SAVANNAH, Ga. — Curtis Thompson, the older brother of LPGA star Lexi Thompson, spoke for the field when he said, “We’re not living the dream. We’re chasing it.”
Thompson and Stuart Macdonald shot 6-under 66s in Thursday morning’s opening round of the Club Car Championship at The Landings. The tournament is being played on the Deer Creek course.
But Thompson and Macdonald and the rest of the field are chasing former Oklahoma All-America Max McGreevy, who shot a seven-under 65 on the wind-swept course to take the lead with the afternoon starters yet to go off when he finished.
Crowd favorite Shad Tuten, a former All-America at Armstrong State before it was merged with Georgia Southern, turned in a solid 67 to share fourth place with Matthew Short.
Kris Blanks, a former assistant pro at the Landings Club, carded a one-over par 73. Blanks played in last October’s tournament, then known as the Savannah Golf Championship, but he missed the cut.
Jonathan Griz, a 17-year-old high school junior from Hilton Head, carded an even-par 72 to put himself in a position to make the cut.
Griz, who last year at age of 16 became the youngest player ever to win the South Carolina Amateur state championship, got into the tournament by being the runner-up at Monday’s qualifier at the Georgia Southern course in Statesboro.
Kris Blanks blasts out of a bunker on the 9th hole during the first round of the 2021 Korn Ferry Tour Club Car Championship at the Landings Club in Savannah, Georgia. (Photo: Richard Burkhart/Savannah Morning News)
After playing at even par on the front, Griz shot five-under on the back nine to finish second and earn himself a spot in the field. Although graduation is a year away, he has already committed to play at Alabama.
The other amateur in the field, 16-year-old Reed Lotter of Savannah, shot an opening round 1 over 73 and is T-108.
Roberto Diaz, who won last week’s Chitimacha Louisiana Open for his first victory in his 194th start as a professional, let a good round get away from him down the stretch and finished at 2-under 70.
“I’ve not been getting off to a good start,” Tuten, who missed the cut last week, said. “The plan was to get off to a good start and I did.”
Tuten had a group of followers and he rewarded them with an eagle on hole No. 7, which was his 16th of the day.
“You want to play well even if you’re playing without anyone following you,” he said. “But for me to have people watching it motivates me.
“I live for this tournament. It’s a huge deal for me to come out here and have fun. Everyone here makes you feel great. I’m in a comfort zone and it helps me to perform better playing in front of friends and family.”
Tuten said the weather was ideal at the beginning but that the wind started picking up and gusting around his seventh hole and it never let up.
“It was like playing two golf courses,” he said. “This is not a bomber’s course which suits me. I just tried to stay steady.”
In talking about his round Thompson uttered what every player loves to say: “When I won in Chicago…”
Thompson turned pro in 2014 and earlier this season he won the Evans Scholar Invitational for his first win in his 103rd start.
“There was a lot of wind,” Thompson said, echoing the thoughts of nearly all of the early finishers. “I didn’t expect the wind when we started. It was really calm.
“We had four or five holes straight into the wind and all you want to do there is make par,” Thompson said. “Then we went downwind and that’s when you try to make some birdies.”
Thompson hit mostly three-wood off the tee and hit 13 of 14 fairways which enabled him to turn in his best round at Deer Creek. He was 15th at last fall’s tournament.
“I’m just trying to do what I did when I won in Chicago,” Thompson said. “I’m not forcing anything. Today I had great ball striking and putted well.”