Marc Leishman’s family relishes CIMB Classic win from half a world away

Tiger Woods carded an opening-round even-par 70 at The Honda Classic. He trailed by three shots when he finished his round after a difficult and windy morning at PGA National. Rd. 1: Tiger Woods hole-by-hole No. 10 (par 4, 505 yards): Drive barely misses the right edge of the fairway and settled down in the first cut of rough. Second shot runs just over the green into the first cut of rough. Chipped to 1 foot, tapped in par putt. Score: Even par. No. 11 (par 4, 450 yards): Tee shot into right intermediate rough, but 151-yard approach settles to 19 feet, 6 inches. He drains the birdie putt. Score: 1-under par. No. 12 (par 4, 438 yards): Tee shot misses slight left this time, ball settling into the rough. Moves his second shot 190 yards up the fairway, and chips to three feet, five inches before making the putt to save par. Score: 1-under par. No. 13  (par 4, 388 yards): Hits 292-yard tee shot into the fairway, from where his 93-yard approach settles to five feet, three inches from the pin. He birdies again to get to -2, a solid and surprising start for a guy who missed the cut by a mile at the Genesis Open last week. Score: 2-under par. No. 14 (par 4, 465 yards): Woods belts a driver 316 yards into the left fairway, but his 161-yard approach misses the green to the right. He chips up to four feet, 10 inches and drains the par putt to remain -2. Score: 2-under par. No. 15 (par 3, 179 yards): With the tees moved up about 20 yards this morning, Tiger’s first shot goes 158 yards and settles 18 feet, six inches away from the pin. Routine two-putt par to remain at -2, among the leaders. Score: 2-under par. No. 16 (par 4, 434 yards): Throttles back a bit with the tee shot, a 267-yard shot that finds the left fairway. Alas, approach shot flies 171 yards and lands in left greenside bunker. Splashes out and watches ball roll eight feet, five inches past the pin, then misses right-to-left curling par try. Bogey drops him back to -1 and out of the lead. Score: 1-under par. No. 17 (par 3, 190 yards): With the tees back a bit today, hits 200-yard first shot straight at the stick but watches ball bound into the rough, just barely left of the fringe. He’s short-sided himself, but a deft chip leaves him just five inches left for the par save. Remains at -1. Score: 1-under par. No. 18 (par 5, 545 yards): The breeze is up, so it doesn’t seem like a go-for-it type of morning. Woods hits the driver and finds the fairway. From roughly 300 yards out, there will be no going for the green in two. Long iron lay-up also finds the fairway, but 98-yard pitch shot is way short, barely making it to the green and leaving him a 40-footer for birdie. Two-putt par means he’ll make the turn at 1-under. Very solid start. Score: 1-under par. No. 1 (par 4, 373 yards): Hits long iron 236 yards down the fairway, but bails out away from the water with his 136-yard approach shot, leaving himself a tough two-putt of 41 feet, five inches. Lag putt comes up just under four feet short, and with the wind whipping at his pant legs, Woods drains the par putt to stay at -1. Tough conditions out there. Score: 1-under par. No. 2 (par 4, 441 yards): Woods tugs iron off the tee, ball veering off into left intermediate rough. Still able to get enough on 159-yard approach shot, though, and watches ball stop 25 feet, two inches short of the pin. Birdie try also short, but easy two-putt pars are good in the breezy conditions. Score: 1-under par. No. 3 (par-5, 533 yards): Woods loses his driver right, his ball finding the fairway bunker, from which it will be impossible to reach the green in two. Extricates himself nicely, leaving himself 150-yard approach from the fairway into a stiff breeze. Attempts to play a knockdown shot but hooks his third into left greenside bunker. Fourth shot clears the sand but settles into rough short of green, leaving him 13 feet, nine inches from the pin for par. Bellied wedge comes up three and a half feet short for par, and he blasts his bogey putt five and a half feet past the pin. Makes that one for a double to go from -1 to +1. Score: 1-over par. Leaderboard update: Woods double-bogey 7 at the par-5 third hole sends him spiraling down the board to T24 (+1). FedExCup champ Justin Thomas is in the lead at -4 on a very windy day at PGA National. No. 4 (par 4, 392 yards): Hole is playing downwind today, and Woods strafes an iron 292 yards down the fairway. Hits sand wedge for 99-yard second shot and knocks it to six feet, six inches right of the flagstick. Trying to bounce back after messy double at the previous hole, he rolls in the bounce-back birdie to get back to even. Score: Even par. No. 5 (par 3, 208 yards): Tough hole with water left. Tee shot misses slightly right and short, but catches portion of the green, leaving himself 52 feet, nine inches away. Lags his first putt to four feet, four inches and makes the par to remain even. Tied for 12th at the moment, four off the lead. Score: Even par. No. 6 (par 4, 437 yards): At one of the toughest holes on the course, hits driver way right and laughs. From not a great lie in the right rough, 184 yards away, he aims at the water left and, planning a cut. Takes a wicked cut at the ball, which goes over the trees and winds up in the sand trap between the green and the water. Tremendous shot. Splashes out to within inches for an amazing tap-in par to remain even. Score: Even par. No. 7 (par 3, 232 yards): Woods loves the tee shot, which is straight at the stick, but as Justin Thomas before him learned it’s impossible to stop the ball downwind like this. Ball trundles into rough behind green, and Woods chips up to 3 feet, 10 inches and makes the putt for par. Remains even par, a very good score on a blustery day. Score: Even par. Leaderboard update: With Justin Thomas bogey in the group ahead of him, Woods at even par is just three off the pace. He’s also looking at a birdie putt of just under 14 feet at the par-4 eighth hole. No. 8 (par 4, 428 yards): Splits the fairway with a 3-wood, leaving a 167-yard approach shot that bounds up onto the green. Sizes up a birdie putt of 13 feet, nine inches, settles himself over the ball and tugs it just slightly, settling for a par to remain at even par with one hole remaining. Solid day so far, just three back in tough, blustery conditions that have gotten the better of many. Score: Even par.  No. 9 (par 4, 429 yards): Playing his last hole of the day dead into the wind, Tiger hits 3-wood off the tee 266 yards, the ball finishing just slightly right of the fairway, in the first cut. From 178 yards, approach is dead at the flagstick and comes up 20 feet, seven inches short. Woods gets set over the birdie try and charges the putt well past the hole. He’s still got a ticklish four-footer for par, which he makes, the ball curling all around the hole and dropping. He will sign for an even-par 70. With the best score of the morning wave just 67, by Daniel Berger, Morgan Hoffmann and Justin Thomas, and the field averaging some two and a half shots over par, a very encouraging start for Tiger Woods. Score: Even par.

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Here are nine tidbits from the first round of the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am that gamers can use tomorrow, this weekend or down the road. Be looking for the Emergency 9 shortly after the close of play of each round of the tournament. Know Thy Enemy These were the top-10 picked golfers in the PGA TOUR Fantasy Golf presented by SERVPRO. I bemoaned last week why more players in the PGA TOUR Fantasy Golf presented by SERVPRO did not play Hideki Matsuyama. It’s good to see that I won’t be wondering aloud this week why Johnson was so lightly owned! WOW! I’m going to write “82.2 percent” down somewhere and see if we ever see a higher number the rest of the year. A smooth 67 (-5) at Spyglass Hill sees “Mr. Popular” lurking T6, just two shots off the lead. Three-Course Meal Every pro and their amateur partner will get a chance at all three courses this week before the top 60 will battle it out at Pebble Beach on Sunday. With perfect weather Thursday, the top 70 players were two-under-par. The weather is NOT expected to shift so there are two more chances for redemption. Annually, Spyglass Hill plays the most difficult of the three, but six of the top-15 scores on day one were posted there, including T1 and a pair of T3 rounds. Pebble Beach played the most difficult today (71.308) with Spyglass (71.231) right behind. MPCC (Shore Course), as usual in great weather, was a pushover (69.558). Leading Actors Kevin Streelman and Beau Hossler set the pace with matching 65’s. Streelman (-7) was bogey free at Spyglass Hill and got up-and-down an incredible seven times from seven attempts. He’s yet to MC this season, and it looks like that streak is well on its way to continuing. As for Hossler, loyal readers of this column (thank you!) will remind you that this is NOT surprising on any level. If you are tired of reading about him, I’m going to suggest that he’s not in your lineup. That’s a YOU problem! Hossler was also bogey free in his opening round, but his was on Pebble Beach where the California native was second in strokes-gained: putting. Family Affair After taking a couple of months off to close 2017, Rory McIlroy seems to be refreshed and raring to go in 2018. He’s paired with his father, Gerry, this week in his first attempt at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. The Ulsterman opened his year T3 and second in the Middle East. He wasn’t his sharpest today as he only painted 10 of 18 GIR but hitting 10 of 14 fairways at Spyglass Hill is beyond decent. He’ll play three new courses in tournament action three days in a row, and that will tell gamers just how well he is dialed in. Eyes on Wise The former NCAA champ from Oregon, Aaron Wise, is playing out of the Web.com top 50 reshuffle this season and has eight starts to his name. Half of those have cashed checks with all four finishes T32 or better. He’s trying to move up the ranking, which will be reordered the Monday after the Genesis Open. He’s off to a flying start (T3) as he found 16 of 18 GIR and didn’t square a bogey or anything worse in opening with 65 (-6) at Monterrey Peninsula Country Club (Shore Course). Where There’s a Will… Will Zalatoris left early with MC at Farmers Insurance Open on the number while making his professional debut at Torrey Pines. After circling six birdies against only one bogey at Spyglass Hill, he’s put himself into the top 10 (T6) after 67. He’s under the tutelage of Cameron McCormack, Jordan Spieth’s long-time teacher, and that should answer most of your questions about him. His next project is establishing status as he currently is void of that on either the Web.com or PGA TOUR. He’ll need sponsor exemptions (limited), Monday qualifiers or top-10 finishes to make that happen. Know this before you add, trade, etc., for him. Opportunity for Oppenheim Rob Oppenheim has only played 30-something TOUR events in his career. The 38-year old has picked up only two top-10 finishes during that stretch and exactly half of them are at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. He cashed T8 last year and that was, despite bogeying three of his last seven holes on Sunday after being 12-under-par at one time. He opened with 67 at Pebble Beach today and is T6. Star Search Jordan Spieth continues to struggle with his putter as he needed 32 whacks today to post E (72) at Spyglass Hill. He only made one birdie. I’m going to suggest he bounces back in a big way in Round Two. … Adam Scott made his season debut and looked like it. He took a whopping 37 putts and was only 1-of-6 scrambling. His 77 didn’t provide much hope for gamers in any format in Round One. … Brandt Snedeker, two-time champ and tournament record holder, opened with 71 (-1) at Spyglass and is currently T71. Study Hall Patrick Cantlay was four-under-par through his first three holes, buoyed by an ace on No. 11 at MPCC. He’s currently T6 after his 66 (-5). … Robert Garrigus almost aced the par four, No. 17 last week at TPC Scottsdale. He gave the cup another scare today on No. 7 on Pebble Beach but had to settle for a tap-in two. #DialedIn. … The Web.com is playing the Club Colombia Championship this week in Bogota. After Round One, four players are tied for the lead with 66 (-5). … Event No. 2 of the PGA TOUR Champions begins tomorrow at the Boca Raton Championship. Read more about PGA TOUR Champions Fantasy golf here.

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