World No. 1 in men’s golf, John Rahm (29, Spain), took the lead again in the first round of the Arnold Palmer Invitational (total prize money of 20 million dollars), a ‘special tournament’ on the PGA Tour. Lee Gyeong-hoon (32), Lim Seong-jae (25), and Kim Si-woo (28) also started the first round without difficulty.
In the first round of the tournament held at the Bay Hill Club and Lodge (par 72) in Orlando, Florida, USA on the 3rd (Korean time), Ram drove 1 eagle and 6 birdies, committed 1 bogey, and wrote 7 under par 65 strokes. .
Rahm, who took the lead alone by beating second-place Chris Kirk (USA) by two strokes, is truly ‘invincible’ recently. He participated in 5 tournaments this year and won 3 wins, including the Sentry Tournament of Champions in January, the American Express and the Genesis Invitational last month, and has never been outside of the 7th place. Two weeks ago, he reached the top of the Genesis Invitational and returned to the top of the world rankings.
Ram’s upward trend continued on this day as well. He started holes 1 through 3 with three consecutive birdies. Afterwards, the par march continued, and he committed a bogey on hole 8 (par 4), but made up for it with a birdie on hole 12 (par 5), and finished round 1 with a single lead by reducing 4 strokes, including an eagle, on holes 16 to 18.
Ram sent the ball to the fringe around the green twice in the 16th hole (par 5), then rolled the ball with a putter from a distance of 7m to catch the eagle. In the 17th hole (par 3), I caught a birdie by putting my tee shot perfectly at a distance of less than 1m from the pin, and in the last hole 18 (par 4), I sent my second shot close to the pin 1.5m away, adding a birdie and ending the game. It was mashed up.
Ram looked back and said he gained momentum in the second half thanks to his par save on the 15th hole. In the 15th hole (par 4), the tee shot went off the fairway, so he focused on putting the second shot safely on the fairway. Ram, who succeeded in a long-distance par putt, made a winning point to boost his momentum at the end of the game.
He was in the middle of the field with 57.14% (8/14) in the fairway landing rate, but his green hit rate was high at 72.22% (13/18). The number of putts when the ball was put on the green was 1.3, putting it in 3rd place among 120 players.
Chris Kirk (USA), tied for second place, two strokes behind Ram, shot a 5-under-par 67 with 7 birdies and 2 bogeys. The upward curve of last week’s Honda Classic, which won the thrilling championship in eight years, continues this week. The 2021-22 season Rookie of the Year Cameron Young and Kurt Kitayama (USA) also tied for second place. 안전놀이터
Defending champion Scotty Scheffler (USA), who is competing with Ram for world No. 1, started the first round with 6 birdies and 2 bogeys, reducing 4 strokes and tied for 5th place. Signature stars such as Jordan Spieth, Xander Shopley, Patrick Cantley, and Rickie Fowler (above the US) also tied for fifth place.
The Korean players also started the first round well. Lee Kyung-hoon tied for 23rd with 3 birdies and 1 bogey, 2-under-par 70, and Lim Seong-jae and Kim Si-woo tied for 35th with 1-under 71. Kim Joo-hyung (21) and Kim Seong-hyeon (25) tied for 50th even par.
Rory McIlroy (Northern Ireland), who must win this tournament to regain world No. 1, tied for 68th with a 1-over par.