Bud Cauley scores 66 in 1st round of Humana Challenge
Bud Cauley played his first Humana Challenge debut at La Quinta Country Club on Thursday.
The young star put his skills to test against some of the big names in golf, carding an impressive 6-under 66 in the first round of the tournament.
Rookie Cauley looked quite comfortable with his swing and putts. Although he could not stun the players standing atop the leaderboard, he gave his counterparts a hard time.
He kicked off the round in an amazing style, reeling off a birdie on the par-4 1st hole. Making the most of the favourable weather conditions, Cauley surged ahead by hitting calculated strokes.
He parred the 2nd and 3rd holes and drained his second birdie on the par-4 4th hole.
Throughout most of the day, the rookie looked confident, holding his nerve. He did not give his rivals a chance to capitalise on his lapses.
After parring the easy par-5 5th hole, he stunned the spectators by scoring 2 consecutive birdies on the par-5 6th and the difficult par-3 7th.
Although he started his round with plenty of confidence and played better than the expectations, his game was not without lapses.
On the par-4 8th hole, he faltered a little due to lousy putts, ending up carding a bogey. On the front nine, his overall score was 33.
On the back nine, the 21-year-old from Alabama continued to show a better performance, as he carded three consecutive birdies on the par-5 11th, par-3 12th and par-5 13th hole. He then capped off his round by parring the remaining holes.
His score of 6-under 66 was definitely greater than what the American rookie had anticipated.
Moreover, holes on La Quinta course also posed some challenges to him but he came off well, overcoming his nervousness.
“I think they're all about even. This one is a little narrower, but they're all difficult in their own way,” he said.
“I drove it pretty well, I got it in the fairway,” he said. “But I hit some good iron shots and I hit some terrible ones. I got up and down quite a bit today, and managed some good par saves, so that's what kept me in there”.
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