Golf: Three share first-round lead at Farmers Insurance Open
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Sam Ryder hits his first shot on the 11th hole during the first round of the Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines Golf Course.
PHOTO: AFP
SAN DIEGO – They have never won a PGA Tour event in a combined 203 starts, but Sam Ryder, Brent Grant and England’s Aaron Rai are determined to finally clinch a victory after they shared the first-round lead at the Farmers Insurance Open on Wednesday.
All three shot eight-under 64s at Torrey Pines’ North Course, leaving them one stroke ahead of Brendan Steele. None of the trio has ever previously led or co-led after a round on Tour.
Ryder, 33, has played on the US-based PGA circuit 146 times previously. He got his bogey-free round started in fine fashion when he eagled the par-five 10th hole. He added three birdies on the front nine and three more on the back nine.
“Great to start off with an eagle,” he said. “Scorable conditions, drove it great, ironed it well, rolled a couple putts in. It was pretty stress-free, it was fun.
“Always nice to get off to a good start in the round where you don’t feel like you’re kind of pressing or anything.”
Rai, 27, is a two-time winner on the European Tour who has played 44 times previously on the PGA Tour. His bogey-free day began with a birdie at No. 10, and he closed each nine with back-to-back birdies.
“Really drove it great off the tee, which is probably the most important thing to at least give ourselves an opportunity with those approach shots,” he said.
“As soon as you miss the fairway here with anything more than a short iron is very, very difficult. So that was key today, drove it very well. Hit a lot of real good iron shots and made a few putts around the turn there, so all in all a very good round.”
Grant, 26, is a PGA Tour rookie who made the cut in just two of 13 prior starts. Starting on the front nine, he birdied four of his first five holes, then bogeyed the par-five sixth hole.
He rolled in four straight birdies either side of the turn and added one last birdie at No. 17.
“I just made some putts and hopefully we keep doing that and scores will show,” Grant said.
Spain’s Jon Rahm, attempting to become the first player to win from three consecutive starts on the PGA Tour since Dustin Johnson in 2016-17, shot a one-over 73 on the South Course and is tied for 116th in the 156-player field.
His streak of making 21 consecutive PGA Tour cuts, the longest active run on the circuit, could be in jeopardy.
He was left baffled by his costly double-bogey on the seventh, which came after he shot through the green into a hazard with his second.
“I’ve hit that shot 25 times in the past with the same wind and I’ve never seen a ball get pin high, I don’t know what happened,” Rahm said. REUTERS, AFP
