Pair of rookies lead the way with Mickelson looming in third after Safeway Open’s first round
By Kyle Foster, photo courtesy of Don lex (LuckyDuckImages.com)
Twitter: @NapaKyle @NapaSportsNews
Whenever the PGA Tour makes their annual trip to Napa there’s always lots of optimism in the air, which is due to the fact that the Safeway Open is the kickoff event for the new season.
On Thursday, just two weeks after Tiger Woods ended his winless drought at the Tour Championship, the 2018-19 season kicked off on the par 72, 7,166-yard Silverado Resort and Spa north course.
In the morning session Chase Wright, who is making his first PGA Tour start this weekend, jumped out to an early tournament lead where he shot a 64, eight-under-par round.
“Patience at its finest. (I) shot two-under on the front (nine) and was playing good, hit a lot of good shots, and then just kind of went on a little run there at the end of the round,” said Wright of his first round performance. “(I) just tried to stay positive, committed to what I was doing and didn’t really put myself in any crazy spots. I think No. 3 was probably my longest par putt, maybe five feet, just a bad first lag putt. After that, it was pretty solid.”
Wright had birdies on holes five, six, twelve, fourteen, seventeen, and eighteen. The rookie had an eagle on the Par 5 16th hole, which was the highlight of his round.
“Yeah, let’s see. (Hole) 15 was playing kind of tough, there was a back pin and that was probably one of my worst shots of the day, but I had a good two putt,” Wright explained of the final three holes. (I) hit a good drive and had a perfect number with a 3-wood and just trusted it and got a good bounce to about maybe 25 feet and just center cut it. And then great shot on 17 right of the flag, which you won’t see many of those today, poured it in there from about eight feet. And then 18, just missed the fairway. It was playing pretty long so I laid up to a good number and had about six feet right behind the hole and just poured it in there like I do right here on the putting green.”
Also in the morning session, Brandt Snedeker shot six-under 66, which puts him in a tie for fourth after the first round of play.
In the afternoon tournament ambassador Phil Mickelson, who played in last week’s Ryder Cup in France, shot a 65, seven-under. Mickelson made six of his seven birdies in a row. Mickelson ended his day in third place.
“I’ve been putting well, like I can putt and I just had — I made some good putts on the greens, but I was surprised at some of the shots I’ve hit,” said Mickelson of his birdie streak. “Honestly, I hit it just terrible and today was kind of an anomaly. Don’t let the good round fool you, I’m not at my best, but today was — a few things clicked and it was fun.”
Mickelson will tee off at 7:50 a.m on Friday from tee No. 10, while Wright will tee off at 1:30 p.m from the tenth tee.
Also in the afternoon Sepp Straka, another rookie on the tour, took over the tournament lead with an astounding nine-under round that was fueled by nine birdies and a phenomenal 31 on the back nine. For Straka it’s nice to see his name atop the leaderboard after his first PGA Tour round.
“It was awesome. It was really cool, especially with some of the names up there, so that was nice,” Straka explained afterwards. “But it can bite you too, so you’ve got to see the leaderboard but then get back to business.”
Brendan Steele, the defending champion shot a 67 on the day that put him in a tie for 12th. Steele will tee off at 7:50 a.m on Friday from the tenth tee.
Straka will tee off at 8:40 a.m on Friday at hole ten.
Mark Mulder, who played for the Oakland Athletics and St. Louis Cardinals over a eight-year Major League Baseball career, had a good front nine as he was sitting at one-under, but his back nine was shaky as he had a double bogey on the 14th hole and a triple bogey on the 16th all while having a birdie sandwiched in between. He ended the day three over tied for 134th.
Mulder will look to make it through the cut tomorrow when he tees off at 8:30 a.m on the tenth hole.
