Brandt Snedeker has momentum on his side and it traveled with him to Waialae on Thursday.
It’s a crowded leader board after the first round at the Sony and Snedeker managed to get his share with a seven-under par 63. “This is a great golf course for me,” Snedeker said. “It’s a traditional kind of course. It’s nice to be back.”
FedEx Cup points leader Kevin Kisner is up there with him. A birdie at his final hole got him to the top. “I got to go to Maui and knocked the rust off — my game feels good,” he said after playing in the Tournament of Champions for the first time.
One of the surprise co-leaders is 52-year-old Vijay Singh who attempting to become the oldest player to win a PGA Tour event. He won this tournament in 2005 but hasn’t won since the huge year he had back in 2008 when he captured the FedEx Cup. Joining him at 63 was Rickie Barnes and Morgan Hoffman.
Open champion Zach Johnson, getting the feel for some new equipment, put himself in contention with a six-under par 64.
Last year’s runner-up to Jimmy Walker, Scott Piercy, got off to a good start and was in a crowd of players at five-under par 65. “I know the angles off the tee and I feel very comfortable on this course,” Piercy said.
Walker didn’t get off to the start he was looking for. He had to birdie his final hole of the day to get to one-under par 69 and was tied for 66th. He’ll have to play like he did last year when he tore it up over the weekend to run away from the rest of the field if he is going to win for the third straight year.
Scoring conditions were perfect with very light wind and as a result, 86 players shot under par.
