Hoffman starts out hot again
His 64 leads pack; Stricker has a 69
Charley Hoffman birdied half the holes on the Golf Club of Houston course Thursday and had just a single bogey to shoot an 8-under-par 64 and take the first-round lead of the Shell Houston Open.
Hoffman birdied the first four holes of his back nine and added another birdie on No. 8. That broke him out of what had been a four-way tie for first with Dustin Johnson, Roberto Castro and Scott Brown, who all shot 65s. Brown, who was born in Augusta, Ga., and has never played the Masters, needs to win to get into the prestigious tournament.
Hoffman, a three-time PGA Tour winner from San Diego, hasn’t held up well on the weekends this season after giving himself good opportunities to claim titles. Closing 75s in his last two stroke-play tournaments even knocked him out of likely top-10 finishes.
“I’ve shot 3- or 4-over on the back nine on Sunday when I’ve been going from winning the golf tournament to 12th or 15th place,” Hoffman said. “I’ve played fairly solidly from the start of the year to now and haven’t been missing cuts, but I haven’t been able to put four rounds together. Hopefully I can do that this week.”
Former Houston champion Johnson Wagner, who won in 2008 and got into a Sunday playoff here last spring, was another swing back at 66, tied with four other players. Among the large group finishing with 67s was the reigning Masters champion Jordan Spieth, who was also part of the Sunday playoff in 2015 with Wagner and eventual champion J.B. Holmes.
Holmes pulled out of this year’s field on Wednesday night because of a shoulder problem.
Spieth, who hasn’t won a title since January and surrendered his world No. 1 ranking to Jason Day on Sunday when Day won the World Golf Championships Match Play competition in Austin, said he “drove the ball fantastic today (and) really felt comfortable on my iron shots. I had very, very good control of my golf game and my short game was there today as well.”
Madison’s Steve Stricker and former Masters champions Phil Mickelson, Charl Schwartzel and Angel Cabrera all posted 69s.
LPGA Tour: Azahara Munoz bogeyed the par-5 18th hole in breezy afternoon conditions ANA Inspiration to drop into a tie for the first-round lead with Ai Miyazato.
Munoz and Miyazato shot 5-under 67 in the first major championship of the year. Miyazato played in the morning session before the wind picked up at Mission Hills in Rancho Mirage, Calif.
“It’s just the first day and it’s a long way to go,” Miyazato said.
Munoz hit her second shot on 18 into the right fairway bunker and her third went through the green to the back fringe, leaving a downhill putt that she hit to 7 feet.
“Obviously, I didn't want to hit it in the water,” Munoz said. “I know you're not supposed to think that, but the lie wasn't the best. It was a little down, and the wind was really into my face, so we tried to play past the pin, and I mean, the contact was really good, so it just came a little too long and it was quite an impossible putt from there. But to be honest, I’m glad it just flew the water.”
Shiho Oyama, Catriona Matthew and Lee-Anne Pace were a stroke back.
Lexi Thompson, the 2014 winner, was at 69 in a large group that included Ha Na Jang, In Gee Chun and Gerina Piller.