HONOLULU — On another glorious day of sunshine on the island of Oahu, Jordan Spieth shot 6-under 64 at Waialae Country Club to share the opening-round lead at the Sony Open in Hawaii with Chris Kirk and Taylor Montgomery when play was halted by darkness.
Spieth said he drove it well, hit a bunch of good wedges and his putter was more friend than foe. What a difference a boost of confidence can make. The 29-year-old Spieth put the field on notice that he’s going to be a force to be reckoned with this week, saying that he’s got plenty more in the tank.
“I would say like I started really well in 2018, ’19, maybe a couple events in ’20 where a day like today where I shot 5 or 6 under to start — I think I remember doing it at Travelers one time and the PGA in ’19. I just remember thinking, I know where my game is at and I can maybe fake it as best I can, but I don’t really have great control,” he explained. “I used my hands really well for a couple days. Conveniently the first two in a row. So it’s not like I didn’t believe, it’s just I have a good idea of where things are at and if I have that shot or don’t have that shot.
“This is different. The last couple years have been a little different where off to a good start and I’m like, OK, I think I can improve a little to gain just a little bit more control, but I was in really good control. And for me, it’s about freedom. It’s not separating arms from the body and having to save shots. It’s feeling like I’m in front of them and being able to hold them off and nice fluid strokes on the greens.
“That’s really all it comes down to. Seems simple, but when you’re still fighting the urge to want to hit it hard or get over some bad habits, days like today I’m not surprised, but what I will say is I’m confident relative to other time periods I’ve been off to similar starts, which is a really good place to be. I believe I can shoot 5- or 6-under each day out here. Not to say that that means it’ll happen, but there are other times I would be sitting there going, how do I hold this (stuff) together, to be honest. Seriously.”
Here are four more things to know from the first round at Waialae Country Club.
Chris Kirk trying to end seven-year winless streak at a favorite hunting ground
Chris Kirk has spent a week in January for the last 13 years at Waialae, one of his happy hunting grounds. He has four top-10 finishes and twice finished runner-up at the Sony Open, including in 2021. The 37-year-old is off to another strong start, reeling off four straight birdies in the middle of his round and posting 6-under 64 for a share of the lead after the opening round.
“Just a place where I’m comfortable,” he said after shooting his 36th par-or-better score in 41 rounds at the event.
With the flip of the calendar, Kirk returned to using Callaway clubs and wearing Travis Mathew clothing, which he wore during some of his most productive years. Kirk is winless on Tour since 2015, but he’s not fretting over the draught.
“I don’t worry about it too much, to be honest. I know from experience how many things have to go right to win out here,” he said. “I was really happy that last year I gave myself a couple of kind of outside chances on the back nine Sunday, so that’s the first step obviously. My real goal is just to try to put myself in position more and more often and just kind of see how that goes.”
Taylor Montgomery's rookie year continues to sparkle
Taylor Montgomery picked up where he left off in the fall season. The 27-year-old PGA Tour rookie recorded six top-15 finishes in his first seven starts, including finishing third at the Fortinet Championship. He ranks 12th in the FedEx Cup and has climbed to No. 61 in the world.
On Thursday, he made seven birdies and one bogey to card 6-under 64 and share the first-round lead at the Sony Open in Hawaii. It marks his first lead at a Tour event. Despite a lengthy break since the RSM Classic, Montgomery said he continued to putt well, including sinking a speedy downhill 19-foot birdie putt at 14 that just dripped in.
“That was one of the purest putts I’ve ever hit,” he said.
During the Tour’s off-season, Montgomory enjoyed some downtime visiting family in Reno, Nevada, and Colorado. The snow on the ground meant no golf.
“I took my longest break ever from a club,” he said. “Ten days not touching a club at all. That’s been my longest. I practice quite a bit.”
He also was at Diamante Golf Club in Cabo when Tiger Woods toured the new course he’s building in Mexico, and Diamante’s owner, Ken Jowdy, tried to persuade Woods to offer Montgomery a sponsor’s exemption into the Genesis Championship. How that plays out remains too soon to say, but Montgomery did get some advice from Tiger that could go a long way.
“Basically, hard work trumps everything” Montgomery said of the words of wisdom from Woods.
Harris English is healthy — and dangerous — again
Harrison English finished with five birdies in his final seven holes and credited a hot putter. He gained more than 2 ½ strokes to the field on the greens on Thursday at Waialae.
“Love these Bermuda greens,” he said. “And love this back nine. Every hole feels like a birdie opportunity.”
English also loves being healthy again. After finishing T-55 at the Sony Open a year ago, English had hip surgery and missed four months.
“I know it’s never going to be absolutely perfect,” he said. “After the round today, I’ll go and work with (his physio) for probably 45 minutes and do my exercises, and I’m learning from some the best in the world. Got surgery out in Vail, Colorado, at the Steadman Clinic. They have unbelievable PTs out there, so I feel like I kind of know what’s going on and know how to fix it better.”
English has dropped from a career-best of No. 10 in the world to No. 58, but he has been practicing hard in Palm Springs and is confident he can get back to being the player that made his first U.S. Ryder Cup team in 2021 at Whistling Straits.
“If I’m playing well, I can get back in the top 50 and get in the Masters and play in all the tournaments I want to play in,” he said.
Chef's kiss for Parker McLachlan at hometown event
It took 13 tries, but Parker McLachlin finally started the Sony Open in Hawaii with a round in the 60s.
McLachlin, 43, won the 2008 Reno-Tahoe Open, but spends the bulk of his time as short-game instructor. This week, the Honolulu native is playing on a sponsor’s invite and opened with a 1-under 69.
“This tournament means everything,” he said. “I think this tournament inspired me to want to become a professional golfer and play on the PGA Tour, so for me, this tournament means a lot. I cleaned – 100 feet away I’m cleaning the bathrooms when I was 13 years old. You know, I know this place inside and out. Yeah, this tournament has meant the world to me to be able to watch it as a kid and then to live out my dreams and play in it 13 times.”
In 2019, he transitioned to coaching when Tour veteran Kevin Streelman asked for some help and eventually hired him to his team. Before long, he had tabbed himself the Short-game Chef, and has roughly two dozen pupils on both the men’s and women’s tours.
“There is a guy named Trackman Maestro in twitter,” he said. “I was inspired by that. Short Game Chef, right? Because every shot around the green there is some type of recipe. Open the face on this one, lower the hands, make a long swing.So there are different ingredients that go into every shot around the green, and that’s sort of where it came from.”
So far, McLachlin has had the right recipe at the Sony Open.
