Ben Silverman of Canada racked up seven birdies over his final nine holes to shoot a plus-19 and take the first-round lead at the Barracuda Championship on Thursday at Tahoe Mountain Club in Truckee, Calif.
The Barracuda Championship uses a Modified Stableford scoring format that encourages risk-taking. Birdies are worth two points, eagles are worth five and albatrosses are worth eight. Each par is zero points while bogeys are minus-1 point and double bogey or anything worse is worth minus-3.
Silverman is two points clear of Kelly Kraft at plus-17, while Nate Lashley is in third place at plus-15. Sam Ryder and South Korea’s S.H. Kim are tied for fourth at plus-14.
Silverman piled up 10 birdies in all. After opening with his only bogey of the day at the 10th hole, he birdied Nos. 11, 13 and 15 before making his charge on the front nine. He stuck his approach shot at the par-4 first hole within a foot of the cup, and five of his seven birdies on that side came from inside 6 feet.
Silverman’s final birdie came on a 22-foot putt at the par-3 eighth.
“This place is gorgeous,” Silverman said. “Really like this golf course. You try to put the points out of your head and just focus on making birdies and adding up your score normal. You get rewarded for birdies and the points kind of take care of themselves.”
The 36-year-old is in the hunt for his first win on the PGA Tour at this alternate event opposite the Open Championship.
Kraft, 35, is like Silverman: a journeyman who has yet to break through for that maiden PGA Tour victory. Kraft lost his card and is playing the season on conditional-tour status. A victory would lead to big changes for him.
“This year I guess since the elevated stuff and guys aren’t getting in those, everybody else, Korn Ferry categories and all those guys are pretty much playing whatever they get into, so there is really not much for my category to fill the field,” said Kraft, the 2011 U.S. Amateur champion. “Hadn’t been a whole lot of fun, but I’ve got a couple little ones at home so I’ve had a little more time at home, so that’s been great. You know, basically just playing everything I can get into.”
Some PGA Tour winners this season are in the field because they didn’t qualify for The Open. Canadian Taylor Pendrith, who won the CJ Cup Byron Nelson, and Nick Dunlap, who won The American Express, are among six players tied at plus-12.
–Field Level Media
