COURSE RECORD-TYING 60 HAS NOH IN FRONT
S.Y. Noh thought he didn’t have quite enough distance with his 3-wood as he pondered going for the green in two on the par-5 18th hole — setting up a potential eagle and a 59 in the first round of the AT&T Byron Nelson at McKinney, Texas.
The South Korean didn’t seem to mind settling for tying the course record.
Noh made three putts of at least 25 feet on the back nine for an 11-under 60 and a three-shot lead after the first round of the Nelson on Thursday.
Two-time defending champion K.H. Lee, also of South Korea, shot 71, leaving him 11 shots back in his bid to become the first to three-peat on the PGA Tour since Steve Stricker at the John Deere Classic from 200911.
Lee shot in the 60s for all eight rounds of the first two years of the Nelson at TPC Craig Ranch, about 30 miles north of Dallas.
Adam Scott, who tied for fifth last week at the Wells Fargo Championship, was three shots back at 63 along with Marty Dou of China after the Australian’s best opening round since 2014.
Headliner and hometown favorite Scottie Scheff ler, at No. 2 the highest-ranked among four top-25 players in the field, shot 64 along with Aussie Jason Day. They were in a group that included Texan Ryan Palmer, Scott Piercy, Luke List and Richy Werenski.
Noh, whose last top-10 finish on tour came before a two-year military commitment in 2017, had to play part of his back nine without a driver when the head cracked on his tee shot on 12.
The 31-year-old journeyman with one career PGA Tour victory had a replacement by the time he reached the 547-yard 18th, and ended up 257 yards from the hole with a blind shot from the right side of the fairway.
Noh laid up short of the water in front of the green, hit his approach to 9 feet and made the putt to tie Sebastián Muñoz’s record from a year ago at Craig Ranch.
“So my 3-wood is going off the ground like 265, but it’s like just under 260 without the wind,” Noh said. “It’s like borderline.”
Trio leads at Regions Tradition
Billy Andrade, Timothy O’Neal and Paul Broadhurst each shot a 5-under 67 to take the first-round lead at the Regions
Tradition, the first of five PGA Tour Champions majors, with defending champion
Steve Stricker one shot back.
Joining Stricker at 68 were
Ernie Els, Padraig Harrington and Ken Duke. Stricker has thrived on the Founders Course at Greystone in Birmingham, Ala., with two wins and two runner-up finishes in his last four appearances.
Bernhard Langer was two shots back after a 69 that included a rare burst of frustration from the even-keeled German. After missing a short birdie putt on the par-5 13th, Langer threw his long putter and then heaved his ball into the trees.
The 65-year-old Langer shares the PGA Tour Champions record of 45 victories with
Hale Irwin. His 11 senior majors include two wins in Birmingham.
Elsewhere
Sei Young Kim shot a bogey-free 6-under 66 at treelined Upper Montclair Country Club to take the first-round lead in the LPGA Tour’s Founders Cup at Clifton, N.J. Kim had four straight birdies — on the par-5 12th, par-4 13th, par-5 14th and par-3 15th — and parred the final three holes on the second-year venue in the event that honors the LPGA Tour’s 13 founders. South Korean rookie Hae Ran Ryu was a stroke back. She had eight birdies and three bogeys in a 67.
Unheralded Swedish golfer Simon Forsstrom shot 7under 64 to take a one-stroke lead in the Soudal Open on the European tour. The No. 429ranked Forsstrom made seven birdies in his first 13 holes before parring his way home at Rinkven International Golf Club in the Belgian city of Antwerp.
Notable
Equipped with a favorable court ruling, the European tour has expanded its sanctions against players who competed in LIV Golf or Asian Tour events without permission over eight months. The tour already has issued fines of 100,000 pounds ($125,000) to 17 players who played in the first two LIV Golf events outside London and Portland, Oregon. Sergio Garcia was the only player who did not pay the initial fine. Garcia, Lee Westwood, Ian Poulter and Richard Bland resigned their memberships last week. More players are likely to resign from what is commercially called the DP World Tour.