RBC Heritage Round 1 Recap

The second tournament of the PGA Tour began today after a 13 week hiatus spanning from mid March to mid June. After one round of play, Ian Poulter, the 44 year old Englishman, and Mark Hubbard, the 31 one year old American, lead the field by hitting seven shots under par. Several big name players such as Webb Simpson, Jordan Spieth, Rickie Fowler, Brooks Koepka, Bryson DeChambeau, and last week's champion Daniel Berger, are all within three shots of the lead so it is still anyone's game. Before I go into anything else, I just want to say Ian Poulter was my sleeper to win this tournament. You don't have to believe me if you don't want to, but my fellow writer Bxyfalcon, can vouch for me that it is true. Now, I just want to take a moment to talk about Jordan Spieth's day. Spieth started on the back 9 holes and began his day with an early triple bogey on the 12th. He would then birdie the next hole followed by several pars in a row which kept him at two over. It was not looking like his tournament. However, Spieth flipped the switch on the his last nine holes (the front nine) and birdied 7 of his last eight shots. He played almost flawlessly and I haven't seen anything like it in a while. Spieth should certainly be happy with the way he played today because he'd be leading by himself without that triple bogey. I also want to mention the play of Bryson DeChambeau. I am very impressed in how he has transformed his game with his additional 20 pounds of muscle that he has recently added. DeChambeau has been crushing the ball as of late and this is most definitely a result of his added strength. However, whats even more impressive is his overall performance. Golf isn't a game of power; it's a game of accuracy and precision. DeChambeau played incredibly at Colonial golf course last week and he put together an amazing round today. These two courses in particular, Harbor Town Golf Links (the course today) require a lot more accuracy and precision than most courses and I was not expecting Bryson to have a good tournament given that he has focused on his power more than anything. Bryson is on the right track to proving me wrong after putting up a bogey free round with four birdies. I am excited to see how the tournament progresses. Right now the cut would be at -2 and I'm guessing it will stay right about there but a lot of top players have some work cut out for themselves tomorrow, if they want to compete over the weekend. I am riding with Poulter all the way through.