After going through bogey-free in their opening rounds, James Hahn and Ryan Moore share the Deutsche Bank Championship lead.
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“It was a good start last week”, twice major victor Spieth told reporters on Thursday while preparing for Friday’s opening round, which he will play in the company of Australia’s Adam Scott and Argentina’s Emiliano Grillo.
Moore, who finished seventh last week at The Barclays and won the John Deere Classic earlier in August, stayed hot with his 12th sub-70 round in his last 13. The Texan found nine (of 14) fairways and only 10 greens in regulation, losing strokes off-the-tee and around-the-green.
It’s been a polar-opposite story for Hahn.
Cejka’s stuation is the more cut and dried of the two – he’s been struggling with a lower back injury and was forced to withdraw from The Barclays last week.
His play Friday suggested he might be starting to find his swing again just in the nick of time.
Hahn sank an eight-foot birdie putt on No. 9, his final hole, to drop to 6-under, and Moore saved par on his last hole at No. 18 to keep pace.
Paul Casey finds himself among the group that’s one stroke behind the leaders after Round 1.
“The few times that I was out of position, I hit a couple of great chip shots today to recover”.
Based on Friday’s play, perhaps the setback represented the motivation he needed.
Phil Mickelson would be an exception.
Moore admitted he was at a loss to explain the unusually congested field at the top of the leaderboard, where only two shots separate 19 players. If it doesn’t, the stage will be set for a wild finish over the tournament’s final two days.
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“We are extremely grateful to Deutsche Bank for its dedication and commitment to building the Deutsche Bank Championship into a premier event on the PGA Tour and an exceptionally worthy component of the FedExCup Playoffs”, said PGA Tour deputy commissioner Jay Monahan.
