Molder Leads Dean & DeLuca Opening Round
FORT WORTH, Texas — Bryce Molder had six birdies on the front nine, finished at 6-under-par 64 and grabbed a one-shot lead over three players after the first round of the Dean & Deluca Invitational on Thursday at Colonial Country Club.
Molder, who started on the back nine in the first pairing of the day, took advantage of the soft greens and the preferred lies afforded by the rain-soaked fairways to attack the par-70, 7,204-yard course. He posted four straight birdies on holes six through nine for a 29 through nine before parring every hole coming in.
“I hit a lot of greens early and I was 20 or 30 feet from the hole and just kind of rolled it up close,” Molder said. “Then all of a sudden I hit a couple close when I made the turn and I got some good looks late and converted. I’ve always loved these greens.”
Play was suspended for 91 minutes in mid-morning because of dangerous weather conditions. By that time, Molder was though six holes and knew that he had to tinker with his swing a little.
“I don’t know if it helped my game, but it did kind of wake me up,” Molder said. “I went back out to
the range and just kind of found a little groove for the rest of the 12 holes. We got pretty fortunate when we came back out, too, because the wind died down for a couple hours, and it really wasn’t supposed to today.”
Anirban Lahiri of India and Patrick Reed were at 5 under after the morning wave and Webb Simpson joined them in the afternoon, playing when the winds were strong and swirling.
Seven of the top eight scores came from those who played in the morning wave.
Twelve of the top 17 players on the leaderboard started on the back nine, allowing plenty of time to get into the groove before tackling Colonial’s toughest stretch — the third, fourth and fifth holes, collectively called the “Horrible Horseshoe.”
“Around here, you have to be completely in control of your golf swing and the golf ball,” Reed said. “If you miss a fairway by just a yard, depending on if you don’t miss it in the right spot, it’s so penalizing because of the rough. I only missed three greens today, so I’m definitely happy with how many looks I gave myself.”
Jason Dufner, Ryan Palmer, Kyle Reifers and Martin Pilar, all among the morning starters, were two shots back at 4 under.
Palmer and his caddie, James Edmondson, are Colonial members. Edmondson is a four-time men’s club champion.
“This is where James and I play numerous rounds together with all the guys in a big game, and it’s a golf course I can step onto each tee and don’t even need my yardage book,” Palmer said. “It was a solid day — I hit the ball well. I left a few putts out there, but overall to shoot 4 under here on a Thursday, you’re never hurting.”
Jordan Spieth, who is from Dallas about 30 miles west of Colonial, led a group at nine players at 3 under.
“That was a solid round of golf given the conditions this afternoon,” Spieth said. “I’m extremely pleased with somewhat boring golf. It was so tough to gauge the wind correctly and get the ball close to the hole.
“On a day like today, you’re just really looking to hit greens in regulation, be as stress-free as possible, and it felt like we were out there.”
Defending champion Chris Kirk shot par and was tied for 45th. Fifty-nine of the tournament’s 121 players were at par or better.
Jason Kokrak had a share of the lead after a birdie on the 17th hole pushed him to 6 under, but he suffered through a quintuple-bogey 9 on the par-4 closing hole.
Kokrak hit his approach into the water and, after a drop and a penalty stroke, hit his fourth shot in the pond to the left of the green.
Then his fifth shot went just four feet. He found the rough with his sixth shot, reached the putting surface in seven and two-putted from 21 feet.
Eleven golfers from the top 30 in the Official World Golf Ranking are in the field this week. Although the tournament has a new sponsor this year, the Dean & Deluca Invitational is longest-running event on the PGA Tour to be contested on the same layout (since 1946).
