A DIFFICULT SHOT, GOING FOR THE REWARD AND IGNORING THE RISK, At the seventh hole of the Detroit Golf Club, Tony Finau blasted an approach from 250 yards out that soared over trees.
It seemed very logical given how he has been performing the past week.
Finau and Taylor Pendrith shared the Rocket Mortgage Classic's first-round lead at 8-under 64 on Thursday. Finau recently claimed his third PGA Tour title.
The crucial shot on Finau's 16th hole, a 560-yard par 5, enabled him to make one of his eight birdies with a two-putt from 43 feet.
He claimed, "I had to get all of it to the hole and hit it just in the center of the green.
Players who booked morning tee times took advantage of the excellent scoring conditions to dominate the leaderboard. The wind increased in the afternoon, and so did the scores.
He hit a 41-foot putt downhill with a tiny break from right to left on the par-4 eighth hole for another birdie and a three-shot advantage.
Finau added, "We call our putter the equalizer. We were earning an extra birdie on eight after a terrible wedge shot was fantastic.
Pendrith played seven holes on his back nine; a 31-year-old rookie on the PGA Tour, you need five birdies to move into a tie for the lead.
The relatively unknown player discovered that his last name's 'h' was absent from the leaderboard toward the end of his round.
Unfortunately, the eight next to his misspelled name were accurate.
He grinned, "That's all that matters."
Following a first round, Pendrith is in the lead for the first time on the PGA Tour. At the Bermuda Championship last October, the Canadian did lead by three strokes after the third round before shooting a final-round 76 and finishing a career-high sixth.
He finished 13th at the Players Championship in March and earned a career-high $327,222 in addition to breaking a rib.
Due to the injury, he could not compete for about four months, which caused him to drop to position 237. He has recovered with ties for 11th and 13th at competitions earlier this month.
Pendrith asserted, "When I'm healthy, I can compete with the greatest.
Nate Lashley recorded a 68 after receiving an anti-inflammatory injection in his right foot, where he won his first and only PGA Tour championship four years ago.
He announced, "I'm having surgery next week," and added that his recovery would take four to six weeks.
After a wild round that included four birdies, two bogeys, and an ace on the par-3, 216-yard 11th hole, Mark Hubbard was four shots off the lead.
After connecting with his tee shot, Hubbard lowered both his club and his head.
He exclaimed, "That's embarrassing," as the ball flew.
After landing on the front of the green, the ball traveled around the cup and into the hole.
Hubbard, who has nine career aces, said, "That's probably going to end up being one of my favorite hole-in-ones."
The number of top-20 players in the field is five, two more than last week in Minnesota, and Finau was the only one to perform well in the opening round.
Patrick Cantlay, the reigning FedExCup champion, is now rated No. 4 in the world, and Will Zalatoris is ranked No. 13. Max Homa, ranked 20th, recorded a 72, while Cameron Young, who is ranked 19th, was another shot back.
Kurt Kitayama and Si Woo Kim, both among the top 70 players in the world, placed 67th and 68th, respectively.
Finau started with a birdie and had five more on his front nine as he returned from a five-shot deficit with 11 holes remaining to win the 3M Open by three shots on Sunday in Minnesota.
After settling down with four straight pars, Finau finished with his seventh and eighth birdies in a round without a bogey. In 728 PGA Tour stroke-play rounds, he was the first to hit all 18 greens in regulation.
I missed ten putts, so do the math, he added. Although a round of 64 is undoubtedly excellent, many players are likely to make birdies on this course.
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