Players Championship: Canadian Taylor Pendrith among the leaders after the first day

BET À DAY

PONTE VEDRA BEACH | What has always served as Taylor Pendrith's weapon of choice has been lacking for several weeks. Thursday, on the Stadium Course of the TPC Sawgrass, the Canadian was reconciled with his driver. 

The very long hitter therefore ate up precious yards by knowing how to keep his ball in the 14 lanes of the course. Combined with his power, his precision allowed him to climb the ranks to the top of the main draw, at -5, in the first round of the PGA TOUR Players Championship.

“It's so much easier to hit on the short grass than in the long grass on this course”, admitted with a smirk the friendly Ontarian.

With good reason, in the middle of the month of March, when the grass is overseeded, the Stadium Course leaves little chance for those who get lost. Long grass is provided in addition to reaching 3.5 inches.

Landing at Sawgrass after missing the ax at the Arnold Palmer Invitational and some rocky performances this winter, Pendrith was scratching his head a bit. Frustrated with his big mallet in hand, he had to find a way to control his projectiles.

Frustration

“There there are certain things that let go and come back in this game. It's golf, he philosophized without wanting to embark on the mechanical explanations of his troubles. able to know exactly what is going on. This became all the more very frustrating.

“What was my great strength had become a weakness. I have worked hard to try to correct the problems and get back to my good old habits.

Since the start of the season, he has posted a low accuracy rate of 54.19% from the tees. Which relegated him to 163rd place. Yesterday, when he signed his scorecard of 67 (-5), he led the board in his efficiency on the tee shots.

“I managed to manage my game well. didn’t put myself in bad places,” he explained. There are holes where it's guaranteed bogey when you miss one way or the other.

He made his only blunder at his 13th flag, registering a bogey there due to his three putts over a distance of 58 feet.

Having started from the 10th tee early in the morning, Pendrith had however started in force by negotiating the first leg with a score of 32 shots (-4). Good shots from the first mounds gave him confidence. An eagle on the 16th flag, a par 5, and a birdie on the par 3 on the 17th propelled him to the top of the board.