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LOS CABOS, Mexico – One of the easiest jobs going has to be a weatherman in Cabo, where the forecast all week is for highs near 80 degrees, glorious sunshine and a 2 percent chance of rain.
But the wind off the Pacific Ocean in the southernmost point of the Baja California Peninsula can be fickle and on Thursday it was fierce.
“It’s just blowing so hard that any shot on the green is a great shot,” said Rico Hoey, one of three golfers to post a 5-under 67 at El Cardonal at Diamante in the opening round of the World Wide Technology Championship.
“Completely different test than what we had last year,” said defending champion Erik van Rooyen.
“I knew it was going to be breezy and this place has a lot of elevation change to it,” Martin Laird said after a morning 69. How did he handle the breeze when it picked up later in his round? “Just keep it simple and hit golf shots instead of thinking golf swing because when you’re out here in the wind, you have to do that.”
The first round was suspended at 5:53 p.m. with one group remaining on the last hole. Here are five more things to know about the first round of the 2024 World Wide Technology Championship.
Streelman starts strong
Three days after his 46th birthday, Kevin Streelman got a belated present – an eagle, birdie start to his round – and kept it going en route to a 5-under 67 and a share of the lead at the WWT Championship.
“It’s a tiring golf course, especially when it blows this hard out here,” said Streelman. “I played very solid today, didn’t make too many mistakes and just wanted to kind of stay in it today. I know the wind’s going to die down a little bit overnight and hopefully can just go attack in the morning.”
Streelman is 178th in the FedEx Cup Fall standings but he recently made his 300th career cut so he could choose to use that one-time exemption to improve his status for next season. But he also knows all it takes is one week to change the trajectory of how he perceives this year. The veteran just wants to be in the hunt on Sunday and said he’d take it easy this evening chasing around his kids.
“They’ll want to go to the water slides at the Hard Rock,” he said. “Actually, we all have to get to bed pretty early, I have a 6:40 tee time tomorrow, so I’ll be getting up at 4:15 probably.”
Hoey’s hot
Rico Hoey missed the cut at his first four starts of his rookie season. He also missed five in a row in between the Zurich Classic of New Orleans and the U.S. Open and was No. 173 in the FedEx Cup in mid-June. But since then he’s made 11 straight cuts and recorded four top-10 finishes, including a playoff defeat at the Isco Championship. Hoey has climbed to No. 109 in the FedEx Cup Fall points standings and his card for next season should be safe with only two more events to go. He also is well on his way to going 12 for his last 12 in terms of playing the weekend after opening with seven birdies and a round of 67 to share the first-round lead.
“I caught fire on the back nine starting on 10, hit it to 12 feet and made that. Did the (Golf Channel) interview and then chipped in on 11, so that was pretty cool. Yeah, just kind of kept rolling from there,” he said.
Hoey birdied four of the first five holes on the back nine and closed with a birdie on 18. He was pleased with his performance playing in the windiest portion of the day.
Whitney’s ready for fight ahead of him
Rookie Tom Whitney missed nine straight cuts to end the regular season. He finished a season-best T-11 at the Black Desert Championship but entering the week at No. 183 in the FedEx Cup Fall standings he’s running out of time to make the top 125 and retain full status for next season.
“I know I have a fight ahead of me and honestly I’m good with wherever I finish at the end of the season,” he said.
He was better than good on Thursday, opening with birdies on his first three holes en route to 67.
“Starting the day on this golf course you’re thinking I need to get it to 6, 7, 8 (under),” Whitney said. “Then the wind starts blowing and you kind of temper those expectations. I’m very pleased with 5 under.”
The windy conditions actually played into his favor, he explained: “One of my strengths is I can keep the ball very low whether it be a wedge or with my driver. Anytime you’re apexing at 35, 40 feet above ground, those crosswinds aren’t really going to touch my drive that much. Makes it a little easier for me to keep it in play.”
A putter change and fixing his alignment on the putting green has been the difference of late.
“I found myself peaking more towards the hole,” he said. “Really silly but it took me like 10 events to figure it out.”
Major League Baseball great answers the call to the bullpen as caddie
Taylor Montgomery is desperate for a good week on the PGA Tour. Desperate enough that he asked his father, Monte, the director of golf at Shadow Creek in Las Vegas, to be his caddie this week at the World Wide Technology Championship. But it turned out to be a Hall of Fame outfielder who would lug his bag to the finish on Thursday as Montgomery’s dad had to bow out after his son got off to a hot start on a sunny but breezy day at El Cardonal at Diamante.
Montgomery made birdies on the first three holes and seven in all to shoot 4-under 68 at the golf course designed by Tiger Woods, and one stroke off the pace set by rookies Tom Whitney, Rico Hoey and veteran Kevin Streelman.
Montgomery had missed three cuts and withdrew after one round at the Sanderson Farms Championship during the FedEx Cup Fall and has slipped to No. 132 in the season-long points race. This week is one of three remaining events and Montgomery is running out of time to squeeze his way into the top 125. The 29-year-old Las Vegas resident asked his dad, who caddied for him here last year, to be by his side between the ropes along with a sizable entourage this week that also includes his mom, sister and fiancée.
“I love it here,” said Montgomery, a World Wide Technology ambassador, of Diamante. “It feels like a second home.”
Good thing one of the homeowners was out following him on Thursday morning because his dad wasn’t feeling well yesterday when Montgomery’s pro-am team included baseball great Roger Clemens. Monte rallied to the tee bright and early for the first round but he only made it nine holes. That’s when he tapped out and handed over the bag to another Major League Baseball star, Larry Walker, the 57-year-old former outfielder who enjoyed a 17-year career with the Montreal Expos, Colorado Rockies and St. Louis Cardinals. Walker visited Diamante one time and bought a house.
“I’m here half the year,” Walker said. “I’m not here because it’s a lousy place. The food, the weather, the people. That could be in a different order every day.”
On this day, he carried Montgomery’s bag and they didn’t skip a beat as Montgomery added birdies at Nos. 10 and 11. “But then he made a double,” Walker said, his face slumping with disappointment as if it was all his fault.
Montgomery tacked on birdies at Nos. 15 and 18 to post 68, his fifth straight sub-70 course at Diamante.
“It kind of fits my eye, I guess. I’m just used to looking at the desert a lot,” Montgomery said.
When his family entered The Woods: Cabo, the clubhouse restaurant, Clemens congratulated them on Walker’s fine work in getting him to the house.
“You’re up next,” Montgomery’s mother said.
“We’ll just rotate,” Clemens responded.
Van Rooyen’s defense starts strong
As soon as Erik van Rooyen woke up on Thursday, he thought about his friend Jon Trasamar, who inspired his victory at this tournament a year ago before succumbing to cancer shortly thereafter.
“For sure being back here triggered it. I think about him often, but it’s a year since he passed next week Monday, so obviously being here, coming up on Monday, thinking about him a lot, thinking about Allie a lot, his wife. So yeah, he’s been on my mind. When I played the pro-am yesterday, I played the back nine and coming down 18 I got a bit emotional coming down there just with everything that transpired last year. Yeah, he’s absolutely on my mind.”
Van Rooyen, who teed off on the back nine, started with birdies on his first two holes and had it to 6 under through 14 holes when the wind picked up and he bogeyed Nos. 6 and 8 to finish with 4-under 68.
“Bit of a mixed bag. I started off swinging really good right out of gate and I did that yesterday in the pro-am as well, so bit of a carryover from yesterday. Then it got really windy, feel like I lost the club face a bit on the holes coming in,” he said.
This article originally appeared on Golfweek: Windy at the World Wide Technology Championship, where Tom Whitney leads among 5 things to know
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