Pendrith matches career best round to take three stroke lead in first round of Shriners Children’s Open
By Kyle Foster, photo courtesy of Eric Thompson (Shamboozled.com)
Twitter/X: @NapaKyle @NapaSportsNews
Las Vegas-While the first round isn’t a round where you can win the tournament, it can be a crucial way to secure that you’re playing over the weekend.
In the opening round of the Shriners Children’s Open at TPC Summerlin, there was no one better than Taylor Pendrith.
Pendrith established himself as one of the players to beat heading into the weekend with a score of 61 for a -10 round. Pendrith was nearly perfect on the day as he was bogey-free for the round. He did this by hitting a whopping 13 of 14 shots into the fairway.
“Yeah, I played really nice today. Got off to a good start. Was able to get that groove with my driver and found a lot of fairways,” Pendrith said of his round. “From there, I had a lot of good numbers today. Feel like we had the same number a few times and I was able to hit some close wedges. Made a lot of putts inside ten feet. Yeah, everything was on and it was nice to — would’ve liked to birdie the last or make eagle, but I’m still very, very pleased.”
This low score also ties his career low round. The last time the Canadian shot a 61 was in the 2021 Butterfield Bermuda Championship.
Pendrith comes into the event inside the top 50 in PGA Tour points, meaning he’s locked into signature events. But many inside the top 50 still play FedExCup Fall events to win more money while also staying sharp. After all, this is his first tournament after a bit of a break since the President’s Cup in September.
“Not really, honestly. I think I played maybe three times since the Presidents Cup, and then was planning on practicing and everything was closed,” Pedrtith explained as if he was surprised given the lack of time he’s had to play recently.
He’s also in the middle of what has been a career year in 2024. This is mostly due to his confidence being at an all-time high.
“I think there is a few things. The confidence level is up for sure I think. Was able to win last year, this year, and have some really solid finishes at some big events, and that gives you a lot of confidence,” he added. “I would say my putting has improved the most. It’s the biggest improvement in my game from the last couple (of) seasons. I’ve been able to roll in some nice putts. Just seeing them go in gives you more confidence.”
The battle for the second spot on the leaderboard is full of players. After all, there was a total of six guys tied at 7-under. One of those was Harry Hall. He had a pretty good round other than the boogey on the 6th hole towards the end of the round. However, he finished the round with back-to-back birdies to get back to -7.
“Yeah, I don’t expect to birdie 8 any time I play it,” Hall said of his birdies to end the day. “I hit a great 7-wood to a foot which was the best shot of the day.”
Another one of the many at 7-under was Matti Schmid. He was on a roll to begin his round at 6 of his 7 birdies came in his first nine holes, which were on the back nine after starting at hole 10.
“Yeah, the front nine or the first kind of 12, 13 holes I played really well tee-to-green,” Schmid said of his start of the round. “Didn’t miss anything pretty much, fairways, greens, and made a few nice putts. Back nine, last few holes, I needed to scramble a little bit and I was able to do that, and that I’m proud of too.”
JT Posten also added to the group of players locked up for second place. He had a great start to his round on the back nine, which included an eagle on the 16th hole. He also had a bogey-free round.
“Yeah, the whole back nine feels like you got a lot of chances, especially if you’re hitting the fairway,” Poston said of his start on the back nine. “Nice to get the round going there on 14, make a good one, knowing 15 (and) 16 are very gettable. Good to take advantage of it.”
Others tied for second include Mark Hubbard, Rico Hoey, Ben Silverman, and Bud Cauley.
Rickie Fowler went out and shot a 66, good for -5, and a tie for 16th. He did this with 5 birdies and no bogeys for the day. He is also tied with Gary Woodland on the leaderboard.
Joel Dahmen was also assessed a 4 stroke penalty for having too many clubs in his bag. A PGA Tour player is allowed to have 14 clubs in their bag.
Procore Championship winner Patton Kizzire had an afternoon tee time and will look to keep his winning ways going.
The tournament will continue all weekend long with coverage on Golf Channel. Friday will be when the field is cut down.