Five golfers share lead at Justin Timberlake tournament
Four Americans and one Australian surge into lead in the first round of the Justin Timberlake Shriners Hospital for Children Open, on Thursday.
The event carrying a purse in $ 4.3 million kicked off on the TPC Summerlin in Nevada, Las Vegas. Robert Garrigus, Will MacKenzie, Michael Letzig, John Senden and Cameron Tringale fired a round of 7-under-64 to surge into the club house lead in the fourth
of five Fall Series events.
The group was followed by five players, who were trailing behind with one stroke, George McNeill, Nicholas Thompson, Ryan Palmer, Vaughn Taylor and Martin Flores.
Further below were fifteen players, who shot a score of 66 on the par-71 course. The overall field shot fantastic scores despite windy conditions prevailing on the course.
Robert Garrigus teed off from the back nine in orange shirt and black pants. The American ripped off the first nine holes of the course with four birdies and one bogey. The golfer was seen with a wedge and a driver in his hand. For a moment it seemed as
if he had no other club in his bag.
However, in pursuit of yet another birdie, Garrigus missed a putt and posted a bogey on the second last hole of the back nine. The remainder of the course was relatively easier than the latter half, thereby, the 32-year-old picked up four more birdies and
wrapped up the round with a glorious 64.
According to the experts, the player was confident and that gave him an edge on the course. In a few long putts, his ball did not touch the spike marks and still rolled right into the hole. However, he seemed uneasy on the 9th hole where he made
a par, but for the rest of the play Garrigus was tremendous.
The reason behind the stress on the 9th hole did not have anything to do with the par. In fact, the American needed to visit the washroom, but he couldn’t, therefore, media people took the whole scenario as tension and stress.
Will MacKenzie picked up eight birdies against one bogey to share the lead. John Sendon smashed seven birdies with 100% green hits in regulations and 71.43% driving accuracy.
Michael Letzig missed two shots in the front nine, but countered them with two eagles and five birdies. The last player in the group, Cameron Tringale, carded eight birdies against one bogey at the 8th to take the first spot of the leader board.
The player is in his rookie season and with a driving accuracy of 57.14%, what can possibly go wrong with the golfer’s career.
In the second group, Martin Flores hit the highest driving distance of 330.9 and green hits in regulations of 88.89%. Two strokes behind was the Ryder Cup player, Hunter Mahan, he shot a score of 67 with five birdies and one bogey. The player was chased
by his teammate Rickie Fowler, who made a 68 to take the 38th spot of the leader board.
MacKenzie, who made a 64, was very happy with his game. He said this in response to the question asked by the press, “I hit a beautiful 5-iron into 6 or 8 feet and made it on the par-4 third hole. Of course, I started thinking, 'It's about time for me to
shoot a real low one”.
Letzig had similar views, he said, "Got off to an unbelievable start, 6 under through seven, just fell asleep in the middle of the round, played really sloppy. Missed a couple greens with wedges in my hand and just kind of got mad at myself. But I had a
great finish. Birdie-eagle saved the round".
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