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Riding the momentum from securing his PGA Tour card via the Korn Ferry Tour Finals, Kiradech Aphibarnrat played care-free on Thursday. Arriving to Wentworth “more comfortable on the golf course,” after battling injury and playing sparingly due to COVID-19 travel restrictions, Aphibarnrat put together a round to remember on the first day of the BMW PGA Championship.
In his post-round interview, Aphibarnrat said, “I’ve had a really hard time the last two years. Playing with the injury, hurting my right knee after The Masters and then when Covid hit I had to go back to my country and was stuck in the country for eight months - I couldn’t play much golf. When I came back out, I just couldn’t get the rhythm to play at golf events. I was getting nerves to go on the first tee, I didn’t know how to move the ball, I didn’t feel comfortable on the golf course at all.” He went on to add, “After I got my Tour card back from the Korn Ferry finals it loosened me up so that I feel free to play my own game, I feel more comfortable on the golf course.”
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Off in the morning wave, Aphibarnrat turned in 1-under 34 before finding a completely different gear on the back-nine of Wentworth. Making birdie on seven of his first eight-holes on the inward half, Aphibarnrat sat at 8-under heading into the closing hole. Finding some trouble in the greenside bunker, the four-time winner on the European Tour was able to save par, coming home in 7-under 30.
Carding a bogey-free round of 8-under 64, it appeared unlikely anyone from the afternoon wave would match his efforts. With wind picking up a touch and Wentworth as a whole becoming firmer, it was South African, Christiaan Bezuidenhout who was up to the challenge.
Navigating through the difficult opening stretch of Wentworth, Bezuidenhout arrived to the par-5 4th at even-par. Over the green in two, the recent PGA Tour card holder dunked his chip shot for an eagle-three. Parlaying this eagle into three consecutive birdies, Bezuidenhout turned in 5-under 30.
Still at the 5-under number arriving to the par-4 16th, it appeared as if the round had stalled for the three-time European Tour winner. However, birdies on the final three holes of his round were good enough to replicate Aphibarnrat’s morning round as the two sit atop the leaderboard one-stroke clear of Adam Scott.
The odds makers at PointsBet Sportsbook give the slight edge to Bezuidenhout with 54-holes to go. At +300, he is the favorite to take home the Rolex Series Event, a tournament in which he finished solo third just two years ago.
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Updated Odds to Win (Odds Via PointsBet):
+300: Christiaan Bezuidenhout
+500: Adam Scott
+1200: Justin Rose, Kiradech Aphibarnrat
+2000: Shane Lowry
+2200: Masahiro Kawamura
+3000: Alex Noren
+3500: Henrik Stenson, Laurie Canter, Viktor Hovland
+4000: Billy Horschel, Francesco Molinari, Joost Luiten, Matthias Schwab
+5000: Lee Westwood, Thomas Detry, Tommy Fleetwood
Round 2 Plays (Odds Via PointsBet):
Justin Rose (+174) over Adam Scott and Matthew Fitzpatrick
Following along with the morning action, the Australian got absolutely everything out of his first-round. While it was impressive to see Scott put together a round of 7-under, I am hesitant of him being able to sustain it moving forward. Especially when considering the break Scott received on the par-4 15th and what he was able to turn it into.
Having to hit a provisional off-the-tee, Scott was able to find his initial tee-shot. Putting it back in play, par would always be a difficult ask. Not for Scott as he pitched in for birdie from the fairway, encapsulating his first-round. Needing only 25 putts to get around Wentworth on Thursday, Scott recorded nine one-putts.
While he wasn’t horrible in the ball-striking department, there is room for Scott to regress having played the par-5’s perfectly. Only two-strokes worse than him on Thursday was Rose who led the field in greens in regulation in Round 1. Hitting 16 of 18 greens, Rose’s irons gave the Englishman plenty of birdie opportunities.
Unfortunately for Rose, he was only able to convert five of them as he struggled a bit on the greens. With a slight uptick with the flat-stick and the potential to take advantage of all the par-5’s, I envision Rose getting the better of Scott and his fellow countryman Fitzpatrick, who struggled en route to a round of even-par 72 today.
Robert MacIntyre (+184) over Alex Noren and Graeme McDowell
With par-5 scoring a trendy topic in the above write-up, we’ll stick with the alleged theme of the article as MacIntyre faltered on those four holes on Thursday. Failing to record a birdie on any of those holes, the 25-year-old played them in 2-over, as he made a double-bogey seven on the 17th to go along with three pars.
Yet it wasn’t all bad in MacIntyre’s first-round 2-over 74. Had he played them in 2-under, a modest upgrade, he would have tied Noren and gotten the better of assistant captain McDowell. I was surprised to see the Scot hit 14 of 18 greens in regulation based on his mid-round comments. Being interviewed in the front-half of his back-nine, MacIntyre mentioned how well he was putting and just needed to strike the ball a touch better.
The statistics told a different story as he recorded 32 putts in Round 1 at Wentworth - perhaps the confidence is there, and not quite the form. Nevertheless, I liked his overall optimism towards his putting and believe it could come to fruition tomorrow.
If that is the case, Noren likely presents the main threat, having driven the ball beautifully and putted in an effective manner. Not only did the irons lack a bit, hitting only 12 greens in Round 1, but outside of the par-5’s he played the rest of the course in 1-over.
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