Valspar Championship: On Thursday, Ryan Brehm made a hole-in-one on the par-3 17th hole at Innisbrook for a five-under 66, which helped three players share the lead at the Valspar Championship.
On the Copperhead course in the afternoon, Adam Schenk joined Stephan Jaeger and himself with a 66.
For the first time in five years, Jordan Spieth played at Innisbrook again. He had a flawless round and exceptional putting skills as he made birdie putts of 60 feet and 30 feet on his way to a score of 67. Lucas Glover, a former U.S. Open champion, and Maverick McNealy both finished at 67.
Since winning the Puerto Rico Open in his penultimate attempt to maintain a PGA Tour card last year, Brehm has not held a lead. Since then, the road hasn’t always been easy. Brehm is coming off an 80 in the second round of The Players Championship last week. He has only made three cuts this season, one of which was at Kapalua.
“Since then, we’ve been working hard to try to get back into shape, and maybe [I’ve] been showing flashes of excellent play,” he said.
He finished with a par after hitting his ace with a 6-iron from 196 yards away. In 43 rounds on the PGA Tour this season, he has shot in the 60s 11 times.
Jaeger had seven birdies during the morning round, which got underway in chilly conditions that required some players to put on beanies and additional clothes.
After completing his round with a 10-foot par save on the par-3 eighth hole and going bunker-to-bunker on the ninth hole, Schenk sank a 5-foot par putt to complete it.
At No. 68, Tommy Fleetwood was the highest-ranked player in the field, while Sam Burns and Justin Thomas, the two-time reigning winner, were among the players at No. 69.
Innisbrook is well known as a tournament course with tree-lined fairways, elevation, and not nearly as much water as many courses in Florida. Scoring is seldom particularly low at Innisbrook.
Brehm admitted, “I’m not at all at ease out there, but I don’t think anybody truly is – maybe Sam Burns; he’s won it a couple of times.”
“But, I believe it is a good test of golf. The course does a terrific job of forcing you to think since, in my opinion, golf is not supposed to be simple.”
No one had a more difficult beginning than U.S. Open winner Matt Fitzpatrick.
Fitzpatrick removed his tee shot from play on the third hole. After taking a penalty drop for hitting into the water with his third shot off the tee, he missed the bunker and the green altogether. It totalled up to a 9, and he then had back-to-back bogeys.
For golf tournament, golf live score, golf championship, golf match today, latest golf news, golf score live, golf club, golf match today live, golf daily update and other golf news follow Livematchupdates.com.
