Isaiah Salinda and Kevin Velo set the four-ball record at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans with a 14-under-par 58 to take the first-round lead on Thursday at TPC Louisiana in Avondale, La.
Playing the best-ball format, Salinda and Velo were a white-hot 12 under through their first 11 holes — an eagle by Salinda at the par-5 seventh and the rest birdies — before slowing down. The team finished with five pars and two birdies over the final seven holes.
The scoring record only handed Salinda and Velo a one-shot lead over Danish twins Nicolai and Rasmus Hojgaard, who turned in a 13-under 59.
Salinda is No. 163 in the Official World Golf Ranking, Velo is No. 363, and both rookies have yet to win on the PGA Tour.
“I honestly think it’s more important to play with someone you like and someone you enjoy playing with, one of your friends,” Salinda said. “It’s really cool. We only get to play this format really once a year, and we’ve known each other since we were young junior golfers. We’ve stayed incredibly close friends since, and we’ve been looking forward to this event for a while.”
Salinda stuck his second shot at No. 7 to 5 feet for an easy eagle. That followed birdie putts at Nos. 4, 5 and 6 from Salinda, the latter from 15 1/2 feet away.
“It was out-of-body to watch him make as many putts as he did for sure,” Velo said. “We had some very good momentum birdies. I feel like our birdie on 3, his birdie on 6, birdie on 9, the eagle on 7, there were these key shots and key putts that were made that really made a huge difference.”
The Hojgaard brothers were machine-like on Thursday, as neither made a single bogey. They started on the back nine, and after a run of four pars at Nos. 12-15, they birdied every remaining hole except the par-3 third.
Rasmus Hojgaard finished it off with a birdie putt at the par-3 ninth from 11 feet.
“I think last year we both had high expectations about going out and making a ton of birdies and we didn’t do that last year, so it was a bit of a wrong mindset to go into it,” he said.
“Now today we didn’t think too much about getting to a certain score or anything. It was more about creating a good vibe and create chances out there, and then we both rolled the putter well.”
The tournament will turn to foursomes (alternate shot) on Friday. Following the 36-hole cut, it will be four-ball on Saturday and foursomes on Sunday.
Collin Morikawa and Kurt Kitayama are tied for third at 11-under 61 along with the teams of Australian Cam Davis and Canadian Adam Svensson; Paul Peterson and Germany’s Thomas Rosenmueller; and Norwegian Kris Ventura and Frenchman Antoine Rozner.
Defending champions Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland and Shane Lowry of Ireland opened with an 8-under 64. This is McIlroy’s first tournament since winning the Masters and completing the career Grand Slam.
“Shane got off to a really good start. I didn’t do anything,” McIlroy said. “Shane joked I could have got a couple extra hours in bed if I wanted to. … We felt like we left a few shots out there, but we were just saying the two foursomes days on Friday and Sunday here are the important days in this tournament, and it’s important for us to obviously post a good score tomorrow.”
–Field Level Media
