Five players share the lead after first round of Timberlake Shriners Hospital for Children Open
Low scores were the trend yesterday in the opening round of the Justin Timberlake Shriners Hospital for Children Open being played on the TPC Summerlin course in Las Vegas. The leaderboard is crowded at
the top with five players sharing the lead at seven-under.
Robert Garrigus, Will MacKenzie, Michael Letzig, John Senden and rookie Cameron Tringale all have a piece of the lead after shooting rounds of 64. One shot behind are George McNeill, Nicholas Thompson,
Ryan Palmer, Vaughn Taylor and Martin Flores.
Other notables include John Daly and Davis Love III in at 66 and Hunter Mahan with a 67 in his first competitive round since his heart-breaking singles match in the Ryder Cup. Rickie Fowler carded a 68
and continues his pattern of solid play coming off a fourth place finish at last week’s Frys.com Open.
The co-leader Mackenzie, who has two PGA tour wins under his belt making him the most experienced player among the leaders, got off to a hot start after birdies on the first three holes. His lone bogey
came on number eight but he bounced back with a birdie on nine. His back nine saw him birdie holes 12 through 14 capping it off with a birdie on the sixteenth.
Mackenzie owes his performance largely to his putting, averaging 1.63 putts-per-green in regulation but his ball striking was equally good, hitting the green 89 per cent of the time.
Mackenzie spoke after his round saying, “I got off to such a great start. I hit a beautiful five-iron into six or eight feet and made it (on the par-four third hole). Of course, I started thinking, `it’s
about time for me to shoot a real low one’.”
Letzig after starting his round on the back nine and finding himself at six-under at the turn gave a couple of strokes back on his second nine and came to the eighth hole four-under. He finished his final
two holes with a birdie on the 239-yard eighth and an eagle on the par-five ninth putting him into a share of the lead.
“Got off to an unbelievable start, six-under through seven,” Letzig said after his round, “Just fell asleep in the middle of the round, played really sloppy. Missed a couple greens with wedges in my hand
and just kind of got mad at myself. (But I) had a great finish. Birdie-eagle saved the round.”
As it stands now there are 58 players within four strokes of the lead which means there will be a good chance for a play-off come Sunday afternoon. Last year’s event saw a three man play-off where Martin
Laird was declared winner. Laird shot a round of 69 Thursday and sits tied for 59th.
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