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Lehi • Professional golfers who had their way with Thanksgiving Point Golf Club in the Web.com Tour's Utah Championship last year — the winning score was 22-under-par 266, shockingly — were in for a bit of a surprise on Thursday at the Johnny Miller-designed layout that can play to nearly 7,700 yards.
Thanksgiving Point wasn't a pushover, this time.
A year after Kelly Kraft shot a course-record 63 in the opening round and eventual champion Patton Kizzire and Trey Mullinax broke it with 62s the next day, the track bared its teeth a little earlier in the week, sans the usual winds that took all but about five minutes of the day off.
Peter Tomasulo, from Long Beach, Calif., and Brian Richey, from Lakeland, Fla., share the first-round lead at 7-under-par 64. A group of 13 players, including Mullinax, are two shots off the lead at 66.
To a man, golfers said Thanksgiving Point played differently Thursday than it did a year ago, and not just because one hole — the fifth, which runs North to South along the Jordan River — has been turned from a par-5 to a par-4.
"It is a lot different," said Mullinax, a 2014 Alabama graduate who finished tied for 11th here last year. "They grew the rough in a lot. It is a little bit more challenging, and the wind didn't really blow today, so the scores were probably lower than they will be this weekend. It's definitely tougher."
Actually, Mullinax finished just a half-hour or so before the winds started to make an appearance — and what an appearance it was.
Play was halted for about five minutes at 6:48 p.m. because a wicked microburst blew through the course, complete with 50 mph winds that dislodged tents, caused shade umbrellas to fly out of control, and created tornado-like conditions more often seen in the Midwest than Utah. And then it was gone, as quickly as it came.
"That was wild," said Tomasulo, a former Cal golf star. "I really thought this grandstand was coming down, and the scoreboard was up on two legs. … It was blowing like crazy for awhile there."
Tomasulo was in the 18th fairway when the brief delay came because balls were rolling off greens — "Never seen a wind delay before," he mused — and made a par after the break to take the clubhouse lead.
Richey, who has conditional status on the tour, had to qualify on Monday at Talons Cove just to make the field.
While acknowledging the tighter fairways and longer rough, he said the course is similar to last year. But Tomasulo believes it is tougher.
"We got lucky with the wind," Tomasulo said. "There wasn't too much wind for us today. There was a little bit early on, and then that last hole. … I think that it is pretty rare for [calm winds] for an afternoon out here. But the rough is definitely much tougher. And the fairways are more narrow."
Mullinax hit his driver only seven times, he said, but still averaged a whopping 369.5 yards off the tee. Obviously, Thanksgiving Point won't give up another 22-under, most players said, because they took away one of the par-5s.
"I mean, these guys are good," Mullinax said. "It doesn't matter how hard a golf course is, if a guy is playing well, he's going to shoot good scores. I think they did a good job of growing the rough and making it a little bit more challenging."
Conditions were ideal early, and nine of the 13 guys who are grouped at 5-under 66 played in the morning.
Andrew Putnam, whose brother, Michael, won the Utah Championship in 2012 at Willow Creek Country Club, said the greens were more receptive than they were a year ago, but Thanksgiving Point director of golf Mark Whetzel said the plan is to make the course, and the greens, firmer and faster as the weekend approaches.
"It feels like home, being from the Northwest," Andrew Putnam said. "A lot of the Northwest guys have had success here. My brother won and Andres Gonzales won and we all play at the same course [in Washington]."
Former Fresno State golfer Bhavik Patel aced the seventh hole, his second hole-in-one this season, which leads the tour.
Of the five Utahns in the field, sponsors exemption Marcus Burbank was the only one who played in the morning, but Tony Finau's former caddy, from Riverton, couldn't capitalize and shot a 78, the second-worst score of the day.
B.J. Staten of Cottonwood Heights and Draper's Matt Baird, the Riverside teaching pro who won the 15-man playoff for the final spot in Monday's qualifier, put in the best showing among the Utah contingent, firing 1-over-par 72s.
Twitter: @drewjay —
Thursday's results