Koepka’s biggest challenge now is history

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RIO GRANDE, Puerto Rico – On a day with unpredictable, swirling winds it was the steady play of Andres Romero that leads the way after the first round of the Puerto Rico Open. Romero, a one-time PGA TOUR winner, fired a 6-under-par 66 at the Coco Beach Golf Club Thursday. The Puerto Rico Open is Romero’s third PGA TOUR start of the 2018-19 season. He finished T-26 at the Sanderson Farms Championship and missed the cut at The RSM Classic. Through a translator, he said he has been playing well for a while and was happy to see everything click Thursday. “Mainly it was my putting that was letting me down lately and today was very good,â€� he said. â€�It gives me a lot of confidence for the whole game.â€� With winds gusting up to 30 mph and intermittent rain falling through Thursday, Romero said he embraced the difficult conditions. “It was very tough for everyone, not only for (me),â€� said Romero. “Had to think a lot more than a regular round. For example (I) hit a 6-iron from 150 yards on No. 15. But was playing well and feeling confident, so that helped a lot.â€� Romero leads by one over Sepp Straka, a rookie on the PGA TOUR this season. Straka earned his TOUR card via Web.com Tour Finals in 2018 and his best result so far came at last month’s Farmers Insurance Open, where he finished T-13. Straka is the first-ever golfer from Austria to hold PGA TOUR status and he said he’s been feeling a lot more comfortable as the weeks have gone on. He was steady Thursday in Puerto Rico, making six birdies and one bogey. He said Thursday’s 67 was a continuation of some good play of late. “I feel like my game has been pretty good for a couple weeks,â€� he said. I had a terrible week of scoring at Pebble, but I felt like my game was pretty good, ever since Torrey, really. I played well out there. And ever since then, I have hit the ball pretty nice.â€� Behind Romero and Straka is a group of nine golfers at 4-under that includes Ben Crane, Ollie Schniederjans, Roberto Castro, Martin Piller, Roberto Diaz, Joey Garber, Nate Lashley, Alex Kang, and David Hearn. Hearn has never finished outside the top-25 in the four times he’s played this event and said given his position in last year’s FedExCup standings he’s hopeful for a good week to give him some confidence. “Good starts are always a good way to go about it,â€� said Hearn. “I feel like my game’s been really close.  I’m really close to putting together some consistent golf, so hopefully next three days, just more of what I just saw today.â€�

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PACIFIC PALISADES, Calif. – After a sublime 3-wood found the fairway on the iconic par-5 first hole at Riviera Country Club Tiger Woods sized up a downwind approach with his 8-iron from about 173 yards. RELATED: Featured Groups, tee times | TOUR pros: My first time with Tiger The tournament host had just kickstarted his campaign at The Genesis Invitational and swung freely from the short grass, watching his shot intently as it settled on the green some 24 feet, eight inches from the hole. Yes. 24 feet, eight inches. On his first competitive hole on the PGA TOUR in Los Angeles after the passing of Lakers legend and good friend Kobe Bryant, the 82-time TOUR winner faced a putt for eagle from the two numbers synonymous with Bryant’s career. The Lakers honored Bryant’s incredible contribution to their organization by retiring both No. 24 and No. 8 when his playing days were over. The result of the putt therefore was never in doubt. It dropped into the cup and Woods had started an event with eagle for just the second time since ShotLink records were kept in 2003. Fitting indeed. With a birdie at the par-4 5th and another on the par-4 8th – which sports a Bryant inspired purple and gold pin flag – Woods shot 31 on the front nine. It was the first time he had done so on the opening nine at Riviera since doing so in the final round of 2004. In fact Woods was a cumulative 6 over for the last seven times he had played that stretch of holes at Riviera so the turnaround was most welcome. And he could’ve gone lower having missed an eight-footer on the second. With six of seven fairways hit and seven of nine greens it appeared Woods might threaten Matt Kuchar’s early posted 7-under 64 that led the morning wave. “It’s ironic, isn’t it? It was a nice way to start. I didn’t know about the putt being that long. As I said, ironic having those two numbers,â€� Woods said. “And then No. 8, happened to hit one in there close and had a nice little kick-in there for birdie.â€� “You know, no matter what we do, I think for a while we’re going to always remember Kobe and what he meant, and especially here in SoCal and the entire sports world.â€� Despite the special start, as has often been the case at the venue where his PGA TOUR began as a 16-year-old in 1992, Woods was unable to continue the momentum. No other TOUR venue has meant so much but delivered so little to Woods who grew up about 40 miles away. This is his 13th attempt in a TOUR tournament at Riviera, with a runner-up in 1999 his best finish. Across his career, Woods has averaged top-10 finishes at over 50 percent. At Riviera he is doing so at 25 percent. On Thursday afternoon Woods saw his accuracy desert him at the turn and he hit just one of seven fairways and four of nine greens on the back nine. Bogeys on 12 and 18 meant he would settle for a 69 to be tied 17th after the opening round. The 44-year-old is certainly not out of the mix, but now needs to return in the colder morning hours on Friday and make a push up the leaderboards. “I got off to a nice start on the front nine and just didn’t hit many good shots on the back nine. Made a couple loose swings and made a couple good saves on the back nine for par, but just wasn’t able to get any birdies,â€� Woods lamented post round. Woods admitted he felt like things weren’t that crisp on the range in his warmup but had defied those feelings early in his round. He remained confident of being able to hit the ground running Friday despite facing sub 50 degree temperatures prior to his 7:16 a.m. start. With four back surgeries in his past getting things warmed up is an imperative part of his preparations. “I haven’t had a whole lot of time to practice this week, I’ve been a little bit busy,â€� Woods said referencing his role as host. “First time I saw the range was yesterday and that was for about 10 minutes warming up for the pro-am.â€� “I really haven’t hit a lot of balls this week. Just trying to get a nice movement pattern, trying to shape some shots. I was able to start feeling that, start shaping shots on the range and said, hey, just keep this thing going for all 18 holes but I only did it for the front nine. “Hopefully we’ll have a little bit smoother greens out there on the golf course (Friday morning). Hopefully I can hit it as good as I did on that front nine to give myself a number of looks for the entire 18 holes, not just nine holes.â€�

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