On Sunday, one player was below par during the final round of the U.S. Open. On Thursday, 93 were during the first round of the Corales Puntacana Resort & Club Championship. From getting kicked by Winged Foot. To kicking up their feet. Here are three things you need to know from the tournament in the Dominican Republic.
Four players lead
Sepp Straka, Scott Harrington, Hudson Swafford and Tyler McCumber led the 93. Each shot 7-under 65 to hold a one-shot lead over Xinjun Zhang and Joseph Bramlett.
Straka was the only one of the four to play bogey free, and he, Harrington and McCumber each eagled the par-5 4th. Swafford had the most birdies, with eight.
“Yeah, played really well,” Straka said. “I hit the ball great, made some good putts and everything just kind of fell in line today. Hit my irons really good, which is important on this track. You’re going to hit a lot of fairways, fairways are pretty wide, but you’re going to want to hit your irons good because the greens, you can miss it in some bad spots.”
Several are contending
Twenty-four players are within three shots of the lead.
Zhang, who made eight birdies, and Bramlett were at 6-under, while Ricky Barnes, Cameron Percy, Justin Suh, David Hearn, Kyle Stanley, Sean O’Hair, Jamie Lovemark, Brian Stuard, Patrick Rodgers and Ryan Brehm were at 5-under.
Twelve players were at 4-under.
Defending champion is five shots back
Graeme McDowell, the defending champion, is five shots off the lead after a 2-under 70.
Henrik Stenson was also at 2-under.