Horschel, Bramlett lead Honda Classic
PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. – Billy Horschel has never won a PGA Tour event in his home state of Florida. His quest to change that is off to a fine start.
Horschel shot a 5-under 65 on Thursday, tying him with Joseph Bramlett for the first-round lead in the Honda Classic at PGA National. Bramlett had a bogeyfree round; Horschel had six birdies and one bogey.
“Just played really solid,” Horschel said. “Didn’t do anything special. Hit some quality iron shots here and there. I wouldn’t say everything was sort of automatic and it was easy. I had to just sort of work my way into making some good swings here and there. But overall, it was a really solid day of golf.”
Horschel’s pre-Honda preparations included a trip to the doctor, finally giving in and getting a prescription after trying to fight off a sinus infection for a few days. He might have felt tired, but it didn’t show.
The 65 was his best score in 33 rounds as a pro at PGA National. He’d shot 66 on two previous occasions.
“Listen, there’s no secret,” said Horschel, who played his college golf at Florida. “It’s not a secret. I grind. I work hard. It’s no secret out here that I work really, really hard out here. But this week with just the way I’m feeling and everything, energy’s still not completely 100 percent every day.”
Bramlett scrambled nicely when he had to. He missed six of 14 fairways and hit 13 of 18 greens.
“I definitely like when the conditions are difficult and guys have to really earn it,” said Bramlett, who has never won on the PGA Tour. “I think that’s historically always been in my favor.”
Pierceson Coody – a sponsor exemption playing his first PGA Tour event as a professional – finished the first round at 4 under, alongside Justin Suh. Coody has two wins in 15 starts on the Korn Ferry Tour since turning pro in June.
“It really just feels like another professional event,” the grandson of 1971 Masters champion Charles Coody said. “I’ve only played (15) professional events. But other than the big grandstands it’s not that different. You’re just playing golf, you’re trying to put a good score together. No real nerves out there. Just happy to play well.”
Suh missed a 10-foot birdie putt on his last hole – No. 9 – that would have tied him for the lead.
LPGA Thailand
PATTAYA, Thailand – Jennifer Kupcho of the United States fired a bogeyfree 7-under 65 to share the lead alongside four other golfers after the opening round of the LPGA Thailand on
Thursday.
The crowded leaderboard was no surprise on the Pattaya Old Course: The average winning score over the past 10 years is 21 under par.
Kupcho’s round was highlighted by a birdie-birdie finish and an eagle on the par-5 10th hole at Siam Country Club.
Of her eagle, she said, “I hit a really good drive and had a pretty short club in. Still hybrid but pretty perfect club, and it hit just short of the green and rolled up really close to a tap-in.”
With her in the lead were 2014 champion Anna Nordquist of Sweden, sixtime USLPGA Tour winner Nasa Hataoko of Japan, local hope and tour rookie Jaravee Boonchant, and last year’s runner-up, Lin Xiyu of China.
Three-time major winner Nordquist birdied her first hole, the 10th, and had eight in all against a lone bogey on the fourth.
Hataoka bogeyed the 13th but finished her round with four consecutive birdies.
Boonchant, who earned her tour card through Q-School last December, also
started on the 10th and birdied her first two holes. She sparked Thai fans’ hopes for a local victor after former world No, 1 Ariya Jutanugarn won in 2021. “Amazing,” Boonchant said of her day. Lin started on the back nine and birdied six holes coming in for her 65. Last year, she opened with a 64 and reeled off 66s before losing to Nanna Koerstz Madsen of Denmark on extra holes. Koerstz Madsen has begun her title defense at 1 over.
World No. 1 Lydia Ko of New Zealand, leading 26 of the top 30 at the event, had an error-free round of 68. She has won three of her last four starts.
European Tour
NEW DELHI – Yannik Paul birdied his last four holes to shoot 7-under 65 and take a one-stroke lead after the first round of the Indian Open on the European tour on Thursday.
The No. 119-ranked German’s hot finish lifted him above Honey Baisoya, who was leading a contingent of Indian players
making a fast start at DLF Golf and Country Club in New Delhi.
Baisoya was in outright second place on 6 under while compatriots Angad Cheema and Shubhankar Sharma were tied for fourth place after shooting 68s.
Three more Indian players – Manu Gandas, M Dharma and Yuvraj Sandhu – were also in the top 10 on 2 under, with Sandhu having one hole still to play in his first round.
Paul, whose only win on the European tour came at the Mallorca Open last year, is playing for the sixth straight week and said he took it easy in the pre-tournament buildup. He didn’t even play the back nine, choosing only to walk it – yet went on to birdie six of the nine holes coming in Thursday.
“After a long stretch, you can just feel it here, feel it there,” Paul said. “I just played a nine-hole pro-am yesterday afternoon then walked the back nine on Tuesday, just to conserve as much energy as I could because I knew it would be challenging here, mentally as well as with the golf shots.”