Tournament Leaders and Notes

Harris English birdied three of his last five holes to card an eight-under (65) in the first round of the Sentry Tournament of Champions. English won the (unofficial QBE Shootout in mid-December and his fourth place finish at the U.S. Open last September earned his place as the 18th ranked player in FedExCup points.

“I feel like my iron game is in really good shape right now and that will give me a lot of chances out there,” said English in his post-round interview. “We have a great team (back in his home base of Sea Island, GA) and we’ve been working really hard. I’ve worked on my alignment and my take-away and it’s really helped.”

Meanwhile, Justin Thomas took an opposite approach and birdied five of his first nine holes and then birdied three of his final five holes to tie English with an eight-under (65) opening round.

Six players finished T-3 by shooting six-under (67) and another three players shot (68) to T-9. After his three-over start, Ryan Palmer carded two eagles and four straight birdies to be included in that 6-under (67) group.

Only Tony Finau (74) (+1) and Sebastian Munoz (75) (+2) shot over par 73.

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Tournament of Champions First Round Leaders

Justin Thomas 65 (-8)

Harris English 65 (-8)

Robert Streb 67 (-6)

Sergio Garcia 67 (-6)

Nick Taylor 67 (-6)

Ryan Palmer 67 (-6)

Sungjae Im 67 (-6)

Patrick Reed 67 (-6)

Full Leaderboard (link)

What They’re Saying

Take-aways From Day One (Golf Digest)

PGA Tour Resumes (Sky Sports UK)

Schauffele Reveals COVID Floored Him Over Break (PGA Tour com)

Golf Needs to Distance Itself From Trump (John Feinstein, Golf Digest)

How to Watch Round Two of Sentry TofC (PGA Tour com)

Golf’s #SportsBiz and Sporting Goods Industry News

“DJ” and “JT” Have New Drivers at Sentry (PGA Tour com)

What’s in Jon Rahm’s Callaway Bag? (PGA Tour com)

On This Day in Golf History

January 8, 2006 - Stuart Appleby birdied two of the last four holes and defeated Vijay Singh on the first hole of a playoff to win the Tournament of Champions at Kapalua Resort. It was Appleby’s third consecutive victory at the season-opening Tournament of Champions. Appleby became the 15th player in PGA Tour history to win the same event three straight years. - (Courtesy Randy Walker, Author of On This Day in Golf History, available via Amazon.com and by clicking HERE.)

Parting Putt

Driving the Green on Par 4 - Best of 2020