Luke Guthrie shines once again, shares the lead at the Cox Classic
The Web.com Tour rookie Luke Guthrie showcased a superb putting display to charge into an early share of the lead in Thursday's opening round at the Cox Classic.
On a firm and fast-running layout at the sun-drenched Champions Run in Omaha, Guthrie fired a remarkable nine-under par 62 to join fellow Americans Bubba Dickerson and Aaron Goldberg in a three-way tie at the top.
Jim Herman, who won his maiden Web.com Tour event at the 2010 Moonah Classic, shot an impressive eight-under par 63 to take the fourth position on the leaderboard. Russell Henley, Fabian Gomez and Nate Smith were knotted on 64 to share the fifth spot.
Overall, it was a low scoring day, as 31 of 156 players failed to match the par score. Otherwise, it was really easy to create birdie chances and break the par.
Guthrie, who has been sensational since he turned pro this year, started off on the back nine of the course and birdied seven of the first nine holes in regulation.
Despite a great start to his opening nine, he played a wayward tee shot on the first hole (his 10th) and suffered a double bogey in the end. However, he bounced back strongly with a run of five birdies on the last eight holes of the day.
"I looked at the scores from last year and saw the winning score was around 20-under," Guthrie said. "In college I liked the courses that were a good, hard test of golf, where par is a good score. Obviously you have to go really low out here. If you shoot
one or two under around here you can get passed in a hurry".
Meanwhile, Dickerson recorded a bogey-free round with the help of seven birdies and a sparkling eagle. The highlight of his performance includes five birdies in a row, starting from the 13th hole.
"The longer you go without making a birdie, the tougher it is to be patient," said Dickerson, who has three top-20 finishes in five previous starts. "I've played here long enough to know scores would be low. You wait for your run".
Goldberg, on the other hand, recorded eight birdies along with a stunning long putt for an eagle. However, a bogey on the 17th hole forced him to remain in a shared lead at nine-under.
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