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Day: March 19, 2021
Pitino wants to bring ‘magic back’ to New MexicoPitino wants to bring ‘magic back’ to New Mexico
Richard Pitino says he wants to “bring that magic back” to the New Mexico men’s basketball program.
Cut prediction: The Honda ClassicCut prediction: The Honda Classic
2021 The Honda Classic, Round 1 Scoring Conditions: Overall: +1.43 strokes per round Morning wave: +0.97 Afternoon wave: +1.9 Current cutline (top 65 and ties): 81 players at +1 or better (T63) Top 3 projected cutline probabilities: 1. 2 over par: 39.5% 2. 1 over par: 32.8% 3. 3 over par: 15.9% Top 10 win probabilities: 1. Matt Jones (1, -9, 25.4%) 2. Russell Henley (T2, -6, 11.9%) 3. Aaron Wise (T2, -6, 8.3%) 4. Cameron Davis (T4, -4, 6.0%) 5. Sungjae Im (T15, -2, 4.7%) 6. Cameron Tringale (T9, -3, 4.3%) 7. Steve Stricker (T4, -4, 2.6%) 8. Chris Kirk (T15, -2, 2.6%) 9. Joaquin Niemann (T27, -1, 2.6%) 10. Shane Lowry (T9, -3, 2.3%) NOTE: These reports are based off of the live predictive model run by @DataGolf. The model provides live "Make Cut", "Top 20", "Top 5", and "Win" probabilities every 5 minutes from the opening tee shot to the final putt of every PGA TOUR event. Briefly, the model takes account of the current form of each golfer as well as the difficulty of their remaining holes, and probabilities are calculated from 20K simulations. To follow live finish probabilities throughout the remainder of The Honda Classic or to see how each golfer's probabilities have evolved from the start of the event to the current time, click here for the model's home page.
Matt Jones ties course record with 61, leads by three at The Honda ClassicMatt Jones ties course record with 61, leads by three at The Honda Classic
PALM BEACH GARDENS, Fla. — Matt Jones’ opening round at The Honda Classic was remarkable. He was remarkably unimpressed. RELATED: Leaderboard | Adam Scott strips off shoes to make stunning par save from water Jones tied the course record Thursday on a typically windy day at PGA National with a bogey-free 9-under 61 giving him a three-shot lead. He matched the mark set by Brian Harman in the second round in 2012, and was one shot better than the final-round 62 that Tiger Woods posted that year. “That’s an incredible round of golf,” said Lee Westwood, who opened with an even-par 70. “Could be the round of the year, 61 around here, when it’s flat calm, impressive. But when there’s a 15-, 20-mile-an-hour wind blowing, greens are fast, a lot of crosswinds, that’s an incredible round of golf.” All told, there have been roughly 6,000 tournament rounds at The Honda Classic since it moved to PGA National in 2007. None was better than the one Thursday from Jones. He seemed most unfazed afterward. “I play golf for a living,” Jones said. “I mean, I should be able to shoot a good golf score occasionally. It doesn’t happen as much as I want. But yes, I’m very happy with it. I was very calm, I was very relaxed out there. I’m normally a bit more amped-up and hyped-up and I had a different goal this week, to be a little more calm than normally and walk slower.” It worked wonders. He’s not into charting superlatives. He doesn’t know how many course records he holds, or how many holes in one he’s made. He wasn’t even aware he had four consecutive birdies on the front nine Thursday until he saw his card on a giant leaderboard as his round was ending. “I was just managing the golf course and hitting good shots,” Jones said. Russell Henley and Aaron Wise shot 64s, matching the best score at The Honda Classic by anyone — Jones excluded — since Rory McIlroy and Russell Knox had 63s in 2014. Nobody in the field last year shot better than a 66. And Henley and Wise still walked off the course three shots back. “That’s an amazing round,” Wise said. “But I felt like I played one, too.” U.S. Ryder Cup captain Steve Stricker, Scott Harrington, Kevin Chappell, Joseph Bramlett and Cameron Davis shot 66. Defending champion Sungjae Im opened with a 68. Jones had the four consecutive birdies on Nos. 2-5, had others on the par-4 11th and par-4 13th, then finished with birdies on each of his final three holes and never dropped a shot despite The Honda’s usual windy conditions. Adam Hadwin, who played in Jones’ group, said “good shot” more times than he could count. “I just stopped saying it at a certain point,” Hadwin said. “He just hit so many, you just stop saying it. You’re just under the assumption that it was good.” Jones has one PGA TOUR victory, that coming with a chip-in to win a playoff at the 2014 Houston Open. He hasn’t made the cut in a major since the 2016 Open Championship and has never finished better than tied for fourth at The Honda, doing that in his debut at the event in 2008. “Whatever Matt Jones is doing, I want to see it because 61 out there is incredible,” said Shane Lowry, who shot 67 in his opening round. “That’s just incredible.” It was still a befuddling day for many. Graeme McDowell played the “Bear Trap” stretch — the par-3 15th, par-4 16th and par-3 17th — in 6 over, after making a quadruple bogey at 15 and a double bogey on 17. And Hunter Mahan had a six-hole stretch in which he made, in order, eagle, bogey, bogey, triple bogey, bogey, birdie. Mahan finished at 77, McDowell at 79. “It’s just so hard, so tricky,” Lowry said. “There’s a lot of disaster holes.” Jones, at least for one day, avoided them all. “It was a very good day,” he said.
Leaderboard: The Honda ClassicLeaderboard: The Honda Classic
Matt Jones carded a 9-under 61 to grab a commanding first-round lead at Palm Beach Gardens, Fla. Will anyone be able to keep pace?
Good, and bad, from opening round of the Honda ClassicGood, and bad, from opening round of the Honda Classic
Shane Lowry, Hunter Mahan and Adam Scott all experienced ups and downs in the first round of The 2021 Honda Classic on Thursday.