Austin Cook missed the cut in three straight tournaments, but he had the answer—practice, practice, practice.
The 28-year-old Cook (pictured) made some heavy work on his swing pay off when he shot 8-under-par 64 to tie Talor Gooch for the lead after the first round of the Houston Open at the Golf Club of Houston https://golfclubofhouston.com in Humble, Texas.
“The last few weeks it’s kind of been a little iffy with the ball-striking,” said Cook, whose only PGA Tour victory came in the 2017 RSM Classic. “Earlier in the week, I sent a video to my coach to look at. It was, literally, you just need to get wider, and that’s all I’ve worked on all week. I came out here Monday and it felt good on the first swing.
“I kind of got it in a groove right now and I’m going to go work on that and try to dial it in a little bit more. It’s great to get such a positive out of it when you work so hard. My swing feels so good and that’s what I’ve been looking for the last few weeks.
“It’s good to start the tournament with a great score to get up there on the leaderboard.”
Cook sank a 12-foot eagle putt on the eighth hole and added five birdies on the front nine before making a single birdie at No. 13 coming home in his bogey-free round.
Gooch, 27, whose only pro victory came in the 2017 News Sentinel Open on what was then the Web.com Tour, matched that 64 with six birdies on the back nine after starting at No. 10 and added four more while finishing on the front side.
“Any time you have double-digit birdies you’re doing something right,” said Gooch, who highlighted his round with a 63-foot birdie putt on the ninth hole. “I drove it well, got the ball in the fairway, hit a lot of good iron shots and was able to make a few putts. It was a fun day.”
Sepp Straka of Austria birdied his first four holes and three of the last six in a 65 that put him in solo third, while rookie Lanto Griffin, who has four straight top-20 finishes this season, carded a 66 and is tied for fourth with 2017 Houston champion Russell Henley, who chipped in from 62 feet for an eagle on the eighth hole, and rookie Tyler McCumber, who made three straight birdies through No. 8.
Amateur Cole Hammer, a sophomore at Texas playing on a sponsor exemption, made a double-bogey 6 at No. 11, his second hole, but then finished the back nine with three straight birdies on his way to a 67.
“I can’t say I was comfortable on the first hole; I was definitely nervous,” said Hammer, who qualified for the 2015 U.S. Open when he was 15. “I got that double bogey out of the way on my second hole and started over from there, just going.
“I settled down and got the flat stick going, made a lot of long putts. It was a fun day out there.”
Hammer is tied for seventh with Nick Watney of Davis and Fresno State, John Huh of Los Angeles and Cal State Northridge, Seamus Power of Ireland, Xinjun Zhang of China, Michael Gligic of Canada and Braden Bailey.
Cameron Champ of Sacramento, who recently claimed his second PGA Tour victory in the Safeway open, is tied for 23rd at 69, and tournament favorite Henrik Stenson shot 72 to tie for 75th.
For complete results, visit https://www.pgatour.com/leaderboard.html
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