Tough to imagine someone disappointed with a first-round 61 at a PGA Tour event but that was the case for spunky Kevin Na on Thursday at the birdie-fest otherwise known as the Sony Open.
Na hit a magnificent second into the par five ninth, holed a five-footer for eagle at historic Waialae Country Club and made the turn at six-under par. He then birdied the par four 10th and stood at seven-under with eight holes still in front of him. “It entered my mind after I eagled nine,” Na recounted, “it” being the magic 59 number.
Na added another birdie at the 12th to go eight-under — all he needed was three birdies over his final six holes. Didn’t happen. After five straight pars, he made a nice bunker shot at the 18th and walked in a seven-footer to shoot 61 — nine-under — good for the day one lead.
“I’ve never been disappointed with a 61 — but I was a little disappointed,” Na confessed. Na’s putter was doing what Na’s putter typically does — roll in putts. He was into his trademark “walk-it-in” routine. “I wish I walked in a few more coming down the stretch,” Na said after signing his scorecard. But it was nonetheless a great start for the defending champion.
Fifty-one-year-old Jim Furyk set the morning mark with an eight-under par 62 and late in the day, Russell Henley had a chance to tie Na for the lead. Playing in the group behind Na, Henley was just short and right of the par five 18th in two but he chose to bump his third into the steep bank in front of him. He misjudged the pitch and left himself outside 12 feet for birdie and failed to convert, leaving him with Furyk at 62.
Kevin Chappell, Patton Kizzire, Michael Thompson, Seamus Power and Haotong Li, sporting a pair of new glasses, all shot 63s.
Jason Kokrak, Matt Kuchar and Corey Conners were three of a half-dozen players in with 64s.
Same situation as last week at the Tournament of Champions — little to no wind. The course had dried out enough for the fairways to run a bit but the rough was up, rewarding the more accurate drivers and Na is one of them.
Hideki Matsuyama, Abraham Ancer, Harris English and Erik van Rooyen, all came over from Kapalua to play this week and opened with 66s.
In all, 99 players broke par and all a two-under par 68 got you was a tie for 62nd.
Tributes To Tim Rosaforte Pour In, But NOTHING From Tiger Woods:
Tim Rosaforte was perhaps one of the most popular and beloved guys ever to cover the game of golf. It showed as tribute after tribute has poured in from every corner of the golf world.
But there’s one huge name that said nothing — Tiger Woods.
Nothing from Woods, nothing from his came, not even a couple of sentences concocted by The Great Stiney (aka Woods manager Mark Steinberg).
It’s surprising and it’s not. Tim wrote two books about Tiger Woods: “Tiger Woods — Making Of A Champion” and “Raising The Bar — The Championship Years Of Tiger Woods.”
Woods was probably miffed because he didn’t get an royalties from the two books.
Bryson DeChambeau Details His Reasons For Sony WD:
Bryson DeChambeau confided that his wrist had been bothering him for the last month or so and decided to give it a rest this week rather than play at Waialae.
The Tour’s Mad Scientist also said he’ll be played in the Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines in two weeks before he goes to Saudi Arabia for the controversial Saudi Invitational.
DeChambeau termed his withdrawal “precautionary” and said he was check out by his trainer in Colorado this week.
“It’s been bothering me for about three or four weeks now,” DeChambeau said. “All of this speed training, it’s definitely taking a toll on the actual muscular structure. Initially, when I said my hands were killing me, it was more of the skin. Now it’s just gotten to the point where I’m putting so much speed and force into the wrist that we haven’t been taking care of the wrist.”
5 Comments
baxter cepeda
Is it me or Kevin Na’s 59 run got a bit Tigeresque, stealing the spotlight from everyone else? It got a bit mesmerizing there for me.
Speaking of tiger, those books are probably why he isn’t rushing to praise Tim, but I’m sure tiger will eventually say some nice words about mr rosaforte.
Speaking of athletes with interesting relationships with the media, I don’t think Bryson has said anything about Rosaforte either. Meanwhile Bryson continues to show why no one on tour really does what he does with this distance quest. Because This constant search for more power leads to setback after setback. It’s a tough one because added distance does help but at what cost?
While Bryson nurses a sore hand now guys like Na and Jim Furyk —both of whom won’t be accused of pushing it too far in the gym — go for sub 60 rounds and lead the way. There has to be a lesson there.
Sony was supposed to be the Bryson show, but instead we get the Oooo Na Na Na show. I’ll take it.
Tom Edrington
Yes, I saw something from Bryson and it was a nice tribute…
baxter cepeda
Btw I need to air out a small kine beef on the day 1 coverage.
First Steve Sands, who is an Olympic reporter, absolutely butchered former Olympian and surfing, swimming, water polo (and much more), waterman legend Duke Kahanamokus name.
That’s somewhat to be expected.
What wasn’t expected is Rolfs uncertainty about the Dukes golfing history, simply saying he didn’t think Duke played much golf.
There are at least two iconic images of Duke swinging on the beach and even on a surfboard while riding a wave. Those are two of the greatest sports pictures ever taken imo.
I tried digging a little more and learned Duke did some hosting on Oahu’s first golf courses, possibly including famous people like Chaplin, Ruth, Earhart. His ambassador role was famously complicated considering his amateur status. Thorpe, who was good friends with Duke, lost his Olympic medals for making some money playing baseball.
Anyhow. Duke Kahanamoku was more than a waterman, he was a sportsman. There’s no doubt IMO he could slap it around and it’s likely he was involved in some very interesting matches; which were probably kept under wraps to avoid any trouble from the IOC.
Still, I was really hoping Mr Rolfing, who we all love for his Hawaii golf nugs, had a little more for us about Duke and golf.
Tom Edrington
I learned all about Hawaii and its culture early in life….my mom (Lt. Anna Kaseta) was a WWII Navy nurse, first convoy into Pearl after the attack. She became life-long friends with three other Navy nurses who survived the Dec. 7 attack….My mom loved her days at Pearl, they cared for the wounded brought in from the Pacific campaigns….my dad was slotted for transfer to Hawaii circa 1962 but someone with more influence got that slot, instead, we went to the Naval Hospital, Quantico where I learned to play golf and thrived in sports, coached by Marines, caddied for the Marine Corps champion, Col. Bobby Conrad and would caddie for the commandant, Gen. David Shoup when he came down from Washington. Our “Aunt Phyl” was one of those 4 nurses who was a constant in our lives….know all about Duke and enjoy Jimmy Buffett’s song: “Dukes on Sunday”
baxter cepeda
Cool history. Thanks for sharing.