Anyone who shot par at the RSM Classic on Thursday has little hope of making it to the weekend at the last PGA Tour tournament of 2021.
Two courses will be used for the first two rounds of this event, and both played well under par in Round 1. The average score on the Seaside Course – where Leader Sebastian Munoz played his round and shot 10 under 60 – was 66.31, and the The average score on the Plantation Course was 68.7. The Seaside score of 66.31 is the second lowest points average in a single place in a single lap of the Tour since 1983.
Even though Munoz was on the easier course, he still won the most strokes of all on each course against his particular field (6.3) as the best results on the Plantation Course (63s) were only 5.7 strokes against his field . Munoz thus holds the lead in the ranking and actually played the best golf of all in this tournament on Thursday in relation to his field on his course. In tournaments with shared courses, this is not always the case after the first round.
Golf, such a simple and normal sport. Let’s dig Munoz and his pursuers a little deeper with only 54 holes remaining on the PGA Tour calendar.
1. Sebastian Munoz (-10): Munoz had to play the last three holes in 2 under to shoot 59 and he only made it in 1 under as he missed an 11-foot putt on # 17 that would have set him up for the magic number. Still, it was a great start to the event for someone looking for the 2nd win of their career and he mostly made it from tee to green which should be sustainable for him for the next three days. He said afterward that he took pride in not putting a 5 on his card all day.
“That’s one thing I used to do in college,” Munoz said. “It was the challenge of the day not to get a 5 on the scorecard with my college mates. Then I know if I don’t get a 5, I’ll be playing my best.”
T2. Mackenzie Hughes, Scott Stallings, Zach Johnson, Chez Reavie (-9): Johnson, who played the easier Seaside Course, is perhaps the most surprising appearance on the leaderboard in this group. Despite having had a great career, he hasn’t had a top 10 since March and has missed four of his last five cuts. However, he was at the end of his iron game and also had a chance of 59 by playing the last three in 2 under (he even played them).
T6. Russell Henley, Jhonattan Vegas, Corey Conners, Talor Gooch (-8): Corey Conners shot the most Corey Conners rounds of all time on Thursday. He lost over one shot of his putter on the field and somehow shot 62. He hit all 18 regulated greens and hit it 10 times within 12 feet.
T10. Scottie Scheffler (-7): Scheffler was the favorite and after 18 holes remains 9: 1 favorite. He’s banged his last four to shoot 63 on the Seaside Course, and he shot that number with a well-rounded game that didn’t rely too heavily on a single facet. He should be a force to last. He also played his first round on his pocket with Bubba Watson’s old caddy, Ted Scott.
“I really only think of the world of him as a person, for me that was … the reason that he is only a potentially good partner for me on the track,” said Scheffler. “We’ll just see how it goes now. It was a lot of fun today and then it goes on.”
DQ. Rory Sabbatini: Sabbatini had a sticker on his driver and was therefore disqualified from the tournament. As I said before, golf is the most normal and sensible sport in the world.