Washington (AFP) – Chris Kirk aced the par-3 14th hole on his way to grabbing a one-stroke lead after Thursday’s first round of the PGA St. Jude’s Championship. The 39-year-old American, seeking his seventh PGA triumph, fired a six-under par 64 at TPC Southwind in Memphis, Tennessee, in the FedEx Cup playoff opener.
Sharing second on 65 were Japan’s Hideki Matsuyama, playing without his regular caddie and coach after a London restaurant robbery, plus Canada’s Taylor Pendrith and France’s Matthieu Pavon. On a hot day, Kirk had the most sizzling shot of all when he played a 6-iron high draw from 205 yards at 14 that landed 10 feet right of the flagstick, then bounced and rolled into the hole.
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“I was just trying to hit it left of the hole and make a three,” Kirk said. “Didn’t quite come off where I was looking. I was like, ‘Oh my God.’ Just trying to hit it in the middle of the green. I was just swinging really good and the ball sensed it, just found its way in the right direction.”
The hole-in-one, the fourth of Kirk’s PGA career, gave him a three-stroke lead but a closing bogey brought him back near the pack. Kirk, the 2014 playoff runner-up, captured the PGA season-opening tournament of champions in Hawaii after winning last year’s Honda Classic. He sought “boring” but consistent play and began well with birdies on a putt from just over 11 feet at the par-4 second and just beyond 18 feet at the par-5 third.
Kirk also birdied from just inside 20 feet at the sixth and dropped his approach inches from the hole at the ninth for a tap-in birdie. A 17-foot birdie putt at the 12th set the stage for the crucial ace. “The goal is to trust yourself and make it as boring as possible,” Kirk said. “That was my plan and I was doing it for the first 13 holes. Very consistent, steady, hitting solid shots, making a few putts here and there — 14 was not boring golf.”
– Matsuyama robbed but OK – Matsuyama, the 2021 Masters champion, was robbed in London on a stopover on his way to the United States from the Paris Olympics, where he took the bronze medal. While Matsuyama only lost his wallet, his caddie, Shota Hiyato, and coach, Mikhito Kuromiya, lost their passports and visas and returned to Japan in hopes of getting new paperwork and returning to Matsuyama before the playoffs end in two weeks at East Lake in Atlanta.
“It was an unfortunate situation,” Matsuyama said. “Luckily I only lost my wallet…we’re trying hard now to get their visas back in line. We’re pushing hard, looking toward East Lake. Shota will make it, I think, but my coach probably won’t.” The robbery has not thrown off Matsuyama, who says, “I’ve forgotten it completely” and notes he talks by phone to his coach every night.
“We didn’t even know it happened,” he said. “We were just having a friendly dinner and Shota was the first one — hey, where’s my bag? Of course it was frustrating, but we really didn’t know it happened. It was just kind of all of a sudden. We had already paid the check.” Matsuyama’s caddie this week is Taiga Tabuchi, the regular bagman for Japan’s Ryo Hisatsune.
“Taiga did a great job today, so we’ll just see how it goes,” said Matsuyama. “I’m playing well and that momentum has carried over. Now it’s just whether or not the results can go with it.”
© 2024 AFP
