Patrick Reed and Patrick Cantlay opened with matching 7-under 65s and share the lead after day one of the 2018 Hero World Challenge.
Cantlay finished day one at Albany with a clean card comprised of 11 pars and seven birdies, while Reed added eight gains, alongside a single bogey and nine pars.
“Yeah, golf course played much different today obviously with no wind or little wind compared to yesterday,” said Cantlay, who is ranked No. 20 in the world. “Greens are really fast, and so I got going a little bit with the putter and made some putts.”
Reed also credited his putting, along with the lack of wind, for his round one performance.
“To kind of putt the way like I felt I did today as well as hit the ball and flight the ball how I wanted to was very positive because that was the biggest thing for today is, even though the wind was down, if you’re playing from a high window, then when the wind starts blowing, can you control your ball,” said Reed.
“I felt like I was able to play out of the windows I needed to today to shoot a low one.”
The duo of Dustin Johnson and Henrik Stenson were three off the pace at 4-under par, one clear of Alex Noren and Bubba Watson who sit T5 at 3 under.
Three of the world’s top-5 ranked players – Justin Rose (No. 2), Justin Thomas (No. 4), and Bryson DeChambeau (No. 5) – were one further back at 2 under.
Defending champion Rickie Fowler was T13 after an even-par 72, one ahead of tournament host Tiger Woods who shot a 1-over 73 despite hitting 13 of 14 fairways on day one.
2018 HERO WORLD CHALLENGE
TOP 5 LEADERS
Pos-Name-To Par (Today)
1. Patrick Cantlay -7 (-7)
1. Patrick Reed -7 (-7)
3. Henrik Stenson -4 (-4)
3. Dustin Johnson -4 (-4)
5. Alexander Noren -3 (-3)
5. Bubba Watson -3 (-3)
STAT LEADERS
Fairways: Tony Finau 14/14, 100%
Greens: P. Reed, H. Stenson, D. Johnson 15/18, 83.3%
Putts/GIR: Keegan Bradley 1.300
Birdies: P. Reed 8
Pars: J. Rose 14
Bogeys: Jason Day 5
Doubles: Hideki Matsuyama, Xander Schauffele 2
QUOTABLE
“Yeah, I didn’t quite feel comfortable with my game today even though I drove it great. It was definitely reflective in my scoring today, I didn’t quite feel comfortable and just didn’t quite hit the ball close enough or give myself a lot of looks at it.”
– Tiger Woods
