120 players kicked off the first round of the Corales Puntacana Championship, a PGA TOUR event in which Brice Garnett, Rey de Corales and 2018 tournament champion, seeks to make history by becoming the first to win the sporting event for the second time .
In this first round Garnett finished in first place managing to shoot an impressive 66 (-6). This is the sixth time Garnett has participated in the tournament. Ben Martin, in turn, finished as co-leader for the second consecutive year, also shooting an impressive 66 (-6).
Garnett and Martin were the only players to finish the first round bogey-free.
Likewise, the player Matt Wallace concluded his first round with a 67 (-5), while six players closed the first day with 68 (-4). Wallace, who finished in third place, made his tournament debut after finishing in 17th place last week at the prestigious Valspar tournament.
Max McGreevy and Dylan Wu are looking for their first win at a PGA TOUR event. Both are two-year-olds who started their careers on tour and are the only two players to achieve -4 scores, despite being in their mid-20s.
Defending champion Chad Ramey finished in 26th position, closing with a 71 (-1).
An interesting fact is that the player Erik Compton, who has undergone two heart transplants on two occasions, finished the first round with a 71 (-1), achieving a surprising birdie on the 18th hole, one of the holes of the well-known “Devil’s Elbow”, perhaps one of the most challenging holes in the entire Caribbean area.
Today the players will go out again to defend or improve their positions. At the end of the day it will be determined which of the players will make the cut to play in the final phase of the tournament, to be held on Saturday 25 and Sunday 26 March.
DOMINICANS IN ACTION
The three Creoles that act in the event did not have the best numbers at the start of this edition in Corales. Juan José Guerra had the best round of the three Dominicans, with one under par arriving at the last hole of his round (he was going T26), but a triple putt on the final hole placed him at +1, and he appears tied for 58th place ( +1). Next to him, the amateur Rhadamés Peña made +4 and is located in position 93. Hiram Silfa went to the lockers with a +8 (80), and appears in position 119.
TV broadcast
The event is broadcast by Golf Channel. Today the broadcast starts at 10:30 a.m., and Saturday and Sunday it will go from 2:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.
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