After a wet first day at the WM Phoenix Open, Canadians Nick Taylor and Adam Hadwin are in the first place, with world No. 1 Rory McIlroy struggling on his comeback to PGA Tour competition.
Taylor finished his round with six birdies over eight holes, while Hadwin had four over a stretch of five holes, setting the pace at TPC Scottsdale with a five-under 66.
None of the afternoon starters could finish their rounds as play was halted due to darkness due to a frost delay that lasted almost two hours, with Jim Herman and Jason Day each having four and eight holes left to play, respectively.
When play begins on Friday morning, there will be 13 players inside two shots of the lead. McIlroy is eight back after a two-over 73 and Xander Schauffele completes the trio tied for second.
Canadian team led the way
Taylor’s day got off to an interesting start when his eagle three at the par-five third hole was undone by a double-bogey six at the sixth. He was over par at the halfway point before a stellar second-nine 30 propelled him to the top spot.
Taylor remarked, “It was kind of wonderful to kind of watch some putts roll in on 10 and 11 and obviously to continue that on 12, was happy to get a good pretty easy birdie with a nice chip on 13. Since I was hitting a lot of greens and swinging well, I wanted to keep it going. It was fantastic to finish with birdies on 16 and 17.”
Hadwin began his round on the back nine and recovered from his lone bogey by hitting his tee shot to within three feet at the par-three 12th, which led to the first of his round’s six birdies.
Feeling right at home 🇨🇦
Canadian @AHadwinGolf is serenaded with "O Canada" on the fairway.
He holds a share of the lead @WMPhoenixOpen 💪 pic.twitter.com/CunlPjDOFv
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) February 9, 2023
Hadwin stated that Corey Conners and Mackenzie Hughes had been kind of setting the pace for Canadian golf for a time. “Along with Mackenzie, Adam Svensson was one of our predictions for this year’s winner. Being a part of this group is fantastic.”
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