Lehi resident Tony Finau opened the PGA Championship with an even-par 70, giving him a tie for 17th place Thursday at Bethpage Black in New York.
Finau is among 24 players at even par, entering Friday’s second round. He made an eagle and two bogeys, posting a decent first-round score while hitting only 6 of 14 fairways. Finau hit 14 greens in regulation but didn’t capitalize on his scoring opportunities, other than his 26-foot eagle putt on the par-5 No. 4.
His best chance for a birdie came when he missed a 7-foot attempt on the par-5 No. 13. Finau gave back one stroke with a bogey from a greenside bunker on the par-4 No. 5. He also bogeyed the par-3 No. 17 by missing a 4-foot putt after chipping close from the intermediate rough.
In Friday’s second round, Finau will tee off at 5:18 a.m. MDT. He has finished in the top 10 in four of his last five major tournaments, with a tie for 42nd place in the 2018 PGA Championship in St. Louis.
Club professional Craig Hocknull, Glenwild’s director of instruction, shot an 82 that included a 9 on the par-4 No. 6, without a penalty stroke. Only one golfer posted a higher score than 82.
Hocknull, who started his round on No. 10, stood a respectable 4 over through 11 holes. But he double-bogeyed the par-3 No. 3 and then had trouble with a fairway bunker and a native area on No. 6, taking seven shots to reach the green.
Hocknull played decently last August in his first PGA Championship, missing the 36-cut after shooting 72-73, and again qualified via a top-20 finish in the PGA Professional Championship last month in South Carolina.
In the U.S. Senior Women’s Open at Southern Pines, N.C., Utah Valley University coach Sue Nyhus posted an 85. It was a rough day for most of the 120-player field, with no player matching par and more than half of the golfers shooting in the 80s or 90s.
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