Things haven’t exactly gone Graeme McDowell’s way of late. With five missed cuts in his last six tournaments, the 42-year-old former US Open champion arrived into the WM Phoenix Open at TPC Scottsdale looking for a glimmer of light . . . . and he found it, opening with a well-constructed three-under-par 68 that had him at the business end of proceedings.
Sahith Theegala left with the clubhouse lead on Thursday, although he will have to come back early Friday in order to finish off his opening round. Theegala, in his first season on the PGA Tour, was at seven under par through 16 holes when the first round was halted because of darkness with just a handful of players still on the course.
KH Lee of South Korea had the lowest score of anybody that finished their first round, shooting a six-under 65. A group of four tied for third place at five under included defending champion Brooks Koepka, Harry Higgs, Scott Stallings and Adam Hadwin of Canada.
McDowell – to his credit – rebounded from a missed cut in Saudi Arabia on the Asian Tour last week with a round that featured four birdies and a lone bogey.
Starting on the 10th, he birdied the 16th (from 12 feet) and 17th (from 85 feet), only to suffer a bogey on the 18th after missing the green with his approach, but played superbly on his homeward run with birdies on the first (from five feet) and Par 5 third (a tap-in, after reaching the green in two).
Without a top-10 since the Puntacana Championship last March, McDowell showed much of his old self in producing a round that left him three adrift of Lee and four off Theegala.
As it happened Lee was in a group with Séamus Power and the Waterford man – who’d led at the halfway stage of the Pebble Beach pro-am last week only to fall away to a tied-ninth place finish – played steadily in signing for a first round 71, which featured 16 pars to go with one birdie and one bogey.
Koepka, a two-time winner of the tournament, and down to 20th in the world rankings, has not played since missing the cut at the Farmers Insurance Open last month but, with a new driver in his bag, produced a 66: “I’ve been hurt, on the sidelines, not playing, (or) playing through injury . . . it’s nice to be somewhat healthy and get out here.”
DP World Tour
On the DP World Tour, New Zealander Ryan Fox claimed the first round lead in the Ras al Khaimah Classic at Al Hamra with a nine-under-par 63 to establish a two stroke lead.
Both Irish players in the field face a battle to survive the midway cut: Jonathan Caldwell signed for a level par 72 (in tied-82nd) and Cormac Sharvin, who had a triple- and double-bogey in his round, for a 73 (in 104th).
Collated first round scores in the Phoenix Open (USA unless stated, Irish in bold Par 71)
Play suspended due to darkness
65 KH Lee (SKor)
66 Adam Hadwin (Can), Harry Higgs, Brooks Koepka
67 Patrick Cantlay, Stewart Cink, Charley Hoffman, Billy Horschel, Kevin Kisner, Alexander Noren (Swe), Louis Oosthuizen (Rsa), Jon Rahm (Spa), Xander Schauffele, Justin Thomas, Bubba Watson
68 Abraham Ancer (Mex), Keegan Bradley, Sam Burns, Branden Grace (Rsa), Brian Harman, Matt Kuchar, Hideki Matsuyama (Jpn), Graeme McDowell (Irl), Scottie Scheffler, Adam Scott (Aus), Brendon Todd, Kevin Tway, Gary Woodland, Cameron Young
69 Brice Garnett, Doug Ghim, Tom Hoge, Max Homa, Zach Johnson, Peter Malnati, Keith Mitchell, Ryan Moore, Carlos Ortiz (Mex), J. T. Poston, Chez Reavie, Rory Sabbatini (Svk)
70 Kevin Chappell, Tyler Duncan, Austin Eckroat, Matthew Fitzpatrick (Eng), Talor Gooch, Emiliano Grillo (Arg), Bill Haas, Lucas Herbert (Aus), Kramer Hickok, Garrick Higgo (Rsa), Sung-Hoon Kang (Kor), Si Woo Kim (Kor), Chris Kirk, Kelly Kraft, Anirban Lahiri (Ind), Martin Laird (Sco), Denny McCarthy, Francesco Molinari (Ita), Sebastian Munoz (Col), Guillermo Mito Pereira (Chi), Andrew Putnam, Patrick Rodgers, Jordan Spieth, Michael Thompson, Jimmy Walker
71 Joel Dahmen, Luke Donald (Eng), Rickie Fowler, Russell Henley, Patton Kizzire, Nate Lashley, Adam Long, Scott Piercy, Seamus Power (Irl), Robert Streb, Brian Stuard, Hudson Swafford, Martin Trainer, Matt Wallace (Eng), Jonathan Byrd
72 Corey Conners (Can), Viktor Hovland (Nor), Matt Jones (Aus), Russell Knox (Sco), Troy Merritt, Seung-Yul Noh (Kor), Roger Sloan (Can), Brandt Snedeker, Sepp Straka (Aut), Kevin Streelman, Nick Taylor (Can), Aaron Wise, Beau Hossler
73 Daniel Berger, Dylan Frittelli (Rsa), Brian Gay, Lucas Glover, Brandon Hagy, James Hahn, Stephan Jaeger (Ger), Luke List, William McGirt, Pat Perez, Kyle Stanley, Hayden Buckley
74 Wyndham Clark, Tony Finau, Craig Hocknull (Aus), Hank Lebioda, Matthew NeSmith, Chengtsung Pan (Tai)
75 Cameron Davis (Aus), Jason Dufner, Charles Howell III, Henrik Norlander (Swe), Brendan Steele, Harold Varner III
76 Danny Lee (Nzl), Tyler McCumber
77 Wesley Bryan, Chesson Hadley
78 Nick Watney
81 Adam Schenk
Ras Al Khaimah collated first-round scores (British unless stated, Irish in bold, Par 72)
63 Ryan Fox (Nzl)
65 Ricardo Gouveia (Por)
66 Richard Bland, Sebastian Soederberg (Swe), Robert MacIntyre, Jason Scrivener (Aus), Francesco Laporta (Ita), Joost Luiten (Ned), David Drysdale, Yannik Paul (Ger), Andrew Wilson
67 Brandon Stone (Rsa), Scott Hend (Aus), Marcus Armitage, Shaun Norris (Rsa), Alexander Bjoerk (Swe), Jazz Janewattananond (Tha), Maverick Antcliff (Aus), Hurly Long (Ger), Craig Howie, Oliver Farr
68 Pablo Larrazabal (Spa), Justin Harding (Rsa), Shergo Al Kurdi (Jor), Masahiro Kawamura (Jpn), Maximilian Kieffer (Ger), Matthieu Pavon (Fra), Julien Guerrier (Fra), Justin Walters (Rsa)
69 Rafael Cabrera (Spa), Rasmus Hoejgaard (Den), Haotong Li (Chn), Joachim B. Hansen (Den), Kristoffer Broberg (Swe), Hugo Leon (Chi), Laurie Canter, James Morrison, Adrian Otaegui (Spa), Richie Ramsay, Matthew Jordan, Wade Ormsby (Aus), David Law, Connor Syme, Richard Sterne (Rsa), Robert Rock, Julien Brun (Fra), Lukas Nemecz (Aut), Niklas Noergaard Moeller (Den), Michael Lorenzo-Vera (Fra), Richard McEvoy
70 Marcus Kinhult (Swe), Ashun Wu (Chn), Daniel Gavins, Daniel van Tonder (Rsa), Thomas Detry (Bel), Adria Arnaus (Spa), Jamie Donaldson, Tapio Pulkkanen (Fin), Andy Sullivan, Wil Besseling (Ned), George Coetzee (Rsa), Ross Fisher, Santiago Tarrio (Spa), Sebastian Heisele (Ger), Gaganjeet Bhullar (Ind), Ross McGowan
71 Nicolai Hoejgaard (Den), Jorge Campillo (Spa), Ignacio Elvira (Spa), Adrian Meronk (Pol), Joakim Lagergren (Swe), Edoardo Molinari (Ita), Rikard Karlberg (Swe), Darius van Driel (Ned), Darren Fichardt (Rsa), Nicolai von Dellingshausen (Ger), Espen Kofstad (Nor), Marcel Siem (Ger), Daan Huizing (Ned), Renato Paratore (Ita), Eddie Pepperell, Gavin Green (Mal), Robin Roussel (Fra)
72 Thorbjoern Olesen (Den), Andrea Pavan (Ita), Thriston Lawrence (Rsa), Jonathan Caldwell (Irl), David Howell, Arjun Gupta (Ind), Fabrizio Zanotti (Pry), Jordan Smith, Nino Bertasio (Ita), Matthew Southgate, Callum Shinkwin, Scott Jamieson, Matthias Schmid (Ger), Chris Paisley, Sebastian Garcia (Spa), Marcus Helligkilde (Den), Alvaro Quiros (Spa), Zander Lombard (Rsa), Ricardo Santos (Por), Oliver Fisher
73 Sami Valimaki (Fin), Thomas Bjorn (Den), Craig Vance, Guido Migliozzi (Ita), Kalle Samooja (Fin), Lucas Bjerregaard (Den), Dale Whitnell, Marc Warren, Jacques Kruyswijk (Rsa), Soeren Kjeldsen (Den), Frederic Lacroix (Fra), Alfredo Garcia-Heredia (Spa), Oliver Bekker (Rsa), Marcel Schneider (Ger), Chase Hanna (USA), Ashley Chesters, Oliver Wilson, Cormac Sharvin (Irl)
74 Steven Brown, Jeff Winther (Den), John Catlin (USA), Ahmed Skaik (UAE), Lorenzo Gagli (Ita)
75 Grant Forrest, Alexander Levy (Fra), Jack Singh-Brar
76 Romain Langasque (Fra), Ewen Ferguson
84 Issa Abou El Ela (Egy)
