Big names? No, but big shots
Despite the shortage of big-time names on the born-again Houston Open leader board, there was no dearth of big-time shotmaking Thursday as the PGA Tour returned to the Golf Club of Houston for one last hurrah after an 18month hiatus.
The highest-ranked player in the field for the season’s fifth fall start may be Sweden’s Henrik Stenson at No. 37, but aesthetically speaking, the quality of play was as exemplary as ever. To quote the PGA’s own marketing slogan from years ago: “These guys are good.”
Take Austin Cook, for example. Cook, who tied for 11th as a Monday qualifier in 2015 when the tournament was still called the Shell Houston Open and was played right before the Masters, came out smoking, posting a career-best score of 29 on the front side and shaving six shots off par over the final five holes alone. The 28-year-old golfer from Arkansas returned to the clubhouse having hit every one of the 18 greens in regulation — another career first — en route to his eightunder 64.
“It’s definitely nice to get out and have a great round in the first round,” Cook said before expressing frustration with his lack of weekend participation of late because of “iffy ballstriking” on his part and far too many low scores around him. A few of (the missed cuts) were by one shot. Last week (the cut in Las Vegas) went to 5-under. I wasn’t expecting that.”
To repeat, these guys are good. Talor Gooch? The 27year-old Oklahoman matched Cook stroke for stroke with a career-lowmatching score built on a career-best 10 birdies, and he also saved one of his pars with a career-long putt of more than 63 feet.
“Any time you have double-digit birdies, you’re doing something right,” Gooch said. “I drove it well, got the ball in the fairway, hit a lot of good iron shots and was able to make a few putts. It was a fun day.”
Cook and Gooch share a single-shot lead over Sepp Straka. The 26-year-old Austrian’s own sparkling round of 65 included a run of four successive birdies after he turned the corner.
“The putter was hot today and I was able to hit some irons shots in there close,” Straka said. “I’m really pleased.”
Especially considering that, like Cook, he’d missed three cuts in a row before seeking redemption in greater Humble.
Russell Henley, Lanto Griffin and Tyler McCumber are lurking after six-under 66,s and the sextet in at 67 includes 20-year-old Houstonian Cole Hammer. The University of Texas sophomore and former Kinkaid School star, the second-ranked amateur in the world, couldn’t have made his regular PGA Tour debut more memorable, becoming one of just nine amateurs — Tiger Woods among them — to birdie at least eight holes in Tour round since 1996. Only Ty Tryon has managed more, draining nine in the 2001 B. C. Open.
Hammer, a U.S. Open qualifier back when he was only 15, insisted Wednesday he wouldn’t be the least bit intimidated squaring off against the pros on the course he has played many times, going back to the age of 10. After starting on the back nine, he double-bogeyed No. 11, a gaffe he called “unnerving,” but Hammer rebounded straight away with a birdie and later finished the back side with three in succession. After birdie another followed on No. 2, a bogey on the next hole would be his only front-nine hiccup.
Also in at 67 was Braden Bailey, a Baylor Bear as recently as last spring who, like Hammer, received a sponsor’s exemption and is making his PGA Tour debut. Bailey was so terribly nervous he eagled the second hole.
Xinjun Zhang, a 32-yearold from China, was the day’s only afternoon starter to post a score lower than 68 as the conditions became increasingly breezy with a cold front gradually approaching the area.
“It’s a completely different golf course than we played (in March 2018),” Griffin said. “But the greens are absolutely perfect. If it gets windy tomorrow, I don’t think the scores will be as low. So I wanted to get off to a good start today and give myself a little cushion with the weather coming in. I’m not really sure how the wind’s going to switch, but I think the wind coming out of the north is going to be a lot tougher than from the south.”
As for Stenson, he arrived seeking a breakthrough after runner-up finishes in 2013 and 2016, but he has eight strokes to make up. With his even-par 72, he’s in danger of missing the cut.
Collectively, the 13 players who are at least 5-under have accumulated only 10 PGA Tour titles, and half of those belong to one man, Nick Watney. But Watney claimed his most recent one in 2012.
Gooch, asked about the lack of star power on the grounds, said: “That’s just a talking point (for the media). There are still some of the best players in the world here. You can’t just go and shoot a couple rounds in the 60s and think you’re going to win this thing.”
Apparently not.