Scott, Landry lead the way after one round at the Safeway Open
By Kyle Foster
Twitter: @NapaKyle @NapaSportsNews
It’s always nice to get off to a fast start on the first day of a golf tournament.
That was the case for some of the world’s best golfers on Thursday at round one of the Safeway Open at Silverado Resort and Spa.
The person who got off to the best start was Adam Scott, the 15th ranked golfer in the world. He shot a 65 to gain an early lead at 7-under-par.
“I actually really enjoy this kind of tighter, smaller style courses,” Scott said of his comfort level at the par 72, 7,166-yard North Course at Silverado. “We often play big, open, modern resort-style courses. If I was to pick where to play socially, this is the kind, of course, I would play.”
Of course, Scott should also be happy with his round given the fact he had six birdies, one eagle, and a bogey.
The eagle came on the fifth hole, which is a par 5, 549-yard hole.
“It’s a snaky kind of hole, that one, and I hit a pretty nice drive,” Scott said of his eagle. “But, the 4-iron was really great, split the trees, draw into the middle of the green and like one of those up-and-over putts, so it was all happening there on the fifth. (A) fun way to kind of keep the momentum going and get the most out of the round. That’s, you know if I had complaints about last season, I didn’t get the most out of my good rounds or my good weeks. Today felt like I kind of got the most out of myself.”
Andrew Landry also ended the day at seven-under. However, his round was a little bit more conventional than Scotts. He simply birdied on seven holes to shoot a 65.
“That’s kind of the big thing that I’ve been focusing on,” Landry said of all of his birdies. “You know, whenever I haven’t made cuts in the past and the things that matter are the par putts, those saves like that to keep your round going. That was for sure one thing that kept that round going.”
Another person who had a good day was Francesco Molinari. He ended the day at six-under after shooting a 66 in the first round of play. The highlight of his day came when birdied on two of his final three holes, including a birdie at the par 3 seventh hole.
“It was a really good shot, really good 4-iron off the tee to six feet and then a nice putt,” Molinari said. “Yeah, a good round. Didn’t hit the ball great, but it’s a tricky golf course with the doglegs and the small fairways. It’s not easy to hit the fairways. Hopefully, I’ll do a bit better on that side tomorrow. (The) short game was really good today, so I’m obviously happy with the start.”
Former Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo also had a solid round. He ended the day at two-under, which put him into a tie for 28th.
“Well, I mean, every time I play in one of these events, get lucky enough to get an exemption, kind of get a chance to see what you’re not good at,” Romo said following his round. “Very apparent was putting over the last year. So just a lot of work put into it and, you know, just good — I’ve been putting well, so it was nice to come out here and keep that going.”
Sacramento native Cameron Champ also had a solid day to put himself in a tie for fifth. His five-under-par round was capped off when he made back-to-back-to-back birdies on holes 16, 17, and 18.
“It was a solid round,” Champ said following around where he finished with a 67. “Hit it extremely well, gave myself a lot of chances. You know, struggled with the speed a little bit, but I was able to take advantage of the par 5s today, and then a nice chip-in on 17 from the bunker. So all around, you know, I got it up and down when I needed to, especially on 7 and 8, made some nice putts. It was just a nice quality round.”
Justin Thomas shot a 71, one-under for the day. He had to eagle the 18th hole to finish under par for the afternoon.
Then, of course, there are the people who started the tournament off in a rough way.
In that group of players would be tournament ambassador Phil Mickelson. He ended the day at three-over-par, which now puts him in jeopardy of making the cut.
“It wasn’t as disappointing as the score was,” Mickelson admitted. “I shot 3 over, but I hit two out of bounds on five back-to-back and that kind of ruined the round. My game feels better than the score was and it looks. I’m excited to be back out, my attitude’s a little bit better and I should come out tomorrow morning and have a good round.”
His day was kind of a mixed bag. On one hand, he birdied holes 6, 12, and 18. But on the other, he bogeyed holes 7 and 17th, with an ugly fifth hole where he went four-over-par for the hole by shooting a nine on the par 5.
“I tried to carve, kind of cut a 5 and then ultimately a 6-iron out of the rough and the ball just kind of shot left off the face out of bounds, and it happened twice,” Mickelson explained of rough fifth hole.
“I’ll have to rethink that hole a little bit because it did the same thing last year in the final round, I ended up hitting two out of bounds as well. So that hole has bitten me. But it’s a fun golf course. Like I said, my game’s not as far off as the score said, and my attitude’s a lot better. I’ll come out tomorrow and have a good round.”
Another person who had a rough day was John Daly. However, he had a worse round than Mickelson as he ended the day at four-over by shooting a 76. Daily bogeyed holes 2, 10, 12, and 18.
The second round will start on Friday at 7 a.m., with players teeing off from the first and tenth tees.
