Big names struggle as Reavie emerges with first round lead at Fortinet Championship
By Kyle Foster
Twitter: @NapaKyle @NapaSportsNews
It’s always nice to play a good first round to get the new season underway. That was the goal of all 156 players in the tournament were looking to do during Thursday’s first round at the season-opening Fortinet Championship. On the other hand, it’s never good to get off to a rough start.
That was the case for FedExCup Playoffs runner-up Jon Rahm who didn’t have a good round at all. He shot a par 72 round that he wasn’t happy with. Of course, it doesn’t help that he’s also been feeling a bit under the weather since Wednesday.
“Not my best ball-striking day, a little tight today probably from having to be in bed for so long yesterday. So a little tight just didn’t feel as fluid as it usually does,” Rahm said. “Even with how I felt, I played a little bit better than I thought I was going to, to be honest. Started great, started to hit some good shots, too bad I couldn’t capitalize on some of the good chances early on.
“Towards the end a lot of times my mind just wasn’t in it, I was having a hard time focusing given the fact that I haven’t had a solid meal since Tuesday morning, he added. “It is what it is. I just started, I’m feeling good now, so get a good meal right now and rest up the rest of the day. We have three more days to go. You can’t win it today, you can certainly lose it and it wasn’t my best day.”
Rahm who is the World No.1 is also using the season-opening event to prepare for next week’s Ryder Cup.
“I felt like I’m going to get better in due time whether I play here or not, and I would rather get competition rounds in at least for the mental aspect of the Ryder Cup,” Rahm said.
Another big name that had an up-and-down day was Phil Mickelson. He finished the day with a 70, two-under. His first nine holes, which were the back nine were solid. It was when he made the turn to the front nine where his round fell apart. A big reason he had a lackluster final nine holes was due to the fact he stopped hitting fairways.
“I stopped hitting fairways. I hit a lot of fairways on the front and a lot of first cuts and had chances to be aggressive and played pretty well the front nine, which was the back, which was my front,” Mickelson pointed out. “I had a couple (of) chances on the last couple holes to get it back to 3, 4, 5 under and finished at 2 unfortunately, but I thought it actually went all right. I’m making a few changes and my miss has gone from left to right and it’s a little bit different to adjust to. I thought that it went pretty well today with that in mind.”
Mickelson ended the day by making it on 14 of 18 greens in regulation while hitting the fairway just 6 of 14 times. He was 3 of 4 when he had to scramble, and converted his only sand save opportunity.
The final big name in the event is 2021 Masters winner Hideki Matsuyama. While he didn’t play his best round on Thursday, it wasn’t a terrible round either. He ended the day with a three-under 69 round.
However, the morning tee times saw the usual under-the-radar name emerge with the early lead. Chez Reavie went out early and shot seven-under. He had eight birdies with one bogey on the 14th hole. He also made 13 of 18 greens in regulation. He scrambled successfully on four of his five attempts.
Reavie also hit 8 of 14 fairways, which led to some of his successes.
“When it’s firm and fast out here, you’ve got to be in the fairways and then the fairways are that much tougher to hit so you really have to pick your spots and hit the right clubs off the tees to even give yourself a chance,” he explained.
There was a tie for second at six-under. Cameron Tringale and Adam Hadwin each shot a 66 on the day.
Tringale had six birdies on the round. He hit 12 of 18 greens in regulation and 6 of 14 fairways.
Adam Hadwin also had a six-under first round. He was able to get to that score thanks to seven birdies and one bogey on the 15th hole. Hadwin also hit 6 of 14 fairways but made 11 of 18 greens in regulation.
The same grouping will be used tomorrow before a cut takes place
