‘CALM’ JONES TIES COURSE RECORD WITH 61 IN HONDA
Matt Jones’ opening round at the Honda Classic was remarkable.
He was remarkably unimpressed. Jones tied the course record Thursday on a typically windy day at PGA National in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., with a bogeyfree 9-under 61, giving him a three-shot lead. He matched the mark set by Brian Harman in the second round in 2012, and was one shot better than the final-round 62 that Tiger Woods posted that year.
“That’s an incredible round of golf,” said Lee Westwood, who opened with an evenpar 70.
“Could be the round of the year, 61 around here, when it’s f lat calm, impressive. But when there’s a 15-, 20-mile-an-hour wind blowing, greens are fast, a lot of crosswinds, that’s an incredible round of golf.”
All told, there have been roughly 6,000 tournament rounds at the Honda since it moved to PGA National in 2007. None was better than the one Thursday from Jones, an Australian ranked No. 83 in the world. He seemed most unfazed afterward. “I play golf for a living,” Jones said. “I mean, I should be able to shoot a good golf score occasionally. It doesn’t happen as much as I want. But yes, I’m very happy with it. I was very calm, I was very relaxed out there. I’m normally a bit more ampedup and hyped-up and I had a different goal this week, to be a little more calm than normally and walk slower.”
It worked wonders.
He’s not into charting superlatives. He doesn’t know how many course records he holds, or how many holes in one he’s made. He wasn’t even aware he had four consecutive birdies on the front nine Thursday until he saw his card on a giant leaderboard as his round was ending.
“I was just managing the golf course and hitting good shots,” Jones said.
Russell Henley and Aaron Wise shot 64s, matching the best score at the Honda by anyone — Jones excluded — since Rory McIlroy and Russell Knox had 63s in 2014. Nobody in the field last year shot better than a 66.
And Henley and Wise still walked off the course three shots back.
“That’s an amazing round,” Wise said. “But I felt like I played one, too.”
U.S. Ryder Cup captain Steve Stricker, Scott Harrington, Kevin Chappell, Joseph Bramlett and Cameron Davis shot 66. Defending champion Sung jae Im opened with a 68.
Elsewhere
Benjamin Herbert shrugged off a bogey on his first hole to card a 7-under 64 for the first-round lead at the European Tour’s Kenya Open on Thursday.
The Frenchman followed his slip at No. 1 with four birdies in his next six holes at Karen Country Club in Nairobi to go one shot clear of six players tied for second.