It wouldn’t be the Wyndham Championship without some crazy low scores or just downright craziness.
On Thursday morning, it was Beau Hossler opening with a career-low, 9-under-par 61 at Sedgefield Country Club to take the first-round lead. The 31-year-old Californian, who has held seven first-round leads on the PGA Tour without winning, made seven birdies with an eagle on No. 15.
“Pretty strong across the board,” Hossler said of his round. “Got off to a nice start and obviously finished particularly well there at the end there as well. Kind of did everything well. Didn’t feel my best with the driver, but iron play was probably the best of my career today.”
In the afternoon, it was Sahith Theegala’s turn. The 28-year-old Californian of Indian descent didn’t make single a par on the front nine — he bogeyed No. 7 — while shooting 28, then made eight straight pars before sinking a short birdie putt at 18 to finish with 63. Tied with Theegala was Ben James, who made eagles on Nos. 5 and 15.
“Yeah, pretty wild,” said Theegala. “I’ve never had a round like that. I think historically I’ve always struggled to start rounds really well, so that was the first time I ever started a round with six in a row. That was an incredible start. It didn’t feel like a fluke or anything, either. I made one really, really nice putt on 3 that was kind of a bonus, but other than that I just felt ike I was plodding along, hitting fairways, which is so key out here.”
Theegala hit his final four drives into the left rough.
“Got to the back nine and just stopped hitting fairways and really that cost me a lot of opportunities,” he said. “I think that’swhy it’s such a great golf course, you can tear it up in the fairway but not from the rough.”
The distinction of worst finish to an otherwise great round went to Doug Ghim, who showed game for 15 holes. Ghim moved to 8-under, one behind Hossler, before bogeying 16 and 18, where he rimmed out a 2 1/2-foot putt.
Though the top 10 is filled with relatively obscure names, several of the marquee players are positioned to make the 36-hole cut and stick around for the weekend.
Three dozen players shot 66 or better on a pleasant August day, perhaps helped by some recent rains that softened the fast, undulating greens a little. A dozen players were still on the course when storms suspended play for the day at 6:56 p.m.
But defending champion Cameron Young, ranked No. 3 in the world, didn’t take advantage of the comfy conditions. In fact, the 29-year-old Wake Forest graduate may have shot himself out of contention and left himself scrambling to make the 36-hole cut with 71.
Jordan Spieth got off to a rough start, fanning his opening tee shot far to the right of the generous fairway and out of bounds. After curiously asking caddie Michael Greller for a new glove and making the change, Spieth re-teed and eventually made double-bogey. But he rallied to shoot 68, including a chip-in birdie at No. 9.
Many of the marquee players in the 156-player field appear likely to stick around for the weekend. Former champion Tom Kim posted 65. Wake grads Michael Brennan and Alex Fitzpatrick as well as Justin Thomas shot 66. Brooks Koepka and Sungjae Im fired 67.
Local favorites Alex Smalley, Ryan Gerard joined a group including Jackson Koivun and Brian Harman at 67. Ben Griffin, Aaron Rai and Lucas Glover were in a cluster at 69. Webb Simpson, Keegan Bradley and J.T. Poston shot 70.
Smalley, a Sedgefield member, made a scrambling par at 18 after hitting his drive into the left rough. Punchout short of the creek about 100 yards from the green, he hit an approach nine feet from the pin and rolled in the putt.
