HUMBLE, Texas — Jimmy Walker didn’t make every birdie putt he saw during the first round of the Houston Open on Thursday. It only seemed that way.
Walker tied the course record with a 9-under-par 63 to take a two-shot lead over Josh Teater and Nick O’Hern. He needed only 23 putts, the fewest of any player on the first day, to make up for several erratic tee shots.
“I’m not going to say like, ‘Oh, every time I hit the green, this one is going in,’ ” Walker said. “I just kept stroking it. I felt like I kind of got back to feeling that stroke that I was using earlier in the year, when I was putting so good and playing so good.”
Walker hit only 5-of-14 fairways, ranking 136th out of the 142 players who started on a warm day at Redstone. He matched the scoring record set by Johnson Wagner and Adam Scott in the first round of the 2008 tournament. Wagner went on to win that year.
Chris Kirk was three back after a 66, and Steve Stricker, John Rollins, Nathan Green and Brendan Steele shot 67s.
Lincicome, Lewis share Kraft Nabisco lead
RANCHO MIRAGE, Calif. — Brittany Lincicome and Stacy Lewis overcame the stifling desert heat to shoot 6-under 66s to share the first-round lead at the Kraft Nabisco Championship, the LPGA’s first major.
Sandra Gal and Mika Miyazato were one shot back, while world No. 1 Yani Tseng was in a group in 10th place at 2-under.
Despite playing in the hotter part of an unseasonably scorching day, Lincicome and Lewis handled the fast, dry Mission Hills course with similar aplomb after temperatures topped 90 degrees by midday in the Palm Springs area. The heat is supposed to break on the weekend, but Lincicome and Lewis worried about the damage.
“Being a course that I love and I love to play, I’d hate for them to lose the greens,” Lincicome said. “Especially No. 1, and there was one other green turning brown, even — or purple, which can’t be good.”
Michelle Wie opened with a 74, making three bogeys in her quest for her first major title.
Lawrie atop Trophee Hassan II leaderboard
AGADIR, Morocco — Peter Lawrie shot an 8-under 64 that included two eagles and took the first-round lead at the Trophee Hassan II, two shots ahead of John Bickerton and three ahead of defending champion Rhys Davies and Shiv Kapur.
The Associated Press
