The whales were frolicking, surfers gliding while the Trade Winds gently swept the Plantation course on opening day as some major golf talent got down to business at the season-opening Tournament of Champions.
Thursday’s first round at Kapalua’s remodeled Plantation Course offered up birdie opportunities and it was defending champion Justin Thomas and resurrected Harris English leading the way.
Both Thomas and English were sharper than everyone else in this elite field as they forged eight-under par 65s to take the first round lead on a Chamber Of Commerce day that surely had cold-weather watchers yearning for those mild 80-degree temperatures.
Thomas is no stranger to the winner’s circle at this event, he’s won twice, including last year before the pandemic hit the world. J.T. made three straight birdies to finish his first nine holes at five-under then added three more coming home, including an easy two-putt birdie at the final hole to tie Harris. Thomas, who won the PNC Championship with his father last month in Orlando, continues to focus on improving his already steady putting stroke. He kept the bogeys off his card and put himself in position to contend and possibly win this one for a third time.
J.T.’s only nervous moment of the round came at the 13th hole when his drive went offline into some of that dreaded knee-high native grass. With the new three-minute search rule leaving little time for finding stray balls, D.J.’s caddie/brother Austin found it — mainly because he stepped on it as time was nearly up. J.T. was able to hack it out sideways, his third was just inside 40-feet and he made that bomb to save par. “I think I owe a big `thank you’ to AJ for stepping on my ball and finding that one for me,” Thomas said. “Those par saves can definitely be a little bit more momentum boost than a birdie sometimes. I’m a big fan of bogey-free rounds, so that putt was nice to keep it that way.”
Harris, who registered five top 10s in his last nine events, found every fairway and for his day’s work had seven birdies, an eagle and a lone bogey. His eagle came at the par five ninth where he pitched in from just off the green. “I know this place leads to a lot of birdies,” Harris said after his round. “My iron game is in good shape and I gave myself a lot of chances out there.”
The field found a layout softened by some overnight rain. The Trades diminished as the day went on and there was plenty of scoring down the stretch.
There were enough players in at six-under par 67 to start their own luau, including former champion in this event, Patrick Reed, who hit a gem of a second shot into the 18th and holed a six-footer for eagle to join another former winner, Sergio Garcia, along with Tour ironman Sungjae Im, Ryan Palmer, Robert Streb and Canadian Nick Taylor.
Adam Scott has ditched his long putter and showed up with one closer to conventional and had what he called “my best ball striking round in four years.” He shot a five-under par 68 on this par 73 as did Pat Cantlay and Brendon Todd.
Biggest logjam on the scoreboard came at four-under par where 10 players finished including 2019 champion Xander Schauffele, who lost in a playoff to Thomas last year.
Golf-ball-crushing, rules-arguing, weight-lifting, distance-obsessed, protein-shake-guzzling, U.S. Open-winning Bryson DeChambeau was in that pack of 10. He was paired with Todd, outdriving him by 100 yards or more at times but Todd proved that the flat stick can be more powerful than the big stick as he clipped DeChambeau by a shot.
The world’s No. 1 and 2 will be playing catch-up golf as they weren’t that sharp over the first 18. Dustin Johnson played with Thomas and his ball striking had him in position to score but his putter wasn’t sharp as he struggled with the pace of the greens and finished with a two-under par 71 that left him tied for 30th. Rahm, who switched equipment in the off-season, managed to shoot three-under (70) and was tied for 22nd.
Thursday was supposed to be a windy test but as it turned out, it wasn’t and gave the field every opportunity to start fast. But after vacations and layoffs, it was evident that some were sharper than others.
With the field playing twosomes, pace of play was no issue. The views were spectacular and for some, so was the golf.
For others, like Tony Finau (74) and Sebastian Munoz (75), the only players in the field to shoot over par, at least there were the views — the whales, the surfers and that spectacular blue Pacific water.
There will be more birdies and eagles before Sunday’s finale and as English said, this place leads to a lot of birdies.
