The trademark wind failed to appear for the first round of the Bermuda Championship at Port Royal Golf Club. The result? A plethora of low scoring, with American Austin Smotherman — seeking a breakthrough win on the PGA Tour — firing his way into the first round lead with an error-free round of nine-under-par 62.
“Good, let’s go better tomorrow, why not? We’ve still got room,” said Smotherman in seeking to go even lower after taking a one-stroke lead over Indian Arjun Atwal and fellow American Adam Schenk.
Yet, on a day of low scoring as players made hay in the absence of any wind, all Smotherman had to do was cast a look down the leaderboard at those lining up to play the role of pursuers. And among them was Séamus Power, the best ranked player off the world rankings (at 48th) in the field, who overcame a couple of speed bumps on his way home to navigate his way to an opening round 65.
Power had mapped out this late-year, early-season stretch as an opportunity to rack up as many FedEx Cup points as he can — he also plans on playing the Mayakoba next week and the RSM Classic next month — and the Waterford man was among those to hit the birdie trail on the front nine with birdies at the second, fourth, seventh and ninth to turn in 32.
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On the homeward journey, Power rolled in a 12-footer for birdie on the 11th and went back-to-back with a six-footer for birdie on the 12th to move to six-under on his round. However, he missed the green with his tee-shot on the Par 3 13th and failed to get up and down and then suffered another bogey on the 15th.
However, Power recovered superbly from those hiccups with a birdie on the Par 3 16th and then got up and down from a greenside bunker on the Par 5 17th to get back to six-under-par. A two-putt par on the 18th saw him sign for a 65, three shots adrift of Smotherman, and very much in the mix in his quest for a second PGA Tour win.
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In the Portugal Masters at the Victoria course in Vilamoura, England’s Jordan Smith produced a stunning opening round of nine-under-par 62 — seven birdies and an eagle — to take a one-stroke lead over Joost Luiten and Jeff Winther.
Jonny Caldwell and Cormac Sharvin, both fighting to retain their tour cards in this least regular event of the season, have uphill battles to achieve that aim: Caldwell, currently 192nd on the order of merit with the leading 117 provisionally retaining that status, opened with a two-under-par 69 (in tied-57th) while Sharvin, 236th on the points list, signed for a two-over 73 (in tied-105th).
“I’m really happy with the way I played,” said Smith, explaining: “I’ve been under the weather all week because I went on a stag do at the weekend and caught the ‘flu. They say, ‘beware the injured golfer’. Considering my prep hasn’t been the best, I’m over the moon with it. “[A win] is the only thing missing this year. I’ve been close a couple of times. Just to top it off with a win would be amazing.”
