Martin Laird bogeyed the final hole and had to defeat Austin Cook and Matthew Wolff on the second hole of a three-man playoff in Las Vegas.
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JACKSON, Miss. – Notes and observations from the first round of the Sanderson Farms Championship at the Country Club of Jackson. LEADING LIGHTS Cameron Champ is just one start into his rookie season, but he already appears on the cover of this month’s Golf Digest. Fans are enamored with the long ball, and Champ feeds that fascination. Champ, 23, set the Web.com Tour driving distance record this year (343.7 yards) but also proved that he’s more than just a one-man long-drive contest. He finished sixth on the money list, including a win at the Utah Championship, to earn a PGA TOUR card less than a year after turning pro. His strong play has continued into the PGA TOUR season. He holds the first-round lead at the Sanderson Farms Championship after finishing T25 in his debut at the Safeway Open. Champ made eight birdies and one bogey in a 65 Thursday at the Country Club of Jackson. He closed the round with a birdie at 18 that was set up by a 347-yard drive, the longest of the day on that hole. He shot a back-nine 31 after hitting six of his seven tee shots over 300 yards. He also drove it over the green on the 315-yard, par-4 15th hole. After he finished his round, he led the field in driving distance on all tee shots (304.5 yards), Strokes Gained: Off-the-Tee (+2.14). He hit 9 of 14 fairways, including five of seven on the back nine, and missed just two greens. “I know the rough here is pretty brutal in some areas, but today I drove very well off the tee,â€� he said. OBSERVATIONS ANOTHER CAMERON: Until Champ’s birdie at the final hole, there were two Camerons, Champ and Tringale, tied for the lead. Tringale, playing in the day’s first group, shot 66. The 31-year-old has played on TOUR ever since turning pro out of Georgia Tech in 2009; the Sanderson Farms Championship is his 245th start. His impressive streak almost came to an end, though. After missing the cut in 19 of 26 starts last season, he regained his card with a T3 at the Web.com Tour Championship. He finished fifth at the same event last year to regain his playing privileges. “I drove it really poorly last (season) and it was hard to play golf short and crooked,â€� he said. “I’ve been driving it a lot better since the Web.com Tour Finals. … (I’m) trying to see my shot more clearly and hit the shot I’m trying to play instead of thinking about the shot I don’t want to have happen. When you hit a lot of bad ones, it’s a lot harder than it sounds to get those out of your mind.â€� OPPORTUNITY KNOCKS: The Sanderson Farms Championship is an opportunity for nonmembers to get a TOUR start, and two players who fit in that category are off to a strong start. Chad Ramey, a Monday qualifier from Mississippi, shot 67 on Thursday. Scottie Scheffler fired 68. Ramey, a Mississippi State alum, survived a 10-for-3 playoff to make the field. He finished 80th on the Web.com Tour money list in 2018. Scheffler turned pro earlier this year; he was teammates with Champ on last year’s Walker Cup team. Scheffler recently advanced out of the first stage of Web.com Tour Q-School. Last year, Monday qualifier Scott Strohmeyer finished T4 at this event.
More controversy over the marking of golf balls in a major championship, another round of scores wiped out in a major, more furor in women’s golf … This time it all occurred on the Korean LPGA Tour, and it led to a head rules official’s resignation. The KLPGA decided to scrub first-round scores Thursday after a rules controversy broke out over the marking of balls at the KB Financial Star Championship at Black Stone Golf Club in Icheon, South Korea. It’s one of that tour’s five major championships. Hye Jin Choi and You-Na Park were each penalized two shots after the first round for picking up and marking their golf balls, believing they were on a green, when it was later determined they were
Think about it: You’re not trying to be so precise with your putting that the ball falls in on its last rotation. You’ll still be in tap-in range if you miss, but now you know the ball is going to get there every time. Typically a putt of this length isn’t going to break that much—unless your course is Augusta National.
