The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
Thomas, Rahm share Northern Trust lead
JERSEY CITY, N.J. — Jon Rahm returned from a month off and played like he was never gone. Justin Thomas took the advice of a 15-year-old and had his lowest score of the year.
Both opened with an 8-under 63 on Thursday at The Northern Trust as the PGA Tour’s postseason began with no shortage of bizarre developments.
Rahm, who missed his chance at the Olympics because of what amounts to a false positive test result for COVID-19, expected a little rust in his game. It just didn’t show on his card. He chipped in for birdie, saved par on the next two holes and was on his way.
Thomas had benched his putter for bad behavior after he spent too much of the year not seeing putts go in the hole. But during his junior event last week, a teenager asked why he wasn’t using his old putter.
“And I found myself defending myself to this 15-year-old,” he said. “I was like, ‘Why am I not using this thing?’ It’s not like I’m making a lot of putts with what I have. If you’re putting well, any of us can go out and putt with anything.”
He didn’t hole all of them, but enough to record nine birdies for his lowest round since a 62 last November in Mexico.
Bryson DeChambeau also made nine birdies. He was eight shots behind. His round of 71 was noteworthy because of the pars he made on No. 4 and No. 10. Those were the only pars he made all day. The nine birdies were offset by five bogeys and two double bogeys.
It was the first time in 10 years someone shot par or better with two pars or fewer.
Not to be overlooked was Dustin Johnson, one of the most stress-free players in golf — at least he looks that way — who uttered words rarely heard: “Threw me for a loop.”
He was hitting drivers on the range, and hitting them well, right before teeing off when a few of them came off the club funny and another one sounded funny. His driver cracked, and Johnson headed to the first tee with 13 clubs and one head cover for his 5-wood.
He had a spare 3-wood in the car — but no driver — and got that on the third hole. If that wasn’t enough, he decided on a putter switch at the last minute. He still managed a 70.
Otherwise, there was a range of good golf in surprisingly strong wind off the Hudson River across from the Manhattan skyline.
Harold Varner III had a 66 in the morning, boosting his postseason chances. He is No. 72 in the FedEx Cup standings, and only the top 70 after this week advance to the next tournament. With the points at quadruple value, some big movements are expected.
The six players at 67 included Adam Scott (No. 82), Robert Streb (No. 68) and Mackenzie Hughes (No. 67).
British Open champion Collin Morikawa, the No. 1 seed, struggled to keep the ball in play and opened with a 74. Jordan Spieth at No. 2 opened with a 72.