The early leader Thursday at the Phoenix Open was Mother Nature.
With the usual mega-crowds flowing through the gates for round one, this one was slow getting off the runway thanks to, get this — frost on the greens.
Yes, that’s correct, frost in Phoenix.
The morning wave became the later morning wave as the start to this extravaganza was delayed by an hour and 45 minutes. When things finally got underway, Mother Nature had another curve ball to throw at the world’s best players — winds in the 15-20 mile-per-hour range.
Without trees on the TPC Scottsdale, a true desert layout, the winds made it a test, drying out greens that weren’t all that receptive — even to these high-spin, high trajectory players.
Seemed like a struggle for most. If there’s a weakness in world No. 1 Rory McIlroy’s game — it is windy conditions. By the time the morning wave finished, Rory and his entire group found themselves over par. Seventy-three for Rory and iron-master Collin Morikawa and 74 (three-over) for quiet man Hideki Matsuyama. A Japanese reporter nailed a description of Hideki with this: “Hideki doesn’t speak much English, and he doesn’t speak much Japanese.” Yeah, he’s a quiet guy.
With a lot of hoodies in the crowds, two Canadians didn’t mind the cooler air. Nick Taylor and Adam Hadwin were the best of the morning guys with five-under par 66s. Taylor’s came courtesy of a scorching-hot final nine. He started with four straight birdies, added two more and shot 30 coming home. “That wind was very difficult,” Taylor acknowledged. “I made a lot of 10-12 footers on that (birdie) stretch. The direction of the wind, I’m not used to.”
Taylor embraced the madness of the par three 16th. “It’s great — fun to feel that adrenaline rush at 16 but I’d rather have wedge there than seven-iron.” Taylor was referring to the added length as the hole was stretch to 173-yards on day one.
Right behind Taylor and Hadwin came the best effort of the highly-ranked players. World No. 6 Xander Schauffele showed off some precision shot-making on his way to a four-under par 67.
Schauffele said the windy conditions caught him by surprise. “I didn’t think it was going to be windy — I was kinda sleeping on the (weather) forecast.”
What made those winds tougher was the direction — they blew from the northeast, which isn’t typical at TPC Scottsdale.
As the afternoon wave got out, world No. 2 and 3 were taking care of business. When the horn blew as daylight faded — defending champ Scottie Scheffler worked his way to one-under par through 12 holes while Arizona State’s favorite son — Rahm, was looking like a contender — Rahmbo was three-under through 13. Farmers Insurance champ Max Homa was three-under through 12 and looking every bit the rising superstar.
There’s been a resurgence by Jason Day early in the season and J-Day had already tied the lead (four-under) with eight holes left to play.
That afternoon wave will get back out early Friday. Temps expected to be a chilly 45 degrees and once again, those testy northeast winds will show up.
So the best is yet to come, a fitting prelude to Super Bowl LVII.
