Low scores were abundant in Round 1 of the Shriners Children’s Open on Thursday in Las Vegas, but one stood out among them all. Sixteen golfers shot 65 or better over the first 18 holes at TPC at Summerlin, but Sung Kang’s 61 leads a group including Sungjae Im, Charley Hoffman and Chad Ramey, who all shot 63.
Kang made eight birdies and an eagle in his bid for a second PGA Tour win (he also won the 2019 AT&T Byron Nelson). Most of his work was done from tee to green, where he was second in the field in strokes gained behind only Talor Gooch, and all of this happened while only driving it field average.
“Last few weeks I wasn’t driving it very good, but my iron play was pretty sharp and my putting was pretty good,” said Kang. “So I was just thinking if I can get my driver somewhere in play I could actually score better. And we figured something out on Tuesday and started driving it a lot better and I drove it quite better than last few weeks. So everything just worked out great …”
There’s a long way to go for Kang, and he has some big problems right behind him, including Im who is now the 8-1 favorite to win this tournament and finished third in the field on Thursday in strokes gained from tee to green. Im was my pick coming into the week based on how well he’s been striking it of late (fourth in the field from tee to green over his last 20 rounds), and that played out on Thursday where he was third in the field from tee to green.
Other contenders include Matthew Wolff (T5), Louis Oosthuizen (T10), Hideki Matsuyama (T10) and last week’s winner Sam Burns (T17). All four of those golfers are within five of Kang and three of Im, which is not much ground to make up over the next three days. Further down the board are Viktor Hovland (T31), Brooks Koepka (T60) and Will Zalatoris (T60).
For now, though, Friday is about whether Kang can extend (or even maintain) his lead. Recent history would suggest that he cannot. In 2021, Kang has played in 24 events and missed the cut in half of them. In the other half, he has two finishes inside the top 40. For him to win this week would not be a Cinderella story, but it would be a surprising outcome in the midst of a very good field in Vegas. Caesar’s Sportsbook has him at just an 18-1 favorite with six golfers with shorter odds even though he’s two shots clear of everyone.
Wolff is perhaps the most interesting of the favorites ahead of Kang. At 10-1, only Im has shorter odds, even though Wolff has labored through the last year or so on Tour (no top 10s in 15 starts. in 2021). He was magnificent on Thursday, hitting all 18 greens in regulation and finishing fourth in the field in Round 1 in strokes gained from tee to green. He also sounds like he’s brimming with something he perhaps hasn’t had much of over the last year, confidence.
“I’m probably the most confident I’ve been … I can almost say since I’ve turned pro,” said Wolff. “The last six months I haven’t really been playing well and I feel like my swing just got a little out of whack and it was something a little smaller than I thought it was. But working on the right stuff now, sticking to the process, and just feel like I’m in a really good spot, not only physically, but mentally as well. Just having a lot better time out there, being happy and enjoying myself.”
That’s good to hear, and considering that Wolff lost in a playoff at this event in 2021, it represents yet another problem for Kang, who has plenty of them to ward off over the next few days. It will be fascinating to see if he can do it, and which of the thoroughbreds makes a charge toward the top of the board on Friday and Saturday as this event starts to take shape and we get a third winner of the PGA Tour season. With so many scores in the 60s and four of the last five winners shooting 20 under or better, the only thing we do know is that whoever does come out on top is going to have to go deep to get it. Kang has a nice head start, but he has a massive group of studs in form to hold off over the next 54 holes. Whether he can do that has now become the question of this event.
