4 takeaways from Day 1 at the CJ Cup in South Korea
Justin Thomas, Jason Day, Adam Scott, and Pat Perez headline the CJ Cup this week on The Club at Nine Bridges golf course.
It's the first time the PGA Tour has held an event in South Korea, and it was Thomas who got off to a fast start Thursday in the 78-player field.
Here are four takeaways from Day 1 on Jeju Island:
Justin Thomas is back in form
The 24-year-old was unsuccessful in his title defense last week at the CIMB Classic, finishing in a tie for 17th place, yet he's back in proper form. Thomas opened with a bogey at the first but rebounded by carding four birdies and two eagles over his next eight holes to make the turn in 29. The FedEx Cup champ added three more birdies, with one bogey on the final nine, to shoot a 63, snagging a three-shot lead.
| Stat | Round 1 |
|---|---|
| Fairways hit | 12/14 |
| Greens hit | 14/18 |
| Putts per GIR | 1.571 |
"It was kind of a weird day," Thomas told pgatour.com. "It started off with a really, really bad bogey. And then I had a seven-hole stretch there where I basically kind of went unconscious. That was pretty much most of my round."
Pat Perez wasted his round
Last week's champion in Malaysia looked to be picking up right where he left off Thursday, dropping a birdie on the first hole of his round. Perez, who started on the back nine, added budgies at Nos. 12, 13, 14, and 18, making the turn in a 5-under-par 31. That would be it for the 41-year-old, who carded seven pars and two late bogeys to sign for a round of 69.
Jason Day's tee game still weak
The former world No. 1 had eight birdies, two bogeys, and a double en route to an opening-round 68. The Aussie was one of the least accurate players on tour in 2017, hitting just 53 percent of the fairways, and the 2015 PGA champion continued that trend Thursday, finding the short grass only 57 percent of the time - the sixth-worst percentage in the 78-player field.
| Player | Accuracy |
|---|---|
| Jason Day | 57% |
| Stewart Cink | 50% |
| Jim Herman | 50% |
| Grayson Murray | 50% |
| Seunghyuk Kim | 50% |
| Patrick reed | 42.90% |
Nos. 10 and 11 challenge field
The back nine begins with two of the hardest holes on the golf course, yielding just 19 birdies combined Thursday. The 471-yard par-4 10th was the hardest hole, with a scoring average of 4.218, while the par-4 11th was ranked the third-most difficult, producing a scoring average of 4.128.
| Stat | Hole No. 10 | Holes No. 11 |
|---|---|---|
| Bogeys | 22 | 11 |
| Doubles | 2 | 3 |
| Other | 0 | 1 |
(Photos courtesy: Action Images)