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[이데일리 스타in 주영로 기자] Ahn Byung-hoon placed 2nd, Kim Si-woo tied for 3rd, Lim Seongjae and Lee Gyeong-hoon tied for 14th.
Korean players occupied the top of the leaderboard on the first day of the American Professional Golf (PGA) Tour American Express ($6.7 million in prize money).
In the first round of the tournament held at the PGA West Nicklaus Tournament Course (par 72) in La Quinta, Calif. on the 22nd (Korean time) on the 22nd (Korean time), Ahn Byeong-hoon hit 7 under par 65 with a flawless shot with only 7 birdies. With an 8-under-par 64 strokes, Brandon Hagi (USA), who took the lead, was 1 stroke behind and 2nd place showed a good start for his first victory in his life. This tournament is divided into the Nicklaus Tournament and the Stadium Course, and it is played once in the first and second rounds, and then only on the Stadium Course from the third round.
Ahn Byung-hoon, who started the game on the Nicklaus Tournament Course, showed a refreshing start by picking 3 birdies without seeing only in the first half. Ahn Byung-hoon, who caught the first birdie on the day in hole 4 (par 5), added a birdie again in 6 (par 4) and 7 (par 5).
Ahn Byung-hoon, who showed steady performance even in the second half, continued the upward trend by catching a birdie for three consecutive holes from the 11th hole (par 5) to the 12th (par 3) and the 13th hole (par 4). After that, there were no birdies for 3 holes, but at the 17th hole (par 3), a tee shot was attached to 1.5m and the 7th birdie was caught.
The drive shot fairway hit rate of 78.57% and the green hit rate of 83.33% stood out.
After the game, Ahn Byung-hoon said, “I had a good sense of the driver and iron shot,” and said, “Except for one of the 7 buddies, the rest were all 1~2m so easy to play.”
Ahn Byung-hoon, who is training with Sean Foley, a new swing coach recently, said, “The accuracy of the drive shot has decreased due to the large number of spins, but we are training to increase the accuracy by reducing the spin with the new coach. Chi was satisfied with the swing change.”
Ahn Byung-hoon, who has been active in the PGA Tour since 2016, has been steadily performing at No. 42 in the FedEx point rankings in the 2017-2018 seasons, 53rd in the 2018-2019 seasons, and 33rd in the 2019-2020 seasons, but has yet to establish a relationship with the championship. The 2017-2018 season memorial tournament and RBC Canada Open, and the 2015-2016 season Zurich Classic runner-up are the best performances ever.
Siwoo Kim started a pleasant start by pulling out 4 birdies per eagle without looking. Kim Si-woo, who previously participated in the Sony Open in Hawaii and played an unsightly game in the 1st and 4th rounds, played’Boy Free’ three times in two recent competitions.
Kim Si-woo, who started playing at the 10th hole of the stadium course, added a birdie at the 13th (par 3) and 17th (par 3) after catching the first birdie at the 11th hole (par 5).
Kim Si-woo, who cut only three shots in the first half, continued the upward trend in the second half by putting an eagle putt at a distance of about 10m from the 5th hole (par 5). On the 8th hole (par 4), the first day ended with a 6 under par, adding another buddy.
The green hit rate was 55.56% compared to the drive shot fairway hit rate of 85.71%, but the sophisticated putt was good enough to reduce 1.5 putts per hole.
Lim Seong-jae (23) hit 4 under par 68 with 5 birdies and 1 bogie on the Nicklaus tournament course. He was tied for 14th place with Lee Gyeong-hoon (30) by four strokes.
Kim Joo-hyung (19), who took a chance to participate in the tournament with a sponsor recommendation, hit a 3-under-par 69 in the Nicklaus Tournament Course and tied for 39th.
Brooks Kepkawa Ricky Fowler (above the United States), who came out to the tournament for the first time in the new year and attracted attention, were pushed down to the bottom because they could not reduce the number of strokes on the first day. Kepka wrote down an even par and tied for 103rd, and Fowler lost one stroke and tied for 120th (1 over par, 73). Phil Mickelson (USA) was on the verge of dropping out of the cut with a tie for 133th place (2 over par 74 strokes).