Out of the early wave and playing on a sponsor exemption, past champ and World No. 771 Jim Furyk played his final five holes in 5-under toward an 8-under-par 32-30=62 in R1 of the Sony Open, good for the clubhouse lead by one over three players.
The 51-year-old, making his 18th appearance, won the 1996 edition in a playoff over Brad Faxon after being T2 thru 18 holes and a 36-hole co-leader. That was his second TOUR victory of a now 17 in 632 events, most recently hoisting a trophy at the 2015 RBC Heritage 101 starts ago, where he was T36 after R1 (71-64-68-63). The Arizona product, the owner of the lowest score on TOUR with a 12-under 58 in R4 at the 2016 Travelers (finished T5), made just seven TOUR starts last season and finished 201st in the FedExCup standings. He’s won three times on the Champions Tour in 26 events, including last season’s U.S. Senior Open, and this is his season debut among the younger crowd. If this lead/co-lead holds up, it would be his first lead/co-lead after any round since T1 after R3 of the 2015 WGC-Bridgestone (finished T3). Today, his lone blemish on 10 (of 14) fairways and 14 greens in regulation was bogey-5 at hole 1 (3-putt from 85'11"), but then played his final 17 in 9-under, ending his scoring with an
ace at the 187-yard par-3 17th (
https://twitter.com/PGATOUR/status/1481767262671486979?s=20). At last check, the NE Florida resident lost 0.817 strokes off-the-tee but gained 2.419 on approach and 4.794 with the flat stick, buoyed by three birdie conversions from between 25 and 34 feet. See
link below to post-round presser.
UPDATE: With R1 complete, Furyk is T2, one back of defending champ Kevin Na.