to that point before kind of exploding there with a few in a row. Yes, it’s rather soothing to not have to worry about making pars today. Having not played since the RSM Classic in November, Montgomery (who finished with nine birdies in his 64) said he wasn’t sure what to anticipate, but he took advantage of an early tee time that let him to dodge the worst of the gusts that built up later. “Very happy with how I started,” Montgomery said after making five of the last nine birdies, including three consecutive ones from the 13th through the 15th and one more at the 18th to seize the lead. It was good to have this kind of start because after working on things and preparing for a month and a half without a competition, you really have no idea what will emerge. “We definitely got a good tee time being able to play the first, like, six holes with no wind, and so that definitely helped. “Gary Woodland, the former US Open winner, looked even more nervous in his first outing since undergoing brain surgery in September to remove a lesion that had been causing him anxiety attacks. “Hearing Topeka, Kansas, hearing my name called (on the first tee), there was a point when I didn’t know whether it was going to be called again, so it got me a little more than I thought it was going to,” Woodland said. It scarcely mattered that he shot one over par given the circumstances. “Probably the happiest I’ve ever been shooting over par, tell you that,” Woodland stated. Three players tied for third place on five-under 65: Webb Simpson of the United States, Austin Eckroat of England, and Stephan Jaeger of Germany. Chris Kirk, the winner of Sunday’s season-opening Sentry tournament at Kapalua on Maui, was among a group at four under par 66. Kirk is attempting to become the second player after Ernie Els (2003) and Justin Thomas (2017) to have swept the two Hawaiian championships.
