The PGA Tour year has traditionally been ushered in since 1999 with the Tournament of Champions. Only those players who managed to win a tournament on the PGA Tour in the previous calendar year are invited. The field of participants in the tournament taking place in Hawaii is correspondingly well-known this year. After the first round, Joaquin Niemann from Chile leads. Justin Thomas is in second place, while Matt Kuchar and Rickie Fowler share third place.
Flawless Niemann with a great start
“When I turned pro, I was a bit scared. I didn’t know if I was good enough to be able to survive on the tour,” said Niemann, looking back after his great opening lap. These worries are now a thing of the past, as the Chilean has had an impressive career path since then. After becoming a professional in 2018, he made it into the top 10 four times in his eight participations on the PGA Tour, earning a tour card for 2019. He then used this to achieve his first victory on the PGA Tour in September 2019. This made Niemann the first Chilean PGA Tour winner of all time and the youngest tournament winner since 1923. This triumph also made Ernie Els aware of Niemann, who invited him to the Presidents Cup. About this experience, Niemann said a little later: “The Presidents Cup was one of my best experiences since I turned pro. It was an incredible week. I spent a lot of moments with the best players in the world. It’s just great. This week was really something special for me. “
He was able to take the momentum of this great experience with him into the first tournament of the new year. With no loss of punch, Niemann already collects four birdies on his front nine and thus pushed himself into the front area of the leaderboard. Two more wins on his back nine holes then put him in position to take the sole lead on hole 18 with a birdie putt from a little less than two meters.
PGA Tour: Thomas, Kuchar and Fowler in wait
Niemann is hunted by none other than Justin Thomas. After his front nine holes, the American was only one stroke under par, but then turned it up and ended up with a score of -6, just one stroke behind the leader in 2. The third place was shared by Matt after the first round Kuchar and Rickie Fowler, who recorded rounds of 68 on the first day of the tournament.
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