| Senior fired a seven under par round of 64 at the Renaissance Club to sit one shot ahead of reigning Race to Dubai champion Lee Westwood and former World Number One Justin Thomas.
Thomas, making his return to Scotland’s Golf Coast after a T9 finish at this event in 2019, carded a flawless round of 65, which included a 90-foot eagle putt on the par five seventh. Westwood, winner of the Scottish Open in 1998, was also bogey free.
World Number One and U.S. Open Champion Jon Rahm is amongst a group of nine players on five under par, joining Ryder Cup teammates Tommy Fleetwood and Ian Poulter and two-time Rolex Series winner Matt Fitzpatrick in a tie for fourth.
Four Scotsmen sit one shot further back amongst the group on four under par, with Grant Forrest, David Law, Richie Ramsay and Connor Syme all carding rounds of 67.
Player Quotes
Jack Senior:
Just good from start to finish really. Had a lot of good numbers on the fairway and could be aggressive to a lot of pins. Rolled the ball really well on the greens and capitalised on the chance I gave myself.
It’s a great field but at the end of the day, you’re still out there playing the golf course. Doesn’t matter how good the field is or anything like that. All you can do is control what you’re doing and try and do your best on the golf course and not particularly worry about the field. If I consistently hit golf shots out there and try to perform to the best of my ability, I’m sure it might stand me in good stead.
Lee Westwood:
I didn’t play a lot the last couple weeks. I had a pretty good rest. I played nine holes a couple of times with (his son) Sam. Played yesterday, and just got a feel for the golf course again. I played it a lot (the Renaissance Club) when I lived in Edinburgh a few years ago, they were kind enough to make me an honorary member here and I came and practiced a lot.
I know the golf course really well. So I read the greens pretty well here, and that was the kind of day it was out there today. You’re going to have a lot of chances. You’ve got to make your fair share. Obviously not all of them are going to go in, so you can’t get too frustrated.
Justin Thomas:
Obviously 6-under is great. I’d love that every round of golf I play. Bogey-free made it pretty stress-free. I was a little upset or disappointed with some of the iron shots I hit. Felt I could have hit them closer but nice to play that last hole as well as I did to hopefully generate some momentum.
Playing with fans is incredible. I was so excited when we had them at THE PLAYERS for the first time a couple months ago, but the fans here are awesome. They are so passionate and respectful. We were joking it’s nice to get some claps when you hit a 5-iron to 30 or 40 feet.
Jon Rahm:
It can be difficult to follow a tournament after accomplishing something big like I did (winning the U.S. Open). I did take some time off after the win and getting back into it, it’s a little bit easier in Arizona when it’s warm, the body is warm and very low air density, the ball goes very straight and very far. It can be a challenge, long flight, but it gets a little tight coming to a course where the wind will move the ball a lot and you know, little mistakes could be magnified quite a bit, right.
So I didn’t have my best feel out there, but after the first tee shot, which was probably about as bad a tee shot as I can hit, feeling-wise, as well, I just told myself really trust the visualization process, see the shot, trust the shot and trust that your body can do it, and it really worked out. Sometimes you’ve just got to get out of your own way.
Round One Scores
64 J SENIOR (ENG),
65 J THOMAS (USA), L WESTWOOD (ENG),
66 J RAHM (ESP), I POULTER (ENG), R PALMER (USA), G COETZEE (RSA), T DETRY (BEL), T FLEETWOOD (ENG), M FITZPATRICK (ENG), D HORSEY (ENG), A QUIROS (ESP),
67 O FARR (WAL), J WINTHER (DEN), M KINHULT (SWE), K APHIBARNRAT (THA), R RAMSAY (SCO), G FORREST (SCO), F LAPORTA (ITA), X SCHAUFFELE (USA), P HARRINGTON (IRL), S HEND (AUS), W ORMSBY (AUS), D LAW (SCO), S SODERBERG (SWE), C SYME (SCO),
68 J LAGERGREN (SWE), J DONALDSON (WAL), M ARMITAGE (ENG), G HIGGO (RSA), R LANGASQUE (FRA), M JORDAN (ENG), J SCRIVENER (AUS), A ARNAUS (ESP), M LEE (AUS), R MACINTYRE (SCO), S KJELDSEN (DEN), C WOOD (ENG), B HEBERT (FRA), R H?JGAARD (DEN), A OTAEGUI (ESP), G STORM (ENG), T PIETERS (BEL), J GUERRIER (FRA),
69 S HEISELE (GER), M SOUTHGATE (ENG), J MORRISON (ENG), B STONE (RSA), R JACQUELIN (FRA), R MCEVOY (ENG), W ZALATORIS (USA), V PEREZ (FRA), C SHINKWIN (ENG), Z LOMBARD (RSA), L HERBERT (AUS), T PULKKANEN (FIN), M KORHONEN (FIN), J LUITEN (NED), R ROCK (ENG), O WILSON (ENG), R SANTOS (POR), A JOHNSTON (ENG), T HATTON (ENG), M PAVON (FRA), O FISHER (ENG), N COLSAERTS (BEL), R BLAND (ENG), A ROZNER (FRA), B GRACE (RSA), R PARATORE (ITA), J WALTERS (RSA), J STALTER (FRA),
70 T BJ?RN (DEN), R FISHER (ENG), C HILL (SCO), R MCILROY (NIR), D VAN DRIEL (NED), M WALLACE (ENG), S BROWN (ENG), R FOX (NZL), N BERTASIO (ITA), M LORENZO-VERA (FRA), S GALLACHER (SCO), J VEERMAN (USA), S JAMIESON (SCO), C SHARVIN (NIR), S V?LIM?KI (FIN), J CATLIN (USA), M KAWAMURA (JPN), C MORIKAWA (USA), B HORSCHEL (USA), S SHARMA (IND), E PEPPERELL (ENG), A LEVY (FRA), H LI (CHN),
71 F ZANOTTI (PAR), S GARCIA RODRIGUEZ (ESP), A RAI (ENG), J SMITH (ENG), B WIESBERGER (AUT), C BEZUIDENHOUT (RSA), J WALKER (USA), E MOLINARI (ITA), D FICHARDT (RSA), K KITAYAMA (USA), D VAN TONDER (RSA), A SULLIVAN (ENG), A CHESTERS (ENG), G MIGLIOZZI (ITA), N ELVIRA (ESP), R KARLBERG (SWE), J SURI (USA),
72 V DUBUISSON (FRA), S BURNS (USA), S SCHEFFLER (USA), R ROUSSEL (FRA), J HARDING (RSA), L CANTER (ENG), T AIKEN (RSA), G GREEN (MAS), M WARREN (SCO), A BJ?RK (SWE), S CROCKER (USA), D WILLETT (ENG), L GAGLI (ITA), H STENSON (SWE), M SCHWAB (AUT), J HANSEN (DEN), D DRYSDALE (SCO), D WHITNELL (ENG),
73 D BURMESTER (RSA), M KAYMER (GER), F MOLINARI (ITA), S HORSFIELD (ENG), M KIEFFER (GER), P HANSON (SWE), G MCDOWELL (NIR),
74 T OLESEN (DEN), G BHULLAR (IND), R MCGOWAN (ENG), K SAMOOJA (FIN), H PORTEOUS (RSA), J CALDWELL (NIR),
75 A MERONK (POL), P WARING (ENG), D HOWELL (ENG), J JANEWATTANANOND (THA),
76 J CAMPILLO (ESP), M ANTCLIFF (AUS), C CONNERS (CAN), P O’HARA (SCO),
77 L BJERREGAARD (DEN), C PAISLEY (ENG), P LARRAZ?BAL (ESP), A PAVAN (ITA), W NIENABER (RSA), |
