RAHM ROARS TO TOP AT BAY HILL
Jon Rahm started his round strong and ended it even better Thursday, closing eagle-birdiebirdie for a 7-under 65 and a two-shot lead in the Arnold Palmer Invitational in Orlando, Fla.
Not even the brute test of Bay Hill was a match for golf ’s hottest player.
“Amazing round of golf,” he said. “I wish all of them were as enjoyable as this one.”
That doesn’t mean it was perfection by any means. Rahm, playing in the afternoon when the greens became a bit more crusty, opened with three straight birdies. He held steady the rest of the way until his big burst at the end allowed him to zoom past Honda Classic winner Chris Kirk and Cameron Young.
He hit only eight fairways. He twice was blocked by trees, one time escaping with par on a 30-foot putt on the 15th hole. But oh, that finish. Rahm hit 5-iron to 25 feet on the fringe at the par-5 16th and holed it for eagle. On the par-3 17th, he hammered a 7-iron that cleared the bunker and landed in just the right spot to roll out to 2 feet. And on the closing hole, he hit a soft 9-iron to a front pin that settled about 6 feet away.
“Go through the round and you’ll see plenty of mistakes,” Rahm said. “I just took advantage of minimizing mistakes and converted a couple of situations into really good scores. But it can always be better.”
Rahm already has three PGA Tour wins this year, and he has won five of his last nine tournaments worldwide.
Bay Hill is bracing for the worst over the next few days, with the wind expected to be strong on a course that already is fast and firm.
Kirk is coming off an emotional win nearly eight years in the making. He carried that momentum to seven birdies for a 67 during the morning rounds. Young also had a 67 in morning conditions that might be as easy as Bay Hill gets all week.
They were joined by Kurt Kitayama, who had a chance to
challenge Rahm until dropping his lone shot on his final hole at No. 9.
The group at 68 included defending champion Scottie Scheffler, Jordan Spieth, Xander Schauffele and Patrick Cantlay, all among the top 20 in the world.
Rory McIlroy, who has a mathematical chance to return to No. 1 in the world with a win, was over par from his opening hole and scratched out a 73, including a double bogey on the par-5 sixth hole when he drove into the water.
Kirk won the Honda Classic in a playoff just four days ago, a monumental win for the 37year-old from Georgia who stepped away from the PGA Tour to seek help for alcoholism and depression.
It has been nonstop ever since — the Seminole Pro-Member on Monday, the drive north to Orlando and golf at Isleworth with longtime friend Charlie Culberson of the Tampa Bay
Rays, the pro-am Wednesday and then one of the toughest tests on the Florida swing.
He was up to the task with a round that started and ended with a bogey and featured seven birdies in between.
“I’ve definitely been busy, and so 5:30 came early this morning and felt strange a little bit, like, ‘OK, we’re really doing this all over again.’ So felt a little bit out of it in the very beginning, but then settled in and played some solid golf,” Kirk said.
Rookie hits three eagles in P.R.
Carson Young gave his rookie season on the PGA Tour quite a spark when he made three eagles on his way to a 9under 63, giving him a threeshot lead after the opening round of the Puerto Rico Open.
Young, a 28-year-old from South Carolina, found Grand Reserve in Rio Grande, Puerto Rico, to his liking. He made two eagles on the front nine, then expanded his lead with a third
eagle on the par-5 15th by hitting 3-wood to about 10 feet.
Young had a three-shot lead over Max McGreevy and Akshay Bhatia, the 21-year-old who regularly plays on the Korn Ferry Tour.
Szokol leads in Singapore
Elizabeth Szokol shot an 8under-64 for a three-stroke lead after the first round of the Women’s World Championship in Singapore.
Yuka Saso of Japan was second after a bogey-free 67, and a pack of six including Nelly Korda and former No. 1 Ariya Jutanugarn carded 68s at Sentosa Golf Club.
Szokol shot 6 under on the front nine, including four birdies and an eagle on the par-5 fifth. Her only bogey came on the 10th hole but she birdied 14, 16 and 18.
No. 1-ranked Lydia Ko and No. 4 Atthaya Thitikul each shot 70, and No. 3 Minjee Lee had a 72.