Golf roundup: England's Paul Waring takes first-round lead at Houston Open
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England's Paul Waring said he felt he was getting better even while missing cuts in recent tournaments.
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He showed signs of solid play during the first round of the Texas Children's Houston Open on Thursday. Waring shot a 7-under-par 63 without a bogey to hold the lead.
"I think I've just been told I holed over 160 foot of putts today, which is massive and gives you a massive advantage," Waring said.
Waring is one stroke ahead of Gary Woodland, who was one of the final golfers to finish the round.
Sam Burns, Michael Brennan and Tom Hoge all shot 65s at Memorial Park Golf Course to land in a tie for third.
Six of Waring's seven birdies came on par-4 layouts. He started on the back nine, had a 40-foot birdie putt on No. 18, and later added a 31-foot birdie putt on No. 5.
The result was Waring's first sub-70 round of the year.
"This is a proper long golf course," he said. "It's a lot more mid-irons and short irons, and as I say, you've got to putt well if you're going to put a round like that together."
Woodland played without a bogey until his 16th hole of the day – No. 7 – though he bounced back with birdies on the last two holes. He made a birdie putt at the par-3 ninth from inside 10 feet.
"I think the best thing I did was I carried the momentum over from last week," Woodland said, referring to the Valspar Championship. "I got a lot of confidence last week."
Woodland tied for second place last year in this tournament.
"The golf course sets up very well for me," he said. "Allows me to be aggressive, to play to my strengths right now. I'm looking forward to getting out there again."
Burns overcame one bogey on both the front and back nine. Like Woodland, the Texas native finished birdie-birdie at Nos. 8-9.
"My body hadn't really cooperated so far this year," Burns said. "So try to make sure my body's feeling good and trying to kind of build on that."
Hoge said it might be huge that he had a low score for the first round.
"It played pretty tough with the wind out there," he said. "It's going to be a battle the next few days."
England's Marco Penge (66) had a bogey-free round and is tied for sixth place with Kurt Kitayama, Germany's Stephan Jaeger, England's Matt Wallace and China's Zecheng Dou at 4 under.
"This golf course sets up pretty nice for me off the tee," Penge said. "I can kind of give it a good rip."
Rickie Fowler, who needs a strong result this week or a win in next week's Valero Texas Open in order to qualify for next month's Masters, posted 67.
"I wouldn't say I did anything amazing," Fowler said. "Short game was good. Made a couple nice up-and-downs, which definitely helps kind of keep momentum if I had much."
Tony Finau slipped late with a bogey on the final hole following two pars to leave him at 67.
Australia's Karl Vilips, who had birdies on five of the first 12 holes, appeared poised to charge toward the top until going 3 over with three bogeys on his last five holes to finish 2 under.
Cole Hammer, competing in his hometown, hit a hole-in-one on the 15th hole, setting the tone for his 3-under 67 to land in the 20-player pile-up in a tie for 11th.
Defending champion Min Woo Lee of Australia shot 68.
Brooks Koepka, who helped redesign the course, finished with 75.
Ko fires 60 for lead at Ford Championship
LPGA Hall of Famer Lydia Ko came extremely close to a mammoth achievement: the second round of 59 in LPGA history.
Ko birdied four of her last five holes to shoot a 12-under-par 60 and set the pace in the first round of the Ford Championship on Thursday in Chandler, Ariz.
The Cattail Course at Whirlwind Golf Club, hosting an LPGA event for the second time, was kind to more than just Ko. Her lead is just a single shot as South Korea's Hyo Joo Kim posted an 11-under 61 and Nelly Korda is right behind in third place at 9-under 63.
"I think the number 59 did cross my mind by the time I holed my birdie putt on 6 (her 15th hole), but it wasn't like … I had a lot of pressure to like break 60," the New Zealand star said. "It was just more like, 'Oh, it's really cool to be in this position.' I think that's my career low score."
Ko birdied each of her first four holes and rolled in 12 without a bogey.
Had she birdied the par-5 seventh hole, instead of settling for par, she'd be the second woman in tour history to break 60. Annika Sorenstam of Sweden famously had the LPGA's first 59 in March 2001 in a now-defunct tournament in Phoenix – a mere 30 miles away from Whirlwind Golf Club.
"Honestly the thought came very late in my round and I had to birdie the rest coming in at that point, so … I felt like it was an added bonus if it did happen," Ko said. "If it didn't, it's fine. Still a really good round.
"Annika is the only one that has shot 59, so any record that matches Annika's record is going to be pretty incredible."
Kim, who like Ko started on the back nine, shot up the leaderboard late in her round by finishing birdie-eagle-birdie.
Not only is Kim trying to win back-to-back tournaments following last week's Fortinet Founders Cup, she is also the defending champion and clearly comfortable at Whirlwind Golf Club.
"I tried playing like last year at the course, but the course conditions are quite different, so I'm just trying my best," she said. "My short game went well, so I had a low score."
Korda won the Ford Championship when it was introduced in 2024, before it was moved to Whirlwind. On Thursday, the World No. 2 skated through the round bogey-free with seven birdies in addition to an eagle at the par-4 18th.
"Just try to place myself in the right spots," Korda said of her approach. "Sometimes these fairways get baked out. Same with the greens.
"So closer doesn't always mean that it's good, just because then you have a tricky pitch shot in where you can't get too much spin on it and get it to stop, so you try to lay back a little bit."
Korda is vying for her second win of the young season.
Tied for fourth at 8-under 64 are Frida Kinhult of Sweden and Weiwei Zhang of China.
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This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: Golf roundup features Houston Open and LPGA Ford Championship