WASHINGTON (AFP) – Hideki Matsuyama birdied two of the last three holes, including a spectacular closing 67-foot putt, to seize the lead after Thursday’s first round of the PGA’s BMW Championship.
The 28-year-old Japanese star, seeking his first US PGA victory since the 2017 WGC Bridgestone Invitational, fired a three-under par 67 in windy conditions at Olympia Fields.
That gave him a one-stroke lead over American Tyler Duncan and a two-shot edge on Canada’s Mackenzie Hughes, the only other players to break par in the US PGA Tour playoff event.
The top 30 players in FedEx Cup points after the BMW advance to next week’s Tour Championship at East Lake in Atlanta, with Duncan and Hughes needing to move up to reach the season finale.
The suburban Chicago layout, host course for the 2003 US Open, imposed the highest scoring average of any 2019-20 PGA opening round, more than 2.5 strokes over par.
Matsuyama opened bogey-birdie-bogey on the back nine, added a birdie at 14 but another bogey at 18, but his fortunes changed on the front side.
Matsuyama tapped in for birdie at the par-5 first, sank an 11-footer for birdie at the second, dropped in a 21-foot birdie putt at the seventh and seized the lead with a stunner at the ninth.
Duncan, who sank two birdies from inside six feet to begin his round, answered his lone bogey at 12 with a 13-foot birdie putt at 14. He made all 16 putts he had inside 10 feet.
Hughes opened with a 32-foot birdie putt at the 10th hole, sank a 22-footer at one to start his back nine and dropped in a four-foot birdie at the third, but followed it with back-to-back bogeys.
Tiger Woods ranks 57th in points, needing a top-six finish to have a chance at reaching Atlanta, but the 15-time major winner closed with three consecutive bogeys to shoot 73.
Woods, who began on the back nine, took a bogey at the 11th but answered by rolling in a 28-foot birdie putt at 14. He missed a par putt from just inside five feet at the par-3 16th but pulled level again on a seven-foot par putt at the par-4 second.
Reigning Masters champion Woods, who found only six of 14 fairways, rescued par from eight feet at the third hole, just under five feet on the fourth and from six feet on the fifth to stay two off the lead.
But he came up nine feet short from 35 feet out of greenside rough at the par-4 seventh and missed his par putt to fall from a share of eighth, then missed a four-footer to bogey the par-3 eighth and found a fairway bunker on his way to a bogey at nine.
