One of the strangest shots of the season unfolded when Ryan Gerard appeared to clip a bird mid-flight with his tee shot during the opening round of the Cognizant Classic at PGA National.
A rogue $1 Friday morning PGA Tour pool, a reality check on the Cognizant Classic field, Brooks Koepka’s cameo, Shane Lowry’s “curse” and a takedown of the Bear Trap. It’s another chaotic edition of Golfpocalypse.
Riding a career-defining weekend performance and benefiting from his rivals’ timely stumbles, Joe Highsmith accomplished something truly remarkable – becoming the first PGA Tour player since Brandt Snedeker in 2016 to make the cut on the number then surge all the way to victory.
The solid-swinging lefty won in just his 34th start as a pro and did so with a combination that works well at PGA National’s Champion course – solid driving, a nervy short game and reliable putting.
Jake Knapp narrowly missed matching the PGA Tour single-round scoring record on the opening day of the Cognizant Classic. He happily settled for just the 15th sub-60 score in tour history.
The scores are low at PGA National in Florida so far, but the beer and wine prices sky high, according to past Open and Australian Open champion, Mark Calcavecchia.
In the end, it’s tough to figure out what was more entertaining: watching Akshay Bhatia not once, but twice, strip down to his shirt and nearly get stuck in the mud during the third round of the Honda Classic, or his good-natured reaction afterwards.
Straka, who birdied three of the final five holes in shooting four-under 66 to beat Lowry by one, may have been the beneficiary of the meteorological whims, but nobody can say he didn’t seize the moment.
Normally at “The Bear Trap” at PGA National, it’s the water lurking everywhere that can be the most terrifying aspect for a tour pro. As Nick Taylor came to find out on Thursday, the land ain’t that much safer, either.
The welcome return of some wind and navigating two of the most perilous stretches in world golf will be key in Matt Jones conducting a successful defence of his Honda Classic title in Florida this week. A career-low round of 61 on day one equalled the PGA National course record 12 months ago and set Read more…
Australian Golf Digest
