A co-leader who showed his pre-tournament coronavirus test. A contender who showed nothing but birdies over a six-hole stretch. A Champions Tour pairing that showed they still got it.
Here are three things you should know after Thursday’s first round of the RBC Heritage at Harbour Town Golf Links in Hilton Head, S.C.
Ian Poulter and Mark Hubbard lead
Ian Poulter stomped his feet on the video on his social media feeds. He scratched his head. He then slapped it 10 times. He felt plenty of discomfort during his coronavirus nasal test before the tournament and had to let it out.
He continued to do so during his first round, as he shot a bogey-free, 7-under 64 to share the first-round lead with Mark Hubbard. On 17, Poulter dropped a 31-footer to get to 6-under, and he closed his round by knocking his approach to within 4 feet and dropping the birdie putt.
Hubbard was 3-under through two holes and 5-under through six, and he added two more birdies on the back nine for his 67.
Poulter and Hubbard were a stroke ahead of seven golfers.
The big names
As the second tournament after the PGA Tour’s three-month hiatus due to the coronavirus, the RBC attracted many of the world’s best, and many were among the top of the leaderboard.
Brooks Koepka, Rickie Fowler and Bryson DeChambeau were among the group at 4-under. South Carolina native Dustin Johnson was at 3-under. Rory McIlroy, the world’s top-ranked player, struggled to a 1-over.
No player over a six-hole stretch was hotter than Jordan Spieth.
After starting on the back nine (where he triple-bogeyed the 12th), Spieth birdied the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th and 7th, then added another at the 9th for a 5-under 66 round.
The older names
Three members of the Champions Tour were paired together – Ernie Els, 50; Vijay Singh, 57; and Bernhard Langer, 62. Their total age is 169.
Their total score on Thursday was close to it. Els shot a 4-under 67, Singh a 1-under 70 and Langer a 2-under 69, good for a 206.
