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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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