DETROIT – Last month, Rocket Mortgage Classic executive director Jason Langwell said he wasn’t concerned about what the winning score would be in the PGA Tour’s inaugural tournament in Detroit.
Would it be 20-under-par? Or closer to 10-over?
“Somewhere between there,” Langwell deadpanned.
If Thursday’s first round at Detroit Golf Club was any indication, it appears the scores are heading toward the former.
With barely a wisp of wind in the air and soft greens sporting accessible hole locations, PGA Tour pros went low early and often while as they beat up the 1916 Donald Ross course.
Thursday’s golfers combined for the most birdies in a single round on tour this year, with 676 from the 156-golfer field.
Nate Lashley, who made the field Wednesday as an alternate, led the dogpile on the venerable track with a 9-under-par 63 for a one-shot lead over Ryan Armour and Nick Watney.
Chez Reavie, who won Sunday at the Travelers Championship, made seven birdies and an eagle. He shot 65 and was tied for fourth with several players, including 2009 British Open champ Stewart Cink.
While the guy who almost didn’t even get into the tournament is leading the way, some of the biggest names in the field had the hardest time taming the course. And it was the biggest name of them all at the moment, U.S. Open champion Gary Woodland, who struggled the most.
Woodland shot 73 and will have a mighty climb to make the cut Friday. He was dead last when he bogeyed six of his first 11 holes. But a surge of four birdies in his final six holes avoided total disaster. He goes into Round 2 tied for 131st. Only the top 70 (including ties) players make it to the weekend.
World No. 2 Dustin Johnson struggled with his putter all day and shot 71, putting him in a tie for 101st.
Rickie Fowler and Bubba Watson fared better, though both struggled with driving accuracy. Each player hit just seven fairways and shot 68, good for a tie for 33rd.
“Obviously it’s very scorable,” Fowler said. “The greens are still soft, receptive, but you have to drive it. I feel like it’s fairly generous off the tee out here, but you can’t be much offline or out of the fairways by a lot or you start dealing with some trees and stuff like that, and it can get tough to scramble out here.
“But if you drive it well, I mean, it’s easy to hit greens and … you can make kind of a stress-free, you know, mid-60s round pretty quickly out here.”
That was certainly the case for Lashley, who failed to make the field as the first alternate at last week’s Travelers Championship. When David Berganio Jr. withdrew Wednesday, Lashley got this chance. The 36-year-old — who finally qualified for the PGA Tour last year and is fighting to keep his card this year — started hot and finished hotter, closing with birdies on five of his last six holes.
“It’s no fun being first alternate,” he said. “I was first alternate last week actually and didn’t get into the tournament, so this week got in and took advantage of it.”
