Swede start in Potomac
Lingmerth cards 65 to stay on top
POTOMAC ( United States): David Lingmerth is one of a few players in the Quicken Loans National field with any memories to draw on at TPC Potomac – and they’re the best kind of memories.
The winner of a 2012 Web.com Tour event on the tight, tricky layout near Washington, Lingmerth once again relied on his accuracy off the tee on Thursday to shoot a five-under 65 and take the firstround lead.
The 29-year-old Swede, who doesn’t have a top 10 finish on the PGA Tour this season, hit 12 of 14 fairways, which tied for best in the field. Starting on the back nine in the afternoon, he made five birdies in a seven-hole stretch beginning at the 13th hole, three of them from inside 7 feet.
“I feel like that’s kind of one of my strengths, a thing I pride myself in, hitting a lot of fairways,” Lingmerth said. “I like this type of golf course when you can see the definition, you can zone in on your targets. You’ve really got to stay committed off the tee.”
He won the 2015 Memorial Tournament for his lone PGA Tour title.
Troy Merritt, the winner two years ago at Robert Trent Jones Golf Club, was a stroke back along with Marc Leishman, Johnson Wagner, Sung Kang, Nick Taylor and Daniel Summerhays.
Leishman, the big- hitting Australian who won the Arnold Palmer Invitational this year, welcomed the challenge.
“It’s getting pretty baked, which is great. It feels a lot like Melbourne, actually,” Leishman said. “You can hear that real, you know, the hard sound when the ball hits the green. You’ve got that purplish color, especially by the end of the day. It’s great. I’m enjoying it.”
The Quicken Loans is a home game of sorts for Leishman, who lives in Virginia Beach, Virginia. He drove his own car to the Washington area Tuesday and is staying with friends. His wife, Audrey, is home with their two sons. She’s also expecting their third child, due next week. Two years ago, Audrey nearly died from toxic shock syndrome.
“We were just hoping she would survive and she survived, and we were hoping she would get somewhere back to full strength and she’s done that,” Leishman said.
“Yeah, pretty exciting time for the Leishmans. Hopefully, she’ll hold out until next week and we can finish this tournament and go home and be a dad for a couple weeks.”