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The 2021-22 PGA Tour season began Thursday morning in Napa, California. Cool temperatures swept through the property of Silverado Resort and Spa as quarter-zips and layers were out and about on the North Course.
With 25 of the 27 PGA Tour rookies beginning their journeys on the big stage this week in wine country, eyes were drawn to some of the new names on the leaderboard. While the likes of Dawie van der Walt, Nick Hardy, and Scott Gutschewski put together strong opening rounds, it was an elder statesman grabbing the early lead.
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Hardly out of the gates fast, Chez Reavie started began his first-round of the Fortinet Championship on the back-nine of the Silverado North Course. Standing on the 16th tee at 1-over through his first six-holes, the 39-year-old rattled off two consecutive birdies to eventually turn in 1-under 35.
Getting his feet underneath him, the former Arizona State Sun Devil carried the momentum into his inward half. Coming home in 6-under 30 thanks to three birdies on his final three holes, Reavie carded a first-round total of 7-under 65.
Close to chasing Reavie down in the afternoon wave while Silverado was firming up was Mito Pereira. Locking in his status on the PGA Tour last season via a three-win promotion on the Korn Ferry Tour, the Chilean has already made a name for himself.
Nearly capturing the bronze medal at the Olympic Games in Tokyo, Pereira appears to have picked up where he left off in the 2020-21 season. Going out in bogey-free 5-under 31, Pereira was in full control of his game heading into the homeward half.
However, Pereira stalled during the front-half of his back-nine, dropping a shot on the difficult par-4 13th. Rebounding with birdie on the par-5, the rookie narrowly missed another on his closing hole and instead had to settle for a 5-under 67 to sit two adrift of Reavie.
The oddsmakers at Points Bet Sportsbook have Reavie as the favorite with 54-holes to go at +900. As for Jon Rahm, the heavy pre-tournament favorite, he sputtered on Thursday, signing for an even-par 72. Despite sitting seven-strokes off the lead, the world No. 1 is +1600 as he has work to do to even make it to the weekend.
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Updated Odds to Win (Odds Via PointsBet):
+900: Chez Reavie
+1200: Cameron Tringale
+1600: Adam Hadwin, Jon Rahm
+1800: Will Zalatoris
+2000: Hideki Matsuyama, Kevin Na, Mito Pereira
+2200: Max Homa
+2800: Harold Varner III, Maverick McNealy, Si Woo Kim
+3300: Webb Simpson
+4000: Charley Hoffman, Troy Merritt
+5000: Brandt Snedeker, Jason Dufner, Joseph Bramlett, Marc Leishman, Patrick Rodgers, Scott Stallings
Round 2 Plays (Odds Via PointsBet):
C.T. Pan (+178) over Jim Herman and Sebastian Munoz
One hole, just one-hole derailed Pan’s first-round efforts as the Olympic bronze medalist put together a round of 1-under 71. Finishing the day 24th in Strokes Gained: Approach, Pan struggled off-the-tee as evidenced by his adventures on the par-5 9th-hole.
Wayward off-the-tee, Pan had no choice but to pitch out back into play. However, he wasn’t able to, finding the rough, and struggled to make his way to the green. Only then did chipping woes enter the equation, ending with a double-bogey seven. Playing the fourth easiest hole on Thursday, if Pan had just made par, he would have found himself inside the top-25 on the leaderboard.
I am willing to chance Pan gets the better of the par-5’s tomorrow, which should be enough to outdo Herman and Munoz. Herman wasn’t all too impressive tee-to-green and in fact did most of hid damage on the greens. Ranking 117th in SG: Tee-to-Green and 11th in SG: Putting, I could see the 43-year-old struggling in Round 2 and potentially miss the cut after a Thursday 70.
As for Munoz, it’s always a tad scary to wager against a player who is so volatile. Finishing the day outside the top-130 in each strokes gained category, the Colombian carded a 4-over 76. While he has shown the ability to bounce back in the past, I’ll side with Pan instead as he showed more in Round 1 and is the larger price between the two.
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