The Mayakoba Golf Classic sees a four way tie at the top on the first day of play
The rookie golfer, Anders Gonzalez of the United States, tied for a four other golfers to end up in first place of the US $3.7 million Mayakoba Golf Classic. The 27-year-old golfer carded five under par 66 at the 6,923 yard par-71 Greg-Norman designed El
Camaleon Course in Playa del Carmen, Mexico. Gonzalez tied with his fellow countrymen, David Toms and Kyle Stanley and Mark Hensby of Australia.
David Toms has finally ended up in the lead after five years in any tournament. The 44-year-old Toms has won 12 titles in his career in which the most recent was the Sony Open held in Hawaii in January 2006. Toms was hopeful of carrying on his form to the
next rounds and win the tournament. “Overall just a good day, I kept the ball in play, picked my spots when to be aggressive. You can take a run at your putts, especially in the 10- or 15-foot range," Toms said. "You don't have to worry about knocking them
too far by. I think guys were probably pretty aggressive on the greens."
The other golfer sharing the lead, 38-year-old Mark Hensby from Melbourne, Australia had a string of birdies and bogeys the entire day. He came to the top of the leader board unexpectedly after scoring four straight bogeys from the third to the sixth hole.
An eagle on the par-five eighth hole served an admirable comeback for Hensby. "I got to minus-seven through 10, and to be honest I missed a couple of short putts. That's been a struggle. I've got the yips a little bit when I get the short ones," said Hensby.
"I made four bogeys in a row and probably one of them was deserved; two of them were a three-putt and one was a short one that I missed." Henby has only been victorious in his career at the John Deere Classic in 2004. His best performance the last year was
tying at 13th.
The defending champion, Cameron Beckman of the United States finished with a close margin of only one stroke with the leaders. He scored four under par 67 on the first day of the tournament. Beckman is sharing fifth place with Sunghoon Kang of South Korea,
Alexandre Rocha of Brazil and Kent Jones, Briny Baird and Chris Tidland of the United States.
The Northern Trust Open winner Aaron Baddeley failed to impress in the first round with three over par 74. The Bob Hope Classic Champion, Venezuelan sensation Jhonattan Vegas also carded three over par in gusty winds up to 40 kilometers an hour.
Play will resume tomorrow for round two of the event.
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