Canada’s Taylor Pendrith fired a 10-under-par 61 to jump out of the lead after one round of the Shriners Children’s Open Thursday in Las Vegas.
Nine players were tied for second at 7-under 64 late in the round, and 11 others were tied for 11th at 6 under as play wrapped up at TPC Summerlin.
Pendrith tied his career-low 18-hole score on Thursday by making five birdies on each of the nine. He started on the back nine and sank a 12 1/2-foot birdie putt on No. 11; after that, he didn’t have to make the putt longer than 10 feet, as his approaches were straight. Pendrith almost went wide for eagle at the fourth, leaving himself inches short of birdie.
Pendrith won his first PGA Tour title in May at the CJ Cup Byron Nelson and competed in the Presidents Cup last month in the International team. After finishing the summer inside the top 50, he wasn’t fighting for the FedEx Cup Fall standings to keep his tour card, but others have the future on their minds. The top 125 players at the end of the fall will retain full status on tour.
Joseph Bramlett (No. 146) and Bud Cauley (No. 156) are nine players tied for 64 and will benefit greatly from improving standings with a strong showing this week.
Others tied for 64 were JT Poston, Mark Hubbard, Doug Ghim, Canadian Ben Silverman, Rico Hoey of the Philippines, Harry Hall of England and Matti Schmid of Germany.
Rickie Fowler is not far off the pace after carding a 5-under 66. Tom Kim of South Korea, the two-time defending champion, opened with a 2-under 69.
–Field Level Media
Source link