Russell Knox of Scotland, who missed the cut in 10 consecutive tournaments last season, seems to have found something in the first event of the 2020-21 PGA Tour season.
The 35-year-old Knox, who has won twice on the PGA Tour but not since the 2016 Travelers Championship, carded a bogey-free, 9-under-par 63 in the first round of the Safeway Open to take a one-stroke lead over Cameron Piercy of Australia, Bo Hoag and Sam Burns on the North Course at Silverado Resort and Spa in Napa.
First-round tee times were pushed back an hour because of fog and heavy smoke in the air from several fires that are burning in Northern California.
“Historically, I’ve always been a pretty terrible starter, even in tournaments I’ve done very well in,” said Knox, who also won the 2015 WGC-HSBC Champions. “Missing the (2019-20) FedEx Cup Playoffs was extremely disappointing for me. I had a very terrible start from after the quarantine. I deserved to not make it.
“I’ve worked as hard as I ever have the last two weeks before this event. So it’s really nice to see something good happen immediately.”
Knox, who won the 2018 Dubai Duty Free Irish Open on the European Tour but could finish no better than a tie 11th in the Bermuda Championship last season, highlighted his round with a 14-foot eagle putt on the fifth hole and 31-foot birdie putt on the 12th.
Piercy collected five birdies on the back nine after starting at No. 10 and added three more on the front, capped by a four-foot birdie putt at No. 9 in his bogey-free 64, which Burns matched thanks to holing out for an eagle from 57 yards on the 16th hole and making a five-foot birdie putt on the last hole.
Playing late in the day, Hoag birdied five of his first seven holes after starting on the back nine and then capped his bogey-free 64 with two birdies on his last three holes, including a 27-foot birdie putt on the ninth hole.
Brendan Steele, who won the Safeway Open at Silverado in 2017 and 2018 for two of his three PGA Tour titles, collected four birdies on the back nine after starting at No. 10 and added three more coming home on the back in his bogey-free 65 that put him in a tie for fourth with Pat Perez of San Diego, who sank a 24-foot birdie putt on the last hole.
“There was very little stress out there today, which is always good,” said Steele, from Idyllwild and UC Riverside. “I really have a good sense of where you can be aggressive out here, where you need to be conservative, where you can miss it to different pins. I just kind of understood it right away, which is nice. And being from California, I’m comfortable on the greens.
“ … (The air) was much better today. Yesterday was very uncomfortable. I hadn’t seen anything like that as far as playing golf in it. I’ve been around too many fires in my time, but with the ash coming down and just how dark it was … I mean, 12 noon and there are lights on the putting green. That’s not a normal occurrence.”
Monday qualifier Andy Zhang of China had three birdies on each nine in a bogey-free 66 and is tied for seventh with 18-year-old Akshay Bhatia of Northridge, Tom Hoge and Scott Harrington.
Reigning British Open champion Shane Lowry of Ireland is tied for 21st after a 68, and Phil Mickelson, fresh off a victory in his debut on the PGA Tour Champions, shot 71 and is in a tie for 81st that includes Sahith Theegala of Chino Hills and Pepperdine, the 2020 College Player of the Year who is making his PGA Tour debut.
For complete results, visit https://www.pgatour.com/leaderboard.html
