Marc Leishman of Australia collected eight birdies, including four in a row through the 10th hole, two bogeys and made par out of someone’s back yard.
That all added up to a 6-under-par 67 and gave Leishman a one-stroke lead over Brian Harman and Jhonattan Vegas of Venezuela after the wind-blown first round of the Sentry Tournament of Champions on the Plantation Course at Kapalua Resort on Maui in Hawaii.
“Best break I’ve had … ,” Leishman, who won the Arnold Palmer Invitational and the BMW Championship last year, said of his wild drive into a back yard on the 14th hole that somehow was not ruled to be out of bounds. “ … It was nice to see some putts go in. Just gets the year off to a good start. Hopefully, I can keep it going and see where we end up Sunday night. “I grew up in (the wind), I enjoy playing in it, which is helpful. It just takes a little imagination, you got to trust what the wind is going to do with your ball and deal with it if it doesn’t do that.”
Left-hander Harman, who won the Wells Fargo Championship, played bogey-free in his 68, while Vegas, winner of the RBC Canadian Open, equaled that score with five birdies on the last 10 holes.
Top-ranked Dustin Johnson sank a 15-foot eagle putt on the five hole en route to a 69 and is tied for fourth with Rickie Fowler of Murrieta, who holed a 22-foot eagle putt on the final hole, and Si Woo Kim of South Korea, who made three straight birdies through No. 17.
Hideki Matsuyama of Japan, who won three times last season and finished second to Justin Thomas in Kapalua, posted a 70 and is tied for seventh with Patrick Cantlay of Los Alamitos and UCLA, Billy Horschel, Kyle Stanley and Kevin Kisner.
Thomas, the reigning FedExCup champion and PGA Tour Player of the Year, rallied with three birdies in the last four holes and is tied for 17th at 71, and Jordan Spieth, the 2016 TOC champion, is tied for 30th after a 75.
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