The top man in a (weak) field wasted no time establishing himself as the guy to beat by shooting an opening 64 to grab a share of the Day 1 lead at seven-under par. Although there’s a lot of golf left, Rahm is in the driving seat already.

Rahm averaged 324.6 yards off the tee on Thursday while missing just one fairway at Vidanta Vallarta, a course hosting the PGA Tour for the first time. He hit 15 greens while gaining nearly 1.5 strokes putting. In other words, the World No. 2 had everything working during his bogey-free round, but he was particularly happy with his driver.

“Yeah, really comfortable off the tee,” Rahm told reporters. “It’s not like it’s ever bad, but today felt especially comfortable. It’s not the most demanding golf course off the tee, right, besides 10 and maybe 1. You’re not really in real danger of being in bad position, but even though it’s generous, when I’m hitting shots the way with the trajectory and the ball flight that I wanted, it just gives me more confidence for every other shot. I was really comfortable out there, so it reflected on the score.”

One of those tee shots found the green on the drivable par-4 seventh, and Rahm converted the 40-footer for his lone eagle of the day. However, he was most proud of a short-game shot early in his round.

“You know, I’m going to say the chip shot on 13, chipped that one in,” said Rahm, who started on the back nine. “I hadn’t hit my best iron shots early on, right? Misjudged it on 10, double crossed it on 11, double crossed it on 13 and got the first two up-and-downs and then chipped that one in from an uncomfortable lie and tough one, right? That was a huge bonus. I think a lot of people obviously would look at the eagle on 7, but that one early on was a huge booster.”

Incredibly, Rahm hasn’t won anywhere since capturing his first major last June at the US Open. But he’s certainly in position to end that drought this week.

Here are other takeaways from Day 1 at Vidanta Vallarta.

A PGA Tour Latinoamerica player proves he can hang

Rahm wasn’t the only player going low on Thursday, particularly during the morning wave when the wind wasn’t blowing as hard. In fact, there’s a six-way tie at the top that includes Bryson Nimmer. Yep, Bryson Nimmer.

Bryson Nimmer. Hector Vivas

You’re forgiven if you haven’t heard of this 25-year-old pro who joined the PGA Tour Latinoamerica this year and played his college golf at Clemson. Making just his ninth career PGA Tour start, Nimmer was four-under at the turn before a pair of bogeys to start his back nine. But after a couple pars, he caught fire down the stretch by shooting five-under over his final five holes to grab a share of the lead.

Nimmer got into this event by Monday qualifying, but it’s not the first time this year that his name has surfaced on a PGA Tour leaderboard. Just last month he finished T-11 in the Corales Puntacana Championship. Still, he knows how much an even bigger week could do for his career.

“It’s really hard. You just don’t know where you’re going to play, I think that’s the hardest part,” he said. “The Mondays, you know, it’s an opportunity, it’s just a chance to get out here. I’ve been trying to take advantage of it. This is the second one of the year that I’ve gotten through, so it’s really nice that we have those chances and those opportunities and it would be really nice to get some status though.”

Three more 64s and that won’t be a problem.

A rare (Jonathan) Byrd sighting

Another Clemson product — albeit a much older Clemson product than Nimmer — turning heads on Thursday was Jonathan Byrd. The 44-year-old is also part of that logjam at the top with Nimmer and Rahm (along with Brendon Todd, Trey Mullinax and Kurt Kitayama).

Jonathan Byrd. Orlando Ramirez

Byrd has just three PGA Tour top-10s in the past eight years and it’s been more than 11 years since his third and most recent win.

“I’m still trying to prove I’m 44 and I can compete with these guys,” Byrd said. “It’s getting harder. I played with Taylor Moore and Alex Smalley today, two new studs on the PGA Tour, and they hit it far and they hit a lot of quality shots. But I still have something to prove, I still feel like I can compete. Every week is an opportunity for me to have fun with it and see what I can do.”

After having to go back to Q school last year, Byrd was worried about the number of opportunities he would have this season. But his solid play, including a T-9 at Pebble Beach in February, has helped.

“I started the year thinking I might get in 15, looks like I might get in more like 20,” he said. “I’m just happy to have starts. And my game’s good, so trying to stay aggressive and see what I can make of it.”

An even rarer pair of aces

And, finally, congratulations to Kiradech Aphibarnrat and Scott Gutschewski for both making a hole-in-one on the par-3 fifth hole. And congrats to me as well for spelling both of their names properly. At least, I think I did.

Anyway, it’s just the fourth time in PGA Tour history that there have been multiple holes-in-one on the same hole during the same round of a tournament. The last such occasion? The final round of the 2016 Masters when Shane Lowry, Davis Love III and Louis Oosthuizen all aced the 16th hole. But that was a shorter hole with a much easier pin position, while Kiradech and Scott did it on the 188-yard par 3 at Vidanta Vallarta. Here’s Kiradech’s, which came in the first group of the day to reach the hole:

The first group to play the 5th hole today …@Kiradech drains it for the ACE! pic.twitter.com/gMBqRNGnNF

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) April 28, 2022

And here’s Scott’s:

The second ace of the day on the 5th hole!@S_Gutschewski one-hops it in for his second career hole-in-one on TOUR. pic.twitter.com/62TEOqraZY

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) April 28, 2022

And, yes, I’m purposely avoiding typing their last names one last time.

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The post Mexico Open takeaways: Rahm an even bigger favourite, a PGA Tour Latinoamerica pro proves he can hang, a rare pair of aces appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Brian Wacker
Social media can be a powerful tool—see the recent firestorm over slow play and it leading to the PGA Tour saying it will review its pace-of-play policy. On a far more important note, PGA Tour veteran Jonathan Byrd is hoping the power of social media can help his ailing mother.

The 41-year-old five-time tour winner took to Twitter and Instagram on Monday night seeking an organ donor for his mother, Jo, who is fighting kidney disease.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

Friends I’m reaching out with the hope of finding someone who might be able to help my family. My mom lives in Columbia South Carolina. She has a kidney disease and is in need of a kidney transplant. Her best possible option is to find a living donor with 0+ or 0- blood type. Up to this point, she’s had 12 friends and family come forward to volunteer to donate their kidney but unfortunately no one has been approved a match yet. This would greatly improve her quality of life. Please consider sharing her story or becoming a living donor yourself, for my mom or for someone else. If you’re interested, please contact MUSC hospital in Charleston South Carolina at (843)792-5097 asking for the donator coordinator. Or contact Augusta University hospital at (706)721-8560. The donator coordinator is Shelby Adams. Thank you for listening and have a great day ? – JByrd

A post shared by Jonathan Byrd (@jbyrdpga) on Aug 12, 2019 at 6:52pm PDT

“Her best possible option is to find a living donor with O positive or O negative blood type,” Byrd said in a video. “Up to this point, she’s had about 12 friends or family come forward to volunteer to donate their kidney and unfortunately no one’s been approved yet. This would greatly improve her quality of life.”

Byrd also asked followers to consider becoming an organ donor and said that if anyone is interested in helping, to contact MUSC Hospital in Charleston, S.C., or Augusta University Hospital and ask for the donation coordinator.

Byrd, who is playing on past champion status and whose best result this year was a fourth-place finish at the Corales Puntacana Championship in March, lost his father, Jim, to brain cancer in 2009. His former caddie, Chuck Hoersch, passed away in 2012 from pancreatic cancer.

Potential donours can reach MUSC Hospital at (843) 792-1414, or Augusta University Hospital at (706) 721-2273.

The post PGA Tour vet makes social media plea for an organ donor for his mother appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By John Strege

Jonathan Byrd is a closer, as he memorably demonstrated with a walk-off hole-in-one in a playoff to win the Justin Timberlake Shriners Hospitals for Children Open in 2010.

On Monday, he walked off with a four-stroke victory in the Web.com Tour Championship and a return to the PGA Tour following two years on the Web.com Tour.

Byrd, 39, began the tournament in in 66th place on the Web.Com Tour Finals 25 and needed a top-six finish to claim one of the 25 PGA Tour cards available. He took a two-stroke lead into the final round at the Atlantic Beach (Fla.) Country Club, shot a four-under par 67 and won by three over Shawn Stefani and Sam Saunders.

“It means a lot,” Byrd said. “This is one of the big ones, really. It’s been a hard-fought three years, just kind of struggling with my game, struggling with my confidence. You think coming to the Web Tour would be just kind of your worst nightmare. But it’s really been a blessing. I’m so impressed with the young guys out here. The Web Tour has got so much talent. Look out PGA Tour, you’ve got a lot of talent coming there this year.”

Byrd, a former PGA Tour rookie of the year, played 14 years on the tour, winning five tournaments, before losing his card after the 2015 season.

Even with his victory he likely was not as joyful as an emotional Stefani was for finishing second to allow him to retain his PGA Tour card.

“Mostly just relief,” Stefani, 35, said, after choking back tears for several seconds. “It’s been a tough year. I’ve worked hard. Haven’t had a lot of good stuff happen. But when I found out my wife was pregnant it just put a new perspective into me, because I’m not playing for just myself now. I’m playing more for my family. It’s just nice. Nice to see some things go your way, and believe you will. That’s the hardest part, believing that you’re deserving and things will happen. I know it’s just golf, but at the end of the day it’s what I’ve worked for whole life for.”

Stefani equaled the best round of the day, a seven-under par 65

Saunders, meanwhile, had to rely on the strength of an opening-round 59 on his home course and a second-round 66 to retain his PGA Tour card. Saunders, grandson of the late Arnold Palmer, shot a two-under par 69 on Monday. He played the final five holes in one-over par.

The Web.com Tour Championship is akin to the old PGA Tour Q School, where there is no middle ground between elation and disappointment. The latter was most evident with the reaction of Matt Harmon, who three-putted the 18th green, including a missed 12-footer for par, to miss out on gaining a PGA Tour card.

He slammed his putter, then broke the shaft, an emotional reminder of the fickle nature of the game.

The post Jonathan Byrd, 39, wins Web.com Tour Championship to earn his way back to PGA Tour appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.