Rahm is in thick of it at familiar place: Colonial
Jon Rahm was at Colonial in Fort Worth during tournament week each of the last two years to accept the Ben Hogan Award that goes to the nation’s top college golfer. This time, he’s playing in the PGA Tour event at Hogan’s Alley and among the leaders.
With his four-under 66 on Thursday, Rahm was a stroke behind firstround leaders Kelly Kraft, Derek Fathauer and PGA Tour rookie J.T. Poston. That also put Rahm ahead of two-time Colonial champs Phil Mickelson and Zach Johnson after both birdied their last three holes for 67s. He also led 2016 winner Jordan Spieth, whose even-par round included six birdies.
The 22-year-old Rahm, the winner at Torrey Pines in January, had only one bogey while playing with Masters champion and fellow Spaniard Sergio Garcia (69).
Kraft and Graeme McDowell, tied with Rahm for fourth, had the only bogey-free rounds. Scott Brown had the other 66, and had the outright lead at six under before a double bogey at No. 18.
Wei-Ling Hsu holed out a seveniron for an eagle on the very first hole she played, and at the end of the day, the unheralded golfer from Taiwan was tied atop the leaderboard with Stacy Lewis after the first round of the LPGA Volvik Championship in Ann Arbor, Mich. Hsu and Lewis finished at seven-under 65, a stroke ahead of 18-year-old Nelly Korda. Brittany Lincicome, Ilhee Lee, Sung Hyun Park, Suzann Pettersen and Sarah Jane Smith all shot 67.
Shrugging off fatigue from last week’s victory, Bernhard Langer shot a seven-under 65 to take a two-shot lead in the first round of the Senior PGA Championship in Sterling, Va. The 59-year-old German could break Jack Nicklaus’ record of eight senior majors with a win at Trump National. Tom Lehman, Lee Janzen, Scott McCarron and James Kingston were two shots behind Langer.
British Open champion Henrik Stenson shot a bogey-free, four-under 68 to lie two strokes off the lead held by Swedish compatriot Johan Carlsson after the first round of the BMW PGA Championship in Virginia Water, England. Carlsson holds a one-shot lead over Francesco Molinari, Scott Jamieson and Kiradech Aphibarnrat.