Jimmy Walker loves tournament golf in Hawaii.
He also loves the early part of the season, that’s been his bread-and-butter on the PGA Tour.
He broke his own mold last season, winning his first major, the PGA, late in the year. The momentum from that major showed up Thursday in Maui. Walker got off to the fastest start of all the big names at the Tournament of Champions, rolling out the new year with an eight-under at 65 on the birdie-yielding Plantation Course.
That opening effort spotted him a two-shot lead over Jim Herman, Justin Thomas and Ryan Moore.
Player of the Year Dustin Johnson performed the best of the biggest names with a four-under par 69 on the par 73 layout. Defending champion Jordan Spieth and world’s No. 1 Jason Day were pretty unimpressive for the first round of their new seasons. Spieth had trouble reading the greens on a course he loves and could only manage to shoot 72 while Day came up with a three-under par effort of 70.
In all, only five of the 32 players failed to break par on the easiest course on the PGA Tour.
Walker benefitted from some off season experiments that saw him trim an inch off the shaft of his driver. “Last year I didn’t drive it as well as I would have liked,” Walker explained. “More fairways is what I’m looking for.” Walker admitted that the equipment change might cost him between five and 20 yards off the tee but countered that improved accuracy will mean more in the long run. He also focused on better putting and that showed up on Thursday.
After birdies at the second and fourth holes, Walker canned a 38-footer for eagle at the par five fifth then holed a seven-footer for birdie at the sixth to get to five-under par and simply cruised in from there on his way to 65.
