KAILUA-KONA — There’s no luau celebration for leading after the first round at the Mitsubishi Electric Championship at Hualalai. But co-leaders David Toms and Joe Durant will head into the second day with full bellies of birdies after carding rounds of 7-under par 65 on Thursday at the season opening event of the PGA Tour Champions season.
Durant and Toms both closed out their days with birdies on No. 18, building a three-stroke lead over Miguel Angel Jimenez and Scott Parel.
“Finishing with a birdie on 18 — that makes dinner taste a lot better tonight,” Durant said. “I drove the ball really nicely, which set the golf course up for me, and I hit some good iron shots early. Every part of my game was really solid.”
Toms had a similar sentiment post-round, pleased to be atop the leaderboard despite the windy conditions that affected the course for most of the afternoon.
“I didn’t know what to expect,” Toms said. “I had played well all week, but we hadn’t had any wind, so that was nice to go out there and be able to control the ball and do all the things you need to do to be able to play in the wind. Got off to a good start and just kind of kept going.”
The 42-man field includes tournament champions from the 2017 and 2018 seasons, winners of PGA Tour Champions majors since 2014, eight additional invitees based on career PGA Tour wins and major championship titles, and World Golf Hall of Fame members who played a minimum of eight PGA Tour Champions events in 2018.
In his previous appearances, Durant has played well at Hualalai, finishing fourth in 2016 and just missing the top 10 in 2017 and ’18.
He’s been a leader after 18 holes eight times during his PGA Tour Champions career, but has never converted one of those leads to a victory. He hopes to change that this week.
“You never know until the flag goes up and you start playing tournament rounds,” Durant said. “All new equipment in my bag except for my wedges and my putter. That can be a little disconcerting on game day. You’re not sure if they’re going to work right. But so far, so good.”
Durant’s only bogey was on No. 16, which was tied for the fourth toughest hole of the day, allowing just two birdies to 12 bogeys.
“I hit the iron shot about where I thought I was going to, but the putt — that’s one of the slower putts on the golf course and I just didn’t hit it near hard enough,” Durant said. “I left myself a 6 or 7 footer, which I hit a good stroke on, but just didn’t make it.”
Toms has had quite the run at the Big Island course. This is his third go-around at the event. In his previous tries he’s finishing tied for fourth in a wind-shortened 2017 edition of the tourney and third a year ago. Toms also has a Sony Open title on his resume, winning on Oahu in 2006.
“I feel good over here,” Toms said of playing in the Aloha State. “I enjoy the experience, enjoy being in the heat and humidity, and I’ve had a lot of success over the years here.”
Tom shot one of four bogey-free rounds on the day. Jiminez, Parel and Kirk Triplett had the others.
Not so easy
The scoring average in the first round was 71.024, a bit higher than normal for a tournament that is known for low scores. There were only 15 first rounds in the 60s, as opposed to 28 a year ago.
Behind the top four golfers, 10 players are sitting at 3-under and a pack of five others are an additional stroke back.
“I expected the wind to affect scoring a little bit today and it did for the most part,” Toms said. “I think anybody that shot 3- or 4-under would be happy with it, but we’re all bunched up. They’re all champions here, everybody knows how to play golf and win tournaments. You’ve just got to go out and play your best golf to have a chance.”
Former champs
Defending champion Jerry Kelly opened the day with three bogeys on the front nine, finishing with a 1-under 71, tied for 21st.
Bernhard Langer — the only three-time champion at the event and reigning PGA Tour Champions Player of the Year — had an up-and-down afternoon and sits five shots off the lead at 2-under.
Langer rarely has a bad day on the Big Island. In 12 rounds at Hualalai, he’s never posted a first round over par. However, things almost went sideways in a hurry.
He hit into the lava on the par 5 hole No. 7, which brought memories of 2015, when he had a similar situation that resulted in a quintuple-bogey 10. This time, however, he took a drop, limiting the damage to a bogey.
Things are a bit tougher for Loren Roberts, who won at Hualalai in 2006 and holds the tournament record at 25-under. Roberts is currently in last place at 8-over. Other former champions Tom Kite (2002) and Hale Irwin (1997, ‘07) are close by at 6-over.