DETROIT — Tony Finau’s approach shot from 250 yards flew over trees to the seventh green of Detroit Golf Club. He was looking for the reward, but he also ignored the risk by making a difficult shot. It made sense given his play the past week. Finau, who just won his third career title on the PGA TOUR and Taylor Pendrith, shared the lead at 8-under 64 in the Rocket Mortgage Classic’s first round. Finau’s pivotal shot at Finau’s 16th green, a 560-yard par 5 hole, set up a two-putt of 43 feet to make one of eight birdies. He said, “I had to get it all to get it to that hole and hit it right in front of the green.” Players who took advantage favorable scoring conditions by playing morning tee times were a majority of the players on the leaderboard. The wind picked up in the afternoon and scores also improved. Webb Simpson, Cameron Champ and Lee Hodges, former U.S. Open champion, were just two shots behind. Si Woo Kim (ranked number 70) and Kurt Kitayama (67), were among the pack. Finau rallied from a five shot deficit with 11 holes to win the 3M Open by three strokes Sunday in Minnesota. He opened with a birdie, and then had five birdies on his first nine. Finau finished his round with seven and eight birdies, after cooling off with four straight Pars. Finau hit all 18 greens in regulation, his first stroke-play round on the PGA Tour. He said, “Do the math. I missed 10 putts.” “Obviously 64 is a great round. But this course has a lot of golfers making birdies.” He made a 41-foot downhill putt on the eighth hole. With a slight deviation from left to right, it was a birdie. Finau stated, “It was nice just to get a bonus birdie 8 after a poor shot with the wedge. But that’s why our putter is the equalizer.” Pendrith, a 31 year-old PGA TOUR rookie rose to the top of the leaderboard with five birdies in a stretch of seven holes on his back nine. The relatively unknown player noticed that the ‘h” in his last name wasn’t on the leaderboard at the end of Pendrith’s round. The 8 next to his misspelled name was right, alas. He smiled and said, “That’s all it matters.” After the opening round, Pendrith has risen to the top of the PGA TOUR leaderboard. Pendrith held the lead by three shots in the third round at Bermuda Championship last October, but he closed with a 76 to finish a career high fifth. He was 13th at the PLAYERS Championship in March and won a record-setting $327,222. He was unable to compete for almost four months due to the injury, which led him to be ranked No. 237. He bounced back at the tournaments this month with ties for 13th and 11th. Pendrith stated, “When I am healthy, I can compete against the best.” After receiving an anti-inflammatory shot in the right foot, Nate Lashley shot a 68 to win his first and only PGA TOUR championship in Detroit four years back. He said that he would have surgery next week and will be recovering for four to six weeks. After a round of topsy-turvy with four birdies and two bogeys, Mark Hubbard was four shots behind the leader. He also had an ace on his par-3, 216 yard 11th hole. Hubbard lost his club and fell to the ground after hitting his tee shot. He said, “That’s embarrassing!” while the ball was still in flight. The ball touched the green, rolled towards the cup and then dropped in. Hubbard, who is a nine-time career champion of the hole-in-one, said that it was likely to be one of his favorite holes-in-ones. Patrick Cantlay (defending FedExCup champion), is ranked No. Will Zalatoris, 13th in the world, shot 70. Cameron Young was another shot back, while Max Homa, 20th-ranked, had a 72.
Title: Tony Finau, Taylor Pendrith share lead at Rocket Mortgage Classic
Sourced From: www.pgatour.com/daily-wrapup/2022/07/28/tony-finau–taylor-pendrith-share-lead-at-rocket-mortgage-classic.html
Published Date: Thu, 28 Jul 2022 19:53:00 -0400
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