The Opening Round of the Sentry Tournament of Champions has finished, and Joaquin Niemann has taken an early lead in Hawaii.
This year’s Sentry Tournament of Champions had the second-largest amount of first-time winners in the history of the event. One of the youngest golfers there, Joaquin Niemann, showed why he is going to be a force in the game for decades to come.
Niemann shot an opening-round 66, good for -7. Yes, you read that right. It is actually a par 73, 36 on the front and 37 on the back. There is only one par 3 on the back nine, so as golfers come up the incredibly long (albeit downhill and a bombing paradise) par 5 677 yarder, they are doing so looking to shoot par 73 or better.
It was the 14th bogey-free round in Niemann’s young career, an impressive feat for someone who is still only 21 years old. It was enough to garner him a one-shot lead over Justin Thomas, who finished hot on the back side, shooting 35-32, putting together a bogey-free round as well. He sits in second place all on his own.
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Matt Kuchar and Rickie Fowler (who were actually playing together today), each shot -5. The group most are interested in are the ones right behind them at -4.
Jon Rahm, Xander Schauffele, and Patrick Cantlay are tied with Matthew Wolff and Tyler Duncan. As round two gets underway later today, most of the eyes on this tournament are going to be focused on the opening trio to this paragraph.
It wasn’t great for everyone today, as there were nine players who were unable to break par. The most up and down round of the day came from Dustin Johnson, which likely wouldn’t have taken you too long to guess. He shot -1 for the day, but his scorecard looks like a toddler took a box of crayons to it. One eagle (yellow), five birdies (green), only seven pars, four bogeys (red), and a double bogey (blue).
Holding down the bottom of the leaderboard is J.B. Holmes. He was even through 10, but bogeys on 11 and 13, paired with a triple bogey on 17 find him at +5, two shots worse than anyone else.
Keith Mitchell looked like he was going to be able to salvage a decent round, after an early double on the 4th hole. He was -1 through 15, before bogeying 16 and finishing out with a triple on 18.
Kevin Na had a similar round to Mitchell. His early double came on the 3rd hole, and after five birdies and two bogeys, he was even through 15. Like J.B. Holmes, Na would triple the 17th hole, finishing tied with Mitchell at +3.
Tee times go off 10 minutes early than they did in the opening round for the tournament of champions. Starting at the bottom of the leaderboard, Mitchell and Holmes will tee off at 09:50 local time, 14:50 Eastern. This means that Niemann and Thomas will go off three hours later, at 12:50 local time.