PGA Tour Farmers Insurance Open Day 1
6-under propaganda in the book course with accuracy ahead
Kim Si-woo and No Seung-yeol 4 under’nam course is key’
‘Domestic Shaft’ Scott placed a tie for 16th under 5th under
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None of the 155 players are older than that. No other player had a shorter driver shot distance than his average of 258.5 yards. However, only three players were ahead of him in the rankings.
This is the story of Choi Gyeong-ju (51, SK Telecom), a pioneer in Korea’s American Professional Golf (PGA) tour. Choi Kyung-joo was tied for fourth place by hitting 6 under par 66 in the first round of the Farmers Insurance Open (total prize of $7.5 million) held at the Torrey Pines Golf Club Book Course (par 72) in La Jolla, California, USA on the 29th (Korean time). . It’s two shots from Patrick Reed (US) and Alex Noren (Sweden), who took the lead in 8-under par. Scott Schaeffler (USA) ranked third alone with a 7-under par.
Choi Gyeong-ju, who won her 8th career victory in the 2011 Players Championship, put her first step toward adding a multiplier in almost 10 years. He made a new history by advancing to the PGA Tour with the Korean No. 1 in 2000, winning the Compaq Classic in 2002 and winning the championship eight times. Kim Si-woo (26, CJ Logistics) ranked second in many wins in Korea.
When he turned 50 last year, Choi Kyung-joo, who is on the Champions (Senior) Tour, cuts the number of strokes in his own way. Although 300 yards was 30-40 yards shorter than the funny young players, the driver shot was tied for 10th place in fairway (71.43%) and 16th in green hit rate (83.33%). On hitting the green, putts were also good at 1.667 per hole (co-31st). The experience of winning runner-up in 2014 and 2016 in this competition is also an asset of the veteran. In the 17th hole (par 5), after putting the second shot on the green, he took a light birdie. Choi Gyeong-ju, who changed the club this year and started anew, said, “It’s not easy because it’s not easy to fight with young players, but I’m happy to compete with them. The course is narrower and longer than before, so I decided to keep only the fairway.”
‘Choi Gyeongju Kids’ also had a good start. Kim Si-woo, who won the American Express last week, began cruising for a second straight victory with a tie for 21st place in the 4-under par. Roh Seung-yeol (30), who participated in the second tournament this season, also took a joint 21st place at the 4-under par alongside Kim Si-woo, and Lim Seong-jae (23) followed by a 3-under par at 32nd place.
The challenge for the Korean Legion is to overcome the South Course (par 72), which is played after the second round. The Nam Course, which is also the venue for the US Open this year, is 7,765 yards longest among the PGA Tour courses, with 2-3 strokes more than the North Course every year. In this competition, rounds 1 and 2 are alternately played on the North and South course, and then rounds 3 and 4 are played on the South course to determine the winner. Most of the top players and major Korean players played on the North Course on this day, so they have to go over the South Course for the remaining three days.
On the first day, the best performers on the South Course were Peter Malnutty and Ryan Palmer (USA), who tied for fourth in a 6-under par. Rory McIlroy (Northern Ireland), 7th place in the world, a leading candidate for the championship, finished the first day with a tie for 21st place by reducing 4 strokes on the South Course. Yon Lam (Spain), the world’s second highest ranked player, was a tie for 32nd at 3-under par, and defending champion Mark Leishman (Australia) was ranked at 69th (above the South Course). Adam Scott (Australia), who has been preparing for this competition with a Korean shaft, wrote a 5-under par (joint 16th) on the book course.
/ Reporter Park Min-young [email protected]
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