TRUCKEE, Calif. (AP) — Ben Martin scored 16 points Thursday to take a two-point lead over David Lipsky and Nick Watney after the first round of the Barracuda Championship, the only PGA Tour event that uses the modified Stableford scoring system.
Players receive eight points for a double eagle, five for eagle and two for birdie. A point is deducted for bogey and three for double bogey.
Martin rebounded from bogeys on Nos. 6-7 with birdies on Nos. 8-9 to close his morning round at Tahoe Mountain Club, the tree-line layout that sits at an elevation of 6,000 feet.
“To be honest, warming up on the range this morning, it’s cold. I’m getting old. It’s hard to keep my body moving well," said the 37-year-old Martin, whose lone PGA Tour came in Las Vegas in 2014. "I had very few expectations, but went out, was hitting the ball in front of me, kind of hitting to where I was looking and made some early putts. Saw those go in, so confident with the putter.”
Played opposite the British Open, the tournament is co-sanctioned by the European tour. The winner gets into the PGA Championship but not the Masters.
Lipsky scored 15 points on his first nine holes, then dropped three on the par-4 second after his approach bounced off a greenside sprinkler into trouble.
“Bounced way over the green,” Lipsky said. “It was tough to make even bogey from there. So, a little unfortunate there, but overall a good day.”
He birdied the par-5 third and parred the final six. On the opening nine, he eagled the par-5 15th and had five birdies in a 7-under 29.
The 44-year-old Watney won the last of his five PGA Tour titles in 2012.
Cameron Champ was three points back at 13 with Rico Hoey, Joel Dahmen, Danny Walker, Dale Whitnell and Todd Clements. Andrew Putnam, the 2018 winner, was at 12 with Jackson Suber, Yuto Katsuragawa and Vince Whaley.
Max Homa lost a point, struggling alongside defending champion Nick Dunlap and NCAA champion Michael La Sasso of Mississippi in the afternoon. Dunlap lost six points, and Sasso — playing on a sponsor exemption — seven.
German twins Yannik and Jeremy Paul also got off top slow starts. Yannik has zero points and Jeremy lost two. They played in college at Colorado.
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