American Brendan Steele eagled his opening hole and raised hopes of firing a magical 59, before finishing with an eight-under-par 62 in Thursday’s opening round at the Travelers Championship in Cromwell, Connecticut.
Steele, who moved to eight-under after just 13 holes before closing with five successive pars, ended the day with a one-stroke lead over compatriots Ryan Moore and Bud Cauley at the TPC River Highlands.
Americans Chad Campbell, Joe Durant, Jeff Maggert, Scott Langley and Eric Axley carded 64s, while 2010 winner and reigning Masters champion Bubba Watson opened with a 67.
Steele, who won his only PGA Tour title at the 2011 Texas Open, made a sizzling start as he holed out from 129 yards to eagle the par-four first.
He then birdied the second, seventh and eighth, where he drained a 27-footer, to reach the turn in five-under 30 before picking up further shots at the 11th, 12th and 13th.
“The thoughts crept in,” Steele, 31, told reporters about the opportunity to shoot a 59 with three more birdies required over his last five holes.
“If they don’t creep in, do I shoot 59, do I shoot 65? It definitely was in the back of my mind, so probably amped me up a little bit more, so made everything a little bit tougher,” Steele said.
Steele was delighted, though, to reap a reward on Thursday after playing some good golf over the past few months without getting the scores he felt he deserved, including missed cuts in his previous two tournaments.
“I haven’t been getting a lot out of it,” said the Californian, who has recorded just two top-10s in 18 starts on the 2013-2014 PGA Tour, his best finish a tie for sixth at the Phoenix Open in February.
“I felt like I was really playing well at Byron Nelson and at Memorial and missed both cuts. I was just getting a little sloppy, a little lazy behind the ball, not seeing the shot, not getting into it the right way,” he said.
American world No. 5 Matt Kuchar opened with a 66, while compatriot Ken Duke, who won last year’s Travelers Championship in a playoff with Chris Stroud, returned a 65.
Australian Oliver Goss, one of four players in the field making their professional debuts this week, carded a 70. Erik Compton, a double heart-transplant recipient who tied for second at the US Open four days ago, posted a 74.
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