Matt Jones eagled the par-five 14th hole and finished with a six-under 66 to take a one-stroke lead on Thursday after the first round of the Texas Open.
Jones, the 30-year-old Australian, also had four birdies in a back-nine 30 on the Greg Norman-designed Oaks Course at TPC San Antonio, the tournament’s new site after 15 years at La Cantera.
Paul Stankowski opened with a 67, and J.B. Holmes, Matt Weibring, Charley Hoffman and Steve Lowery had 68s.
Ernie Els, a two-time winner this year, had a 72. He was three-under on the final five holes, making a tap-in eagle on 14 after a 293-yard second shot.
“Obviously, this golf course is a little bit different than we play week in and week out, and I think to some of the players it’s a little bit of a shock,” Els said. “Back to even-par, but I feel like, you know, it could have been a low score out there. The wind dropped for us.”
Els’ playing partner, Vijay Singh, left several putts just short, but finished with a birdie for a 73. Zach Johnson, the two-time defending champion, made a seven on the par-three 13th and ended up with an eight-over 80.
Jones rebounded after making a double-bogey on the first hole.
“A double wasn’t the start we wanted, but the first hole is not an easy starting tee shot there at all,” Jones said. “It’s very narrow. After that, it was just a battle to get back to even-par on the front nine and then I made about a 30-footer for par on 11, which kind of kept me going. And from there on, we had six birdies and an eagle.”
Jones hit a three-wood approach from 276 yards to within eight feet on No. 14.
He birdied three of the four par-threes.
“With these greens, if you miss a tee shot you’re working hard to par or birdie,” Jones said. “If you miss a second shot, it’s tough out of the bunkers and runoffs they have on the greens. These par-threes aren’t easy. To have three birdies on par-threes is quite good.”
Stankowski birdied five of his final 15 holes.
“This would rival one of the most solid rounds I’ve played in years,” Stankowski said. “I know in the wind, you have one option — to go ahead and hit solid shots, and I did that today.”
■MALLORCA OPEN
AFP, MALLORCA, Spain
South Africa’s James Kingston took a two-shot lead after the first round of the Mallorca Open on Thursday with an impressive five-under 65 at the Pula course.
Spain’s Alvaro Velasco was in second place, with Ireland’s Gary Murphy, Frenchman Raphael Jacquelin, Spain’s Alejandro Canizares and Dane Thorbjorn Olesen one shot further back.
“I didn’t have a nice day out there yesterday and it’s not one of my favorites, but I was hitting it so well that it was actually an easy round,” said two-time European Tour winner Kingston, who enjoyed the better early conditions before the wind picked up later in the day. “It’s tricky even without a wind, but when you play nicely you can see the scores.”
Velasco lost his European Tour card last season and did not make the 72-hole cut at the European Tour Qualifying School in November last year.
His ranking on the Spanish Order of Merit earned him his place in the tournament and he came home in 32 with birdies at the first, fourth and sixth.
Murphy was another back at the Qualifying School and although the 37-year-old from Kilkenny made it through, he has since managed to survive only two cuts in 10 starts.
“I’ve been struggling with the groove change,” he said. “I’m on my fifth set of irons, but have finally got some I feel are doing what they should do.”
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