Golf was not the only thing on David Lingmerth’s mind, but he was able to focus and he grabbed the early lead at The Barracuda Championship.
Lingmerth had nine birdies in the first round of the PGA Tour event at Montreux Golf & Country Club on Thursday, good for plus-18 points and the lead after the rain-delayed first round.
Lingmerth is at No 229 in the FedEx Cup standings. A win in Reno would be worth 300 points and a huge vault up the standings. The top 125 qualify for the FedEx Cup playoffs in August.
Lingmerth admitted he has been struggling lately.
Barracuda Championship: Leaderboard | Tee times
“It’s been a little rough go for me for a little while and working my way back. And things are starting to come around,” he said. “But I don’t really think about it that way. I just try to stick to the process. One shot at a time. And whatever happens, happens.”
He shot a 63 in the second round at the Barbasol Open last week, but missed the cut,
“It’s kind of weird to shoot a 63 on a Friday and miss the cut. But any time you shoot a 63, you’re doing something right,” Lingmerth said. “I had a lot of good things to bring with me from that round and obviously try to keep it going here.”
He said staying relaxed will be the key on Friday.
But he was also concerned about some jewelry that went missing from his hotel room this week and planned to file a police report later Thursday.
Three golfers were second tied with plus-13 points, Thomas Hoge, Tyrone Van Aswegan and Robert Streb, when the rain, thunder and lighting hit Montreux, about 5:15 p.m. The alarm sounded for all golfers to get off the course.
The last time the PGA Tour had a suspension of play was in 2017, at Montreux.
Hoge, who made an eagle on No. 8, has finished in the top 10 twice at Montreux.
“I like the format a lot. Kind of suits me well because I’ve always made a lot of birdies and bogeys. And you don’t get punished as much for bogeys here I which suits me a little bit, but I like the golf course and I like the area a lot too. So happy to be here,” Hoge said.
