Corey Pavin rolled back the years with a superb display over his first 12 holes to snatch the lead at the Northern Trust Open on Thursday before faltering at the finish.
The PGA Tour veteran, champion of the tournament in 1994 and 1995, bogeyed three of his last four holes in fading light for a two-under-par 69 to lie two strokes off the pace in the opening round at Riviera Country Club.
Making his 29th start and possibly his final appearance at the prestigious Los Angeles event, Pavin took great delight in being the only player in the 144-strong field to get to five under overall, if only briefly.
“It’s always fun to play well,” last year’s US Ryder Cup captain, 51, told reporters. “It’s a long golf course for me, but it’s just managing my game and trying to do the best I could out there.
Pavin, who intends to play most of his golf this year on the over-50s Champions Tour, covered his outward nine in two-under 34 before upping several gears.
In bright afternoon sunshine, he chipped in from off the green to eagle the par-five first, his 10th hole of the day, and then rolled in a 22-footer to save par at the second.
After hitting an exquisite approach to six feet at the par-four third, the Californian coolly sank the putt to grab a one-stroke lead at five under.
“I pretty much always know where I stand in the tournament,” said Pavin, a 15-times winner on the PGA Tour who clinched his only major title at the 1995 US Open.
WHAT TIME IS IT?
Meanwhile, Dustin Johnson wound up with another bizarre penalty when his caddie thought his tee time was 40 minutes later than it was, and he had to race up the hill at Riviera just to avoid being disqualified.
Johnson was halfway through his warm-up routine when a US PGA Tour official ran over to the range to tell him he was supposed to be on the No. 1 tee, up a 30m slope next to the historic clubhouse.
“I was like, ‘What are you talking about?’” Johnson said.
He was given a two-shot penalty for not being on the tee box at 7:32am — his starting time. Players then have five minutes to get to the tee before they are disqualified and Johnson made it with six seconds to spare.
Johnson made a par five on the opening hole and had to put down for a double bogey. He finished with a two-over 73 and was six shots behind the leaders from the morning groups.
Last summer, Johnson was penalized two shots on the 18th hole of the US PGA Championship when he didn’t realize he was in a bunker at Whistling Straits with the gallery standing all around him. The penalty kept him out of a playoff won by Martin Kaymer.
Johnson’s caddie, Bobby Brown, took the blame for mixing up the tee time.
Brown said the tour sends text messages of tee times and they came in all at once — 8:12am for the Wednesday pro-am, 7:32am for Thursday’s opening round and 12:12pm for the second round.
Brown said for some reason he had “12” stuck in his head and when Johnson asked him for the tee time on Wednesday he told him 8:12am.
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