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The PGA Tour’s return to the United States had to wait just a bit longer as early morning thunderstorms delayed play on Thursday, forcing half the field to complete their first-rounds tomorrow. With nearly an inch of rain falling on Memorial Park Golf Course, softer than usual conditions were presented to players as ball was in hand in Round 1.
Despite the potential for low scores, none were able to match the competitive course record of 7-under 63 set by Hideki Matsuyama, Mackenzie Hughes, and Talor Gooch in last year’s final round. However, a trio of players came close with Marc Leishman, Russell Henley, and Gooch each putting together rounds of 5-under 65.
The Oklahoma State product once again finds himself in the mix as he searches for his first career win on the PGA Tour. With two top-5 finishes and two top-11 finishes in his four starts this swing season, Gooch has been one of the best players on Tour this fall. Returning to a venue where he enjoyed such great success last season, he didn’t skip a beat.
When asked what he has taken from the start to his season, the soon to be 30-year-old said, “Yeah, anytime you’re playing well you try to grab on to that momentum, and it can be tough to take it week to week in golf because there’s such a pause between tournament round and the next week’s tournament starting. So, you just try to do everything you can to keep doing the same things. I’ve been able to keep doing that through the stretch, so hopefully we can continue it for the rest of this week.”
Celebrating a birthday on Sunday, perhaps Gooch will have even more to look forward to as he is the current favorite at PointsBet Sportsbook. Listed at +850, it will be interesting to see how the odds board plays out as the first-round is set to resume at 7:00 a.m. and the second round is scheduled to start at 8:40 a.m. local time.
We unfortunately had nothing doing in the first-round department as we were robbed of a Seung-Yul Noh 63 as he withdrew pre-tournament due to a back injury. In no position to add an outright selection at this point in time, we will instead look to a couple of three-balls as strokes-gained data has finally made its way back into our lives.
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Updated Odds to Win (Odds Via PointsBet):
+850: Talor Gooch
+1000: Marc Leishman, Russell Henley, Sam Burns
+1600: Luke List
+1800: Shane Lowry
+2200: Matthew Wolff
+2500: Adam Scott
+2800: Sungjae Im
+3300: Jason Kokrak, Jhonattan Vegas, Tony Finau
+4000: Aaron Wise, Brooks Koepka, Cameron Smith, Keith Mitchell, Scottie Scheffler
+5000: Adam Long, Brian Harman, Ian Poulter, Wyndham Clark
Round 2 Plays (Odds Via PointsBet):
Martin Laird (+171) over Lanto Griffin and Brandt Snedeker
Our first-round aspirations for Laird fell short, but I am willing to forgive him given the way he played on Thursday. Always a steady striker of the golf ball, it was much of the same for the Scot, ending the day ranked 17th in Strokes Gained: Tee-to-Green – primarily due to his performance with his irons having posted +1.92 SG: Approach.
Despite the shortcomings in the other aspects of his game, Laird still turned in a round of 1-under 69. Unable to convert birdie opportunities on any of the par-5’s, the 38-year-old is in a position to improve on such an effort. While he struggled on and around-the-green, he was able to connect from distance on the 18th hole to finish his round on a high note and possibly signaling at things to come tomorrow.
Besting Laird by a single-stroke was Griffin – the 2019 Houston Open Champion. It likely could have been even more if not for a double-bogey on No. 3, yet still I believe the Blacksburg native squeezed just about everything he could out of today’s round. Sixth in SG: Putting and hitting only 12 of 18 greens in regulation, some may believe his approach figures are misleading due to one poor swing, but I am willing to chance they are in fact telling.
Sitting outside the top-90 in SG: Off-the-Tee, SG: Around-the-Green, and SG: Putting, Snedeker had nothing going for him en route to a 4-over 74. His irons weren’t horrible, but the inaccuracy off-the-tee may be too much for his scoring clubs to overcome tomorrow, leading me to Laird once again.
Zach Johnson (+198) over Stewart Cink and Francesco Molinari
It was a rather boring Thursday for Johnson who opened and closed with bogeys to sandwich 16 pars. Carding a 2-over 72, the two-time major winner was ineffective on the greens, posting –3.14 SG: Putting, 130th in the field. Typically, a strength of his, Johnson has a golden opportunity to bounce back in a big way on Friday.
Seventh in SG: Approach and 23rd in SG: Around-the-Green, Johnson gave himself plenty of birdie looks. He gained more than two-strokes on these greens in last year’s tournament, so in the back of his mind, he knows he has what it takes to make a few more putts.
Cink may have stolen Johnson’s prowess on the greens as the 48-year-old appeared to have a nice day with the putter. Carding an even-par 70, he struck the ball poorly and was bailed out multiple times by his short-game. Never a strength of his, I envision him coming back to earth in said department.
The third member of this group is Molinari who limped into this week off a missed cut at Mayakoba. The Italian has been struggling for the last few months and with nothing to suggest he is close to turning things around, I feel comfortable going to Johnson in this one.
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