The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Rahm right at home, on heels of leaders
Mickelson two back after 67; Langer leads Senior PGA.
Jon Rahm was at Colonial during tournament week each of the past 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 in Fort Worth, Texas, and among the leaders.
With his 4-under 66 on Thursday, Rahm was a stroke behind first-round 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 last two times I was here, all I recorded was super happy and positive memories,” Rahm said. “It’s just the vibe that I have around this place is so positive, especially with Sergio (Garcia) winning and with the Ben Hogan history that I’m related to now.”
The 22-year-old Rahm, the winner at Torrey Pines in January, had only one bogey while playing with Masters champion Garcia, the fellow Spaniard who won in his first Colonial appearance in 2001.
Kraft and Graeme McDowell, tied with Rahm for fourth, had the only bogeyfree rounds. Only 33 of the 121 players finished the first round under par.
Scott Brown had the other 66, and had the outright lead at 6 under before a double bogey at No. 18.
Spieth, coming off missed cuts the past two weeks, was tied for 34th his six birdies, four bogeys and a double bogey. He was even par after birdies on his last two holes.
“It’s a great finish. Kept me in the tournament,” Spieth said. “If I was a couple over, you know, in the back of my mind I would be wondering about the cut line.”
After two bogeys on the first four holes, Spieth made 4-foot birdie putt at the 466yard No. 5 hole, and made a 10-foot birdie at the 168yard, par-3 13th.
In between those birdies at two of Colonial’s toughest holes, Spieth made a nearly 40-foot putt to save par after a wayward drive at No. 9. His drive at the 10th went into a concrete culvert for another bogey, and he missed the fairway right again at the 622yard 11th, only to get back in the fairway and go on to a 2-foot birdie.
“Hit some very solid shots. With gusty winds, it’s not going to end up where you think it’s going to a lot of the time,” Spieth said.
Mickelson, back at Hogan’s Alley for the first time since 2010, made an 8-foot putt at the 435-yard 7th hole, then hit his tee shot inside 2 feet of the cup at the par-3 8th. His 33-footer at No. 9 came after playing partner Matt Kuchar had just missed a slightly longer putt on the same line on their finishing hole.
Senior PGA: Shrugging off fatigue from last week’s victory, Bernhard Langer shot a 7-under 65 to take a twoshot 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. He tied Nicklaus last week with a five-shot victory at the Regions Tradition. He would also become the first player to win all five of the current senior majors.
The PGA of America allowed players to lift, clean and place their golf balls in the fairways and moved up some tees on the soggy course so that it played at just under 7,000 yards.
European Tour: British Open champion Henrik Stenson shot a bogeyfree, 4-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. Francesco Molinari, Scott Jamieson and Kiradech Aphibarnrat were one shot behind Carlsson.
LPGA Tour: Stacy Lewis shot a 7-under 65 to share the first-round lead in the LPGA Volvik Championship in Ann Arbor, Mich., with Wei-Ling Hsu of Taiwan.