08 Oct 2021 | Professional golf |
Jones in the hunt in Las Vegas
by Dane Heverin
Two-time Australian Open champion Matt Jones is three shots off the lead at the PGA Tour’s Shriners Children’s Open in Las Vegas following a seven-under opening round of 64.
The Sydneysider went bogey free to be T5 and within striking distance of leader Sung Kang.
Teeing off on the tenth, Jones started hot with four birdies in his first six holes to make the most of pleasant afternoon conditions.
Another three birdies followed on the front nine, but his day was capped off by a brilliant sand save and nice putt to make birdie at the last hole and edge himself closer to the lead.
Jones is now in a good position to eclipse his best finish - T26 at the Masters - since he won the Honda Classic back in March.
Fellow Australians Marc Leishman and Cam Davis mirrored one another with six birdies and two bogeys to be four-under and T29.
Adam Scott - playing his first tournament in nearly a month - made a trio of birdies at 14, 15 and 16 to fight back from his early struggles and finish one-under par.
In New Jersey, Su Oh and Hannah Green are in a share for ninth at the LPGA Tour’s Cognizant Founder’s Cup.
The duo shot three-under par opening rounds of 68 to sit five shots off leader Jin Young Ko.
If they continue their promising starts, they may get their wish of being paired together.
The close friends are yet to play in the same group in an LPGA event and they were begging tournament organisers to put them together on Instagram during the week.
Meanwhile, Minjee Lee’s good form rolled on with a bogey free two-under opening round of 69 and compatriot Katherine Kirk also finished the day with a red number next to her name at one-under par.
In Spain, Min Woo Lee began the European Tour’s Acciona Open de España well with a four-under first round of 67 to be six shots behind leader Ross McGowan.
PGA Tour - Shriners Children’s Open leaderboard