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.
Shohei Ohtani and his wife arrived in South Korea with his Los Angeles Dodgers teammates yesterday ahead of their season-opening games with the San Diego Padres next week. Ohtani, wearing a black training suit and a cap backwards, was the first Dodgers player who showed up at the arrival gate of Incheon International Airport, west of Seoul. His wife, Mamiko Tanaka, walked several steps behind him. As a crowd of fans, many wearing Dodgers jerseys, shouted his name and cheered slogans, Ohtani briefly waved his hand, but did not say anything before he entered a limousine bus with his wife. Fans held placards
Taiwan’s Tai Tzu-ying yesterday advanced to the quarter-finals at the All England Open, beating Kim Ga-eun of South Korea 21-17, 21-15. With the win, Tai earned a semi-final against China’s He Bingjiao, who beat Michelle Li of Canada 21-9, 21-9. Defending champion An Se-young defeated India’s P.V. Sindhu 21-19, 21-11. An on Wednesday cruised into the second round, unlike last year’s men’s winner, Li Shifeng, who suffered a shock defeat. South Korea’s An, the world No. 1, overcame Taiwan’s Hsu Wen-chi 21-17, 21-16 to set up the match against Sindhu. In other women’s singles matches, Taiwan’s Sung Shuo-yun lost 21-18, 24-22 against Carolina Marin of
EYEING TOP SPOT: A victory in today’s final against Storm Hunter and Katerina Siniakova would return 38-year-old Hsieh Su-wei to the world No. 1 ranking Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Mertens on Thursday secured a spot in the women’s doubles finals at the BNP Paribas Open after dispatching Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the US and Australia’s Ellen Perez 6-2, 7-6 (7/5) at Indian Wells. Hsieh and her Belgian partner Mertens, who won the Australian Open in late January, coasted through the first set after breaking their opponents’ serve twice, but found the going tougher in the second. Both pairs could only muster one break point over 12 games, neither of which were converted, leaving the set to be decided by a tiebreaker. Hsieh and Mertens took a 6-3 lead,
DOUBLES PAYBACK: Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Martens avenged their defeat in the quarters at the Qatar TotalEnergies Open against Demi Schuurs and Luisa Stefani Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei on Wednesday advanced to the semi-finals of the women’s doubles at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, California. Hsieh and partner Elise Mertens of Belgium dispatched Demi Schuurs and Luisa Stefani 6-1, 6-4 to set up a clash against Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the US and Australia’s Ellen Perez for a spot in the final of the WTA 1000 tournament. Hsieh and Martens made a blistering start to their rematch after they lost to Schuurs and Stefani in the quarter-finals at the Qatar TotalEnergies Open last month, winning three games without reply at the start of the first set