Out of the late wave, World No. 144 Danny Willett front loaded a 3-under-par 32-35=67 in R1 of The Honda Classic, currently T5 and three back of leader Kurt Kitayama.
This is the 34-year-old’s second Honda, first since a missed cut by one in 2017 (69-72), and is making his first PGA TOUR start since a missed cut by seven at the Houston Open back in mid-November (72-76). Since then, he’s played four events on the DP World Tour, going 2-for-4, including a best of T35 in his most recent action three weeks ago at the Ras al Khaimah Championship. Today, the Englishman squared two bogey-5s at holes 4 and 16, both missed par-savers from 7'6", outpaced by five birdies at 1, 2, 3, 5 and 14, three from between 25 and 32 feet. At last check, he posted 1.374 SG: Off-the-Tee, 0.196 SG: Approach, 1.161 SG: Around, and 1.498 SG: Putting, the latter drug down by two missed birdie tries from inside of 10 feet, lowlighted by a whiff at 13 from 45 inches.