Amateur Garewal, Trent take early lead at windy Wigwam

LITCHFIELD PARK, Arizona—The wind blew all day at The Wigwam during the first round of the PGA TOUR Canada Qualifying Tournament on Tuesday. Amateur Viraj Garewal and third-year pro Jack Trent had to endure the wind like everybody else. But teeing off early for their opening 18 holes of the 72-hole tournament, they had calmer-than-what-came-later conditions, and they took advantage, both players shooting 3-under 69s to forge a two-stroke advantage over four players, Aman Gupta, Henry Lee, Griffin Wood and Ethan Brue.

Only six players broke par, with another seven shooting even-par on a difficult scoring day. By contrast, a year ago—53 weeks to be exact—under much calmer conditions, 31 players broke par in the opening round.

“I was hitting it very solid. I was in control of my trajectory, so I wasn’t letting [the ball] get up in the wind. I was making adjustments off the tee based off of if it was downwind or into the wind,” observed Garewal of his four-birdie, one-bogey performance. He pointed to his play on No. 18, his ninth hole of the day, as a difference-maker in his round.

After a solid tee shot that carried the fairway bunkers, Garewal hit an approach shot that he thought would put his ball close. “I hit a good wedge in, but it took a big bounce off the slope,” he said. The ball settled 18 feet from the cup, but from there Garewal poured his birdie putt into the middle of the cup.

“It was nice to see one go in because before that I was stuck in neutral. The only bridie before that (on his fifth hole) was a tap-in, and I had a bogey right after.”

Garewal already has some PGA TOUR Canada experience, playing in three events a year ago, Monday-qualifying into the Quebec Open and tying for 19th, a top-20 finish that earned him a start in the next tournament, the Manitoba Open in Winnipeg, where he again made the cut (tied for 51st).

In 2022, Trent played in this Qualifying Tournament and earned conditional status, tying for 17th but missed earning guaranteed PGA TOUR Canada starts. The Las Vegas resident who graduated from UNLV in 2021, elected not to travel to Canada and stayed in the States to work on his game.

Trent was at 4-under with a hole to play but bogeyed No. 18 to fall into a tie with Garewal. He hit his approach shot into a bunker and couldn’t get up and down for par.

“The first three holes weren’t too windy, but from there on it was. But everybody was playing in the same conditions. I was trying to play simple,” he said.  “I felt like a few of my pars were like birdies.”

Brue, one of the quartet at 1-under 71, had an interesting opening day. After four bogeys in his first 12 holes, three of them coming in a seven-hole stretch, Brue turned it on. After he parred No. 13, he made four birdies in succession before finishing his round with a par. He went from 3-over to 1-under.