When Rickie Fowler first turned pro, he called Las Vegas home for one year and lived a mile from TPC Summerlin, site of this week’s Shriners Children Open. He practiced there all the time. As for the Strip? Not so much.
“I went down to The Strip once when Oklahoma State was in town playing a golf tournament at Southern Highlands and took them out to dinner,” he recalled. “That was my one trip down there for the year.”
Making his eighth appearance in this event, Fowler drove it on a strip of fairway all day on Thursday — hitting 14 of 14 fairways — and shot a bogey-free 66 that had him looking forward to getting some good meals in Sin City.
“Vegas is always a fun place to come back to. Great city, good food, just about anything you want to do, it’s here,” he said. “Everything you can think of, you can get it here.”
Shriners: Friday tee times
Here’s everything you need to know – or at least five things – about the first round of the Shriners Children’s Open, where Taylor Pendrith grabbed the first-round lead.
Pendrith flirts with 59
Taylor Pendrith made 10 birdies on Thursday but was denied a final-hole eagle to shoot 59. Was he thinking of shooting the 15th sub-60 round on the PGA Tour at TPC Summerlin in Las Vegas in the first round of the Shriners Children’s Open?
“Yeah, obviously,” he said. “I tried to hit a great shot and just came off it a little bit. It was close to being really good, I think.”
Pendrith had blasted a 356-yard drive at the par-5 ninth, leaving just a 7-iron from 203 yards. But with the flag position in the front of the green, he caught it heavy and found the front greenside bunker. It was the only place he couldn’t miss.
“Me and my caddie didn’t really talk about it, but I think we both knew I was going to try and hole the bunker shot,” he said. “Of course, I was going to try to hole bunker shot. It was a tricky one, but, yeah, I gave it my best.”
The Canadian blasted 12 feet past the hole, missed the birdie putt and settled for 10-under 61, tying his career low on Tour and an early three-stroke lead over seven golfers.
Pendrith, who represented the International Team at the Presidents Cup last month and won the CJ Cup Byron Nelson in May, had it going on like the gambler rolling his number on the craps tables. With barely a breeze and sunny skies in the desert, Pendrith took advantage of prime scoring conditions. After a par on his first hole, No. 10, Pendrith made birdie on five of the next six holes on his first nine and kept sticking approach shots inside 10 feet. At the 453-yard par-4, No. 4, he wedged inside a foot for the tap-in birdie. Pendrith was long and accurate and his putter cooperated too – a beautiful combination. He ranked first in driving distance (329 yards), fourth in Strokes Gained: Approach the Green and first in SG: Putting.
Expectations this week were tempered for Pendrith, who hadn’t competed in a stroke-play tournament since the Tour Championship in late August. In fact, he said he’d only touched a club three times since the Presidents Cup late last month and was unable to play at home in South Florida as Hurricane Milton kept him off the course.
“I thought I would be a little bit more rusty than that,” said Pendrith, who hasn’t missed a cut since the PGA Championship in May. “You know, obviously thrilled and yeah, just got to keep getting back into the rhythm of things and the next few days. Yeah, feel good.”
Super Moon, Super Day for Silverman
Ben Silverman can’t remember the last time he teed off first on the PGA Tour as he did Thursday.
“I don’t think ever,” he said.
He picked a good morning for it. Last night was a full Hunter’s Moon and at its brightest as Silverman warmed up ahead of his tee time at 6:55 a.m. local time.
“We were warming up and the stars were still out and the moon was bright as can be over the mountains,” he said. “It was like the coolest experience warming up. So, I was already in a good mood.”
The Hunter’s Moon also was a Super Moon, which occurs when a moon is at or near the closest point in its orbit, causing the harvest moon to look dramatically more radiant and larger than usual. The moon set the mood and provided some inspiration.
“I was hunting some birdies,” Silverman said.
Check out the sky early this morning @ShrinersOpen that provided inspiration to Ben Silverman: “We were warming up and the stars were still out and the moon was bright as can be over the mountains. It was like the coolest experience warming up. So, I was already in a good mood.” pic.twitter.com/3VA1ewwoM0
— Adam Schupak (@AdamSchupak) October 17, 2024
He rang the birdie bell right out of the gate at No. 10, his first hole of the day, after a lackluster wedge but he canned the 33-footer to jump into red figures. On pristine greens and with ideal scoring…
