Séamus Power and Shane Lowry are both in red figures after the opening round of the Texas Children’s Houston Open at Memorial Park but the duo have work to do to ensure weekend tee times.
Lowry was among the early starters on day one but despite chipping in for birdie on the 12th – his third – was largely frustrated as his approach play, typically one of the strongest parts of his game, left genuine birdie chances few and far between.
A bogey on 13 was his only dropped shot on the front side and he turned at level-par but a poor tee shot on the par-3 second left him in a ‘fried egg’ lie, short-sided in the bunker and he dropped to +1.
He responded with a two-putt birdie on the par-5 third hole, then added a closing birdie from 23 feet on the last to get into red figures but ended the day straddling the provisional cut mark at one-under.
It was also a mixed day for Power in the afternoon wave. The Waterford man ended the day ninth in Strokes Gained: Off the Tee and third in Strokes Gained: Around the Green, but 83rd in Strokes Gained: Approach and 107th in Strokes Gained: Putting.
A birdie on the 16th was his only deviation from par in the opening nine holes, but he added two more birdies on two and three to move inside the top 15. He finished bogey-birdie-bogey after three-putting the 16th, completing a nice up-and-down from greenside rough on 17, then missed a 10-footer for par on the last, but he goes into Friday’s second round tied for 31st at -2.
On a heavily bunched leaderboard, England’s Paul Waring sits on top after a seven-under 63 that gives him a one-stroke lead over Gary Woodland in solo second.
Waring and Woodland are both in the midst of overcoming big obstacles of a different nature.
Woodland, the 2019 U.S. Open champion, had brain surgery to remove a lesion in September 2023, and two weeks ago opened up about his struggles with post-traumatic stress disorder in an emotional interview with Golf Channel.
Waring beat a strong field in Abu Dhabi at the end of 2024 that enabled him to get a PGA TOUR card through his DP World Tour standing. And then came a sore shoulder that required cortisone shots, and eventually sidelined him in July for five months.
It was a tough start to his PGA TOUR career, particularly not being around familiar faces from players to caddies to golf officials.
He missed the cut in his first three PGA TOUR starts, not overly concerned because he felt he could fix the mistakes. There weren’t many in the opening round in Houston, except for a tee shot into the water on the 17th, and even then he made an 18-foot par save.
He was seven-under when his second shot into the par-5 eighth went left and into the hazard area with a small creek. The ball stayed in thick grass on the bank and Waring chose to play it. The risk paid off. He blasted it out to 20 feet for a two-putt par and closed out a bogey-free round.
“This week, a lot tidier,” Waring said. “No bogeys and … I’ve just been told I holed over 160 foot of putts today, which is massive and gives you a massive advantage.”
Woodland also had a bogey-free round going until taking on a left pin on the par-3 seventh and going into a deep bunker. He safely blasted out to 20 feet and made bogey. But the response was strong, a nice pitch to six feet for birdie on the par-5 eighth and a 10-foot birdie to finish.
Sam Burns, Michael Brennan and Tom Hoge are tied for third at -5, with Marco Penge in a large group at -4. Penge challenged at Innisbrook Resort’s Copperhead Course last week and tied for fourth.
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