Pendrith, Svensson off to strong start at the Players

Most days, Taylor Pendrith can count on his driver on the golf course.

He usually hits it long and straight, a mix that any golfer would envy. But for the last few months, that’s been missing from his game.

That is, until Thursday at the Players Championship.

Pendrith found a groove off the tee and used that to take advantage of TPC Sawgrass, playing the four par-5 holes in four under en route to a 67. That left him in third place after the morning wave of golfers finished up.

The Richmond Hill, Ont., native used his accuracy, landing his tee shots in the fairway a perfect 14 times. That stat was so remarkable it even shocked the guy who accomplished it.

“That's maybe the first time I've ever done that,” said Pendrith. “So, that's pretty cool, but everything was good. Lots of confidence with the driver and hit a couple three-irons and three-woods that were also down the middle of the fairway. It's much easier to play from the fairway and I have not been doing that as of late.”

Pendrith started on the back nine and birdied the 11th after reaching the green in two on the 564-yard hole. He did the same on the 16th hole, landing his second shot eight feet from the cup to set up an eagle.

He made another birdie on the infamous par-3 17th to make the turn at four-under. Two more birdies – one on the par-5 second hole – against a single bogey on the back nine closed out his day.

“I love this golf course,” said Pendrith. “I’ve been watching it on TV for years. It's my second time around here so I think I've learned a little bit of certain spots to miss it or where you don't want to hit it.”

In his maiden run at the Players last year, Pendrith opened with a 68 that left him in ninth spot. He finished up that cold, wet week that extended into a Monday finish in a tie for 13th.

He also played the final day with a broken rib, not realizing the severity of the injury until getting an X-ray several days later. That kept him off the tour for the next four months, cramping his first season as a PGA Tour player.

Pendrith wasn’t the only Canadian making a run up the leaderboard on Thursday. Adam Svensson posted a 68 and rather than using a power game, the Surrey, B.C., native did it mostly with the touch shots around the greens.

He missed nine greens on the day but managed to recover on eight of those, using a silky touch with his wedges and putter.

“I was chipping it nicely and made one or two from off the green,” said Svensson. “I played really smart today and hit it well, and just everything kind of worked.”

He was playing a rather mundane round of golf for the first 14 holes, carding two birdies against a dozen pars. But on 15 he started a stretch of three consecutive birdies before finishing out his day with a disappointing bogey on the 18th, that being the only hole of the round where he wasn’t able to get up and down from off the green.

As with Pendrith, Svensson has been waiting for some better form to show up. After notching his first PGA Tour victory at the RSM Classic in November, he lost his touch, recording just a single top 10, that coming at the Genesis Invitational. He’s put in lots of hard work and was hoping to turn things around.

“I'm finally starting to hit the ball better,” he said. “I've been struggling off the tee with my irons. So, it's nice to start hitting it solid again. My putting's been great the last couple weeks. So just got to keep it rolling.”

One other Canadian managed to get into red figures. Adam Hadwin had an eventful day with five birdies and four bogeys to sit at one under.

“Obviously anything under par on this golf course is decent,” Hadwin said. “The old adage of you can’t win it on Thursday but you can lose it. I certainly didn’t lose it, but I’ve got three more days to keep moving up the leaderboard.”

Nick Taylor ended up at two over par, while Mackenzie Hughes and Corey Conners both finished their opening rounds at three over.

The field was chasing Chad Ramey who was playing TPC Sawgrass for the first time in competition. He went bogey-free, going four-under on each of the nines for a 64, which he said was far from easy.

“No, not easy,” said Ramey. “Not easy at all. I might have made it look that way, but it wasn't easy at all. It was fun, first time to shoot a score on such an iconic course like this. You can't ask for any more.”