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Starting with a bang, Chris Kirk brought the fireworks to the World Wide Technology Championship at Mayakoba. Making a hole-in-one on his very first swing of the day on the par-3 10th, the former Georgia Bulldog shot out of the gates, playing his first four holes in 5-under.
Eventually carding a 7-under 64, Kirk along with the rest of the field, will be looking up to Matthew Wolff heading into the second round. To the tune of 10-under 61, the man who is making his tournament debut this week made 10 birdies against zero bogeys.
Good for a two-stroke lead over Aaron Wise, Wolff made easy work of the Greg Norman design on Thursday. Hitting 11 of 14 fairways and 14 of 18 greens in regulation, the former Oklahoma State standout leaned on his ball-striking to get around El Camaleon in a record fashion.
When asked what it was like to be in such a zone all day, Wolff said, “It was very steady, birdies kind of came evenly throughout the round, didn’t really make any mistakes. I think my game plan coming into the week was just really keeping the ball in play off the tee. I feel like when you start taking clubs that you’re trying to push it up or, you know, get a little farther up there, that’s when stuff narrows in. I think the main thing about how you play well out here is just being comfortable. Every single shot I was comfortable over, I was committed to. Yeah, just ended up that, at the end of the day, last putt dropped. I didn’t know it was a course record, it’s really cool to hear.”
Wolff was not alone as the field scoring average was nearly 2-under in the first-round with the front-nine playing about a stroke easier than the back-side. Likely to continue over the remaining 54-holes, players will need to keep the pedal to the metal as a shootout is brewing barring some potential winds over the weekend.
Our friends at PointsBet Sportsbook have Wolff as a +500 favorite heading into Friday at Mayakoba. Having had one hand on the trophy at the Shriners Children’s Open last month before a final round 62 courtesy of Sungjae Im, the 22-year-old is in the driver’s seat to capture victory No. 2 on the PGA Tour.
As for us, we are in a decent position with our outright and place wagers after the first day of play, so we won’t be looking for anything in those markets. Instead, we will target a three-ball as one in particular has caught my eye.
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Updated Odds to WIn (Odds Via PointsBet):
+500: Matthew Wolff
+900: Aaron Wise
+1200: Billy Horschel, Sergio Garcia
+1600: Russell Henley, Talor Gooch
+2000: Viktor Hovland
+2200: Chris Kirk
+2500: Abraham Ancer
+3000: Justin Thomas
+3300: Joel Dahmen, Scottie Scheffler, Tony Finau
+3500: Gary Woodland, Matthew Fitzpatrick, Rickie Fowler
+5000: Chez Reavie, Christiaan Bezuidenhout, Francesco Molinari, Ian Poulter, Kevin Streelman, Ryan Moore
Round 2 Plays (Odds Via PointsBet):
Scott Piercy (+193) over Cameron Tringale and Kelly Kraft
Coming into the week, Piercy had gain strokes from tee-to-green in five consecutive starts dating back to last season. With such performances including a T-15 finish at the Wyndham Championship and a T-11 finish at the Fortinet Championship, the 42-year-old arrived to Mayakoba in the midst of some strong play. While it did not materialize to an ideal opening round – shooting 2-under 69 – he finished Thursday on a high note.
Beginning on the back-nine, Piercy stumbled around the turn, going bogey, double-bogey on Nos. 1 and 2. Clawing back via three birdies in a row, the Las Vegas native gave himself a chance to see the weekend with a nice round tomorrow. Which I expect him to do given he has done just that in his last five trips to El Camaleon. With top-5, top-10, top-20, top-30, and top-40 finishes under his belt during this time, a clear comfort level has been established in Mexico.
Here’s to hoping it comes to light in the second round as Piercy hardly struck the ball poorly in Round 1. Outside of his drive on No. 2, which found a penalty area, the four-time winner on the PGA Tour found nine fairways. Bettering Kraft and Tringale in said category, Piercy also clipped them each by a single stroke. With the duo in question relying more heavily on putting compared to Piercy, he has an opportunity to differentiate himself by an even wider margin tomorrow.
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