LOS ANGELES • Defending champion Justin Thomas was happy with his “solid” game as he racked up eight birdies in an eight-under 65 on Thursday to share the first-round lead with Harris English in the US PGA Tour Tournament of Champions.
The American’s five birdies on the front nine included three in a row at the seventh, eighth and ninth.
He kept the round going with a spectacular par save at the 13th, where he hit into tall native grass, had to hunt for his ball and hit out to the fairway but drained a 37-foot putt.
He followed with birdies at the 14th and 15th and birdied the last to join Harris in the clubhouse at eight under.
They are two strokes ahead of a group of six on 67 that included former Masters champions Sergio Garcia of Spain and Patrick Reed.
“It was a good day,” Thomas said. “It was a good opening round.
“It was solid. I didn’t do anything great, didn’t do anything bad, just kind of made my way around the course.”
He said the conditions, with less wind than expected on the par-73 Plantation course at Kapalua on the Hawaiian island of Maui, were “about as good as you could get them”.
“Not much wind and soft greens, so I was glad to take advantage,” he added.
English’s eight-under effort included a hole-out for eagle at the ninth hole, along with seven birdies and one bogey.
“It was awesome,” said the American, who had three birdies on the first five holes.
“I got off to a really good start, making probably a 20-footer on No. 2, and that’s what you’ve got to do out here.
“I felt like I was hitting the ball really well coming into it and I feel like my iron game is probably one of my strengths.
“So, just overall a really good ball-striking round and good putting round.”
Garcia erased two early bogeys with an eagle at the fifth. He added six birdies the rest of the way.
Reed grabbed his share of second with an eagle at the 18th. He and Garcia were joined on 67 by South Korea’s Im Sung-jae, Canadian Nick Taylor and Americans Robert Streb and Ryan Palmer.
World No. 1 Dustin Johnson, teeing it up for the first time since capturing his second Major title at the pandemic-delayed Masters in November, had three birdies and a bogey in a 71.
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE