Arnold Palmer won the L.A. Open three times in his iconic career.
His grandson, Sam Saunders, has never led a PGA Tour event. But that changed on Thursday in Los Angeles when Saunders had a perfect day at Riviera.
Saunders put together seven birdies, went bogey-free and turned heads with a first round 64 at the Genesis Open.
“It was relaxing out there,” said Saunders, a leader for the first time in his short career. “I got into a nice groove out there.”
When reminded how his famous grandfather won three times in L.A., Saunders quickly cautioned “I’m still looking for that first win. I don’t want to get ahead of myself.”
Saunders said that even though he missed the cut last week at Pebble Beach, “it was still a great week. I felt good coming in here. This is a great course, you have to drive the ball well and I think I hit almost all my fairways, maybe missed a couple.”
Saunders took advantage of a perfect day for scoring, perfect weather. There were low scores galore but things will change on Friday when rougher weather is expected.
For Saunders, he needs more days like this. He beat the world’s No. 1, Jason Day, who was even par through 16 holes when they ran out of daylight, thanks to a one-hour fog delay in the morning. Saunders clipped defending champion Bubba Watson by nine shots. Watson was two-over for his first round with a hole left to play when things went dark.
Phil Mickelson was hanging around the top after his opening 67.
Last week’s winner, Jordan Spieth, was two-under through 16.
But by time they finish the first round on Friday morning, Saunders will still be at the top of the leader board with 54 holes to play.
And as he said, he didn’t want to get ahead of himself.
