Johnson, Kirk dazzle; Spieth tumbles
HONOLULU — Zach Johnson and Chris Kirk each made seven birdies and shared the lead in the Sony Open.
Jordan Spieth made eight birdies and for the second straight year walked away from Waialae Country Club amazed that he could be six shots behind.
A year ago, it was because Justin Thomas shot 59 playing in the same group. On Thursday, it was one hole. Spieth hit four trees with four shots on the par-4 eighth hole — his 17th of the opening round — starting with a tough break when his tee shot caromed off the trunk of a tree and down an 8-foot deep ditch. He wound up with a quadruple-bogey 8 and had to settle for a 69.
He signed his card, signed autographs and declined requests to speak to the media.
Johnson and Kirk kept clean cards playing on opposite sides of the draw and closed with different brands of birdies on the par-5 18th hole — Kirk twoputted from about 10 feet, while Johnson found a bunker, laid up and hit a wedge to 5 feet.
They were a shot ahead of Brian Harman, Vaughn Taylor,
Kyle Stanley and PGA Tour rookie Talor Gooch.
Thomas, who set the PGA Tour scoring record for 72 holes in his wire-to-wire victory last year, opened with a 67 and was all smiles at the end. Thomas, an Alabama alum, won a bet on the college football championship that required Georgia graduate Kevin Kisner to wear a Crimson Tide jersey on the par-3 17th.
“It’s definitely the best Kis has ever looked in a jersey,” Thomas said.
Kisner kept the jersey and plans to auction it off for charity. He shot 68.
More than half of the field — 77 players — broke par in the mild trade wind and relentless sunshine down the road from Waikiki Beach.
Kirk had only one top 10 last year — his final event of the year in the RSM Classic at Sea Island — and nearly two months off didn’t appear to half any momentum.
“I’ve probably been off long enough now that you never know what’s going to happen,” he said. “I really had no expectations whether I was going to play good or bad after having some time off. But this is a golf course that I’ve traditionally done pretty well on, and a place that I really love.”
EUROPEAN/SUNSHINE TOURS: In Gauteng, South Africa, Branden Grace and Chase Koepka shot 7-under 65s to share the first-round lead at the SA Open.
Koepka, the younger brother of U.S. Open champion Brooks Koepka, was among the morning starters and set the clubhouse target by hitting an eagle and seven birdies in his third tournament of his debut season on the European Tour.
Grace had three eagles — at Nos. 2, 8 and 15 — as he bids for a ninth European Tour title and to complete the set of wins at his native South Africa’s three most prestigious events. He has already won the Alfred Dunhill Championship in 2014 and the Nedbank Golf Challenge last year, as well as the Joburg Open in 2012.
LPGA: Stockton Seaview Hotel & Golf Club in Galloway Township, N.J., has reached an extension to remain the host site of the ShopRite LPGA Classic through 2023.