Tag: Mayakoba Golf Classic

Brendon Todd wins Mayakoba Golf Classic for consecutive PGA Tour victories

Brendon Todd held on for the win at the Mayakoba Golf Classic for his second consecutive win on the PGA Tour.

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Just another manic Monday for Brendon Todd, who clinched the Mayakoba Golf Classic with a gutty par at 18 for a one-stroke victory over a trio of players and his second straight PGA Tour title.

“It’s incredible. I’m just overcome with emotion right now,” said Todd, who had to play the final four holes on Monday. “The whole final round was much more nerve-wracking than Bermuda.”

A year ago, Todd, 34, was considering hanging up his spikes. He had missed 37 of 41 cuts on the PGA Tour and sat down with his financial adviser to consider other career options. The full-swing driver yips will do that to a man.

“All of us as pros who knew him felt so bad for the struggles he went through. He went down to the bottom. He wasn’t just missing cuts. He was struggling to break 80,” said Matt Kuchar, the 2018 Mayokoba champ, who shot 62 with an ace on Sunday and finished T-14. “I think most people would have packed it up and said enough is enough at some point.”

Mayakoba Golf Classic: Leaderboard | Photos | Winner’s bag

But on another Monday, nearly a year ago to the day, this one in Brunswick, Georgia, Todd torched the course in 61 at the Monday Qualifier for the RSM Classic and then posted four rounds in the 60s to make his decision easier. Plans to buy into a pizza franchise were put on hold and Todd spent the next six weeks in his basement rebuilding his golf swing following the tenets of instructor Bradley Hughes.

The Todd comeback story keeps getting better and better. After starting the year ranked No. 2006 in the world, he regained full status on the Tour at the Korn Ferry Tour Finals and then ended a five-year victory drought with his second career title at the Bermuda Championship.

At the Mayakoba Golf Classic, Todd bottled the magic to earn his third career victory after firing four rounds in the 60s at El Camaleon Golf Club for a 20-under total of 264 and a one-stroke victory over Vaughn Taylor, Carlos Ortiz and Adam Long. In doing so, Todd became the first player to win consecutive Tour events since Bryson DeChambeau, who was victorious in the first two events of the 2018 FedEx Cup Playoffs at The Northern Trust and Dell Technologies Championship.

Todd started the final round with a one-stroke lead after shooting 65 in Sunday’s third round. Todd made three birdies on the front nine and tacked on another at No. 12 to lead by two strokes. Just when it looked like he might coast to victory again, Taylor made birdie at 13 and Todd made a bogey at 14, his first of the week on the back nine, and the lead was gone. One hole later, the final threesome ran out of daylight as played was suspended at 6:11 p.m. with 12 of the 82 golfers who made the cut still on the course.

Thursday’s opening round was washed out due to heavy rain and all four rounds of the tournament were played under preferred lies. Five players were separated by just two shots when play resumed on Monday at 7:30 a.m. Todd didn’t waste time regaining the lead, drilling a 20-foot putt birdie putt at 15 to climb to 21 under. He could’ve doubled his lead one hole later after Taylor bogeyed the difficult par-4 16th, but Todd lipped out a 3-foot par putt after splashing out of a greenside bunker.

“I was literally walking around that green thinking I had a two‑shot lead and feeling pretty comfortable and that wasn’t the case,” Todd said.

The miss could’ve dented Todd’s confidence, but he found the fairway with his tee shot at 17 and made par.

“It was hard,” Todd said. “I had to dig deep.”

On the final hole, Todd missed the green left and pitched to 4 feet. Taylor, who was seeking his first win since the 2016 AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, had a 15-foot birdie putt to tie Todd and left it short in the heart of the hole. He tapped in for 3-under 68 and settled for his first top-10 finish since June.

“I was a little nervous, so usually come up short when I’m nervous,” Taylor said. “Just wasn’t willing to go down there, so oh, well.”

Ortiz had to play one hole on Monday after calling it a day on the 18th hole and opting to wait to finish his round as his fellow playing competitors finished in the dark. Trying to win on home soil, he opened with a double bogey, but bounced back to make seven birdies en route to shooting 66. Ortiz received the Premio Trophy as low Mexican, and his runner-up finish was a career best.

“I was really trying to push the finish yesterday, just it was too hard to see,” said Ortiz, who was bidding for his maiden Tour title and to become the first Mexican-born Tour winner since Victor Regalado in 1978. “I thought I hit a great drive and it barely caught the rough but the wet rough was really hard. I played great. I’m pretty pleased with the way the week went.”

But not as happy as Todd, who sunk his 4-foot par putt and hoisted a trophy for the second straight Tour event. Todd takes home $1,296,000 for the win at Mayakoba, two weeks after winning $540,000 at Bermuda. He also became the first player to win twice in the fall portion of the schedule in a single season since the Tour went to a wraparound schedule in 2013-14.

“It is so surreal,” Todd said. “Harris just said to me in the scoring area, ‘It’s just amazing how fast this game can turn.’ It turned fast in the wrong direction for me in 2015, it turned fast the other direction for me, so I’m enjoying it and I’m just going to keep grinding.”

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How to watch the final round of the Mayakoba Golf Classic

Here’s how to watch the final few holes of the Mayakoba Golf Classic on Monday, Nov. 18, 2019.

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The Mayakoba Golf Classic continues on Monday at El Camaleon Golf Club.

Due to inclement weather that delayed Thursday’s first round to Friday, the final round was pushed into Monday, with the leaders resuming their rounds on the 15th hole.

Mayakoba: Leaderboard | Photos | Tournament updates

Here’s how to watch the remainder of the final round of the Mayakoba Golf Classic.

How to watch

Times listed are ET

7 a.m., Morning Drive, Golf Channel

7:30 to 8:30 a.m., final round (live), Golf Channel

8:30 to 9 a.m., Morning Drive, Golf Channel

9 to 11 a.m., Mayakoba final round (replay), Golf Channel

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Russell Henley speaks on golf ball gaffe that cost him eight strokes at Mayakoba

Russell Henley self-reported a penalty for using a different model golf ball that cost him eight penalty strokes and led to a missed cut.

Russell Henley was at the scoring tent after shooting a 2-under 69 during Saturday’s second round of the Mayakoba Golf Classic when his caddie tossed him two balls to sign for the standard bearer and walking scorer with his group. That’s when Henley first realized the innocent gaffe he had made.

“When I get done with a ball, my caddie will mark through it with a line so I don’t re-use them,” Henley said in a phone interview on Sunday. “He gave me two balls to sign and the Pro V1x part of it was facing up at me and I just looked at it and there’s a little dash beside the Pro V1x. I was like, ‘Hmm, that’s weird, is that what all my balls look like?’ I was caught off guard.”

The PGA Tour uses a one-ball rule as a condition of competition, which means players can only use one specific brand and model of ball during a round. The penalty for using a different model is two strokes per hole that the ball is used.

Henley, who said he uses the 2017 model of the Pro V1x ball, went to his bag and compared it to the other nine balls in there and noticed that one was not like the others. The rest didn’t have the dash. He’d never even hit the offending ball, which he said is a Titleist prototype. When asked how it got in his bag, Henley guessed that he may have picked the ball up by accident while putting to the same hole on the practice putting green as another Titleist ambassador.

Mayakoba: Leaderboard | TV info | Photos

“I called PGA Tour rules official Brad Fabel over because something was wrong and I wanted to voice it,” he said. “I told them the scenario that I probably played it, but I don’t know. It looked scuffed up and it had a line through it, but I couldn’t tell you what number ball I used yesterday on No. 4,” Henley said. “I change balls every four or five holes, whenever I hit a wedge and there’s a scuff on it or something. I think I changed around No. 4, 9 or 10 and 14 or 15.”

Fabel brought in Slugger White, the PGA Tour’s vice president of rules and competitions, who phoned the USGA for clarification. It took the better part of an hour before Henley received the verdict.

“They told me that based on what we know and the high probability I used it, we’re going to take the average of the number of holes you typically used it, which is four,” Henley said.

He was assessed eight penalty strokes – two per hole for Nos. 9-12 – turning what had been a 69 into signing for a 6-over 77.

RELATED: Henley assessed 8 penalty shots in oddball ruling

“Well, that sends me home,” Henley said at the time. Indeed, it did. He caught a 6:15 p.m. flight and arrived home after midnight.

“Do I think eight shots is extreme in this situation? Absolutely,” said Henley, who said he was still processing the unusual circumstances. “I think there should be a max of four. I hope eventually we can have some conversations and change the rule. I came from such an innocent place, you could call it a careless place, and given there was no intent I think it’s a pretty harsh rule. It can be debated both ways and I’m aware of that. It’s unfortunate when you’re playing well and in contention, like I was, to you’re missing the cut. It’s tough to swallow.”

But Henley said it won’t crush him because he’s learned not to let his golf score be his identity. His game has been trending in the right direction thanks to a putting tip from Brandt Snedeker after they played together at the Sanderson Farms Championship.

“I felt like I was gaining momentum with my game,” Henley said. “I felt really confident about my chances; I don’t know about winning but I proved to myself that I can go low on Sunday at the John Deere last year. I had two rounds to get it done and I felt good about my game.”

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Matt Kuchar, Brian Gay drop Mayakoba aces within minutes of each other

Matt Kuchar and Brian Gay upped the PGA Tour’s season-long hole-in-one count by making aces within minutes of each other at Mayakoba.

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At Mayakoba, aces apparently come in packages of two. For the second time this week, holes-in-one were logged within minutes of each other. On Sunday, Matt Kuchar holed out at the par-3 eighth just minutes before Brian Gay, playing two groups ahead, logged an ace at the par-3 10th.

Interestingly, the par-3 fourth hole swallowed back-to-back aces during Friday’s first round (the tournament was pushed back a day after rain saturated El Camaleon Golf Club). First, Cameron Tringale holed out, then in the very next group, Chase Seiffert did the same.

It marked the first time since the 2004 Masters that aces were made in back-to-back groups.

Mayakoba: Leaderboard | TV info | Photos

On Sunday, Kuchar moved from 3 under to 5 under on the day after dropping his tee shot at No. 8 right in front of the hole then watching it trickle the last few feet into the cup.

Gay’s shot into the 10th also landed a few feet short then curled back right and disappeared into the hole.

The PGA Tour season is young, but Kuchar and Gay went down as the eighth and ninth players to make a hole-in-one so far this season. There were 36 holes-in-one last season.

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With four holes to go at Mayakoba, Brendon Todd bidding for back-to-back PGA Tour titles

Brendon Todd is seeking back-to-back PGA Tour events. He and Vaughn Taylor share the lead at the Mayakoba Golf Classic.

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On a marathon Sunday of golf at the Mayakoba Golf Classic, Brendon Todd and Vaughn Taylor are running stride for stride and share the lead at 20 under. But a champion won’t be crowned until Monday as play was suspended due to darkness at 6:11 p.m., with the leaders on the 15th hole, their 33rd hole of the day.

What’s one more night to wait for Taylor, who last won in 2016, and his pursuers, Harris English, who hasn’t won since the 2013 Mayakoba Golf Classic, and Carlos Ortiz, who is seeking his first Tour title?

Todd, meanwhile, ended a five-year victory drought at the Tour’s last event, the Bermuda Championship, two weeks ago (there was no Tour event scheduled last week).

The 34-year-old Todd is positioned to win in back-to-back events on the PGA Tour after posting his eighth consecutive score in the 60s. When asked earlier this week to name his goals for the rest of the season, Todd said he needed to recalibrate before adding, “I guess I’d like to win again and make it to the Tour Championship.”

Mayakoba: Leaderboard | Photos | Tournament updates | TV info

He could check off the first part and take a huge step toward the latter with a victory on Monday. The last player to win consecutive Tour events was Bryson DeChambeau, who was victorious in the first two events of the 2018 FedEx Cup Playoffs at The Northern Trust and Dell Technologies Championship.

Vaughn Taylor waves to fans after a birdie on the 17th green during the third round of the 2019 Mayakoba Golf Classic in Playa del Carmen, Mexico. (Photo by Cliff Hawkins/Getty Images)

It’s a remarkable comeback for Todd, who missed 37 of 41 cuts from 2016-18 while struggling with the full-swing yips. After regaining his Tour privileges this season, Todd set an initial goal to get back into contention and see how he’d perform under the pressure.

He’s handled it with aplomb, shooting a final-round 62 to win in Bermuda and was 3 under through 14 holes in his final round at El Camaleon Golf Club. Todd made three birdies on the front nine and tacked on another at No. 12 to lead by two strokes. But Taylor made birdie at 13 and Todd made a bogey at 14, his first of the week on the back nine, and the lead was gone.

The final group called it a day after reaching the 15th green. Todd could have waited until Monday to hit his tee shot but opted to play on after the horn blew, planting his ball 10 feet from the hole at the par-3 15th while Taylor will face a testy 5-foot par putt after coming up short with his tee shot and leaving himself work to do with his chip.

“I wanted to hit the shot because I’m loose and there’s no wind,” Todd told the Golf Channel. “I thought I could get it in there close and come back and make birdie.”

Ortiz, on the other hand, was on the 18th hole and opted to wait to finish his round on Monday as his fellow playing competitors finished in the dark. The Mexico native opened with a double bogey, but bounced back to make seven birdies to get to 19 under. He’s tied with Harris English, the 36-hole leader who closed the gap with birdies at Nos. 13 and 14. Adam Long is two back at 18 under and marked his ball on the 16th green after play was suspended. Twelve golfers were remaining on the course. When asked what it would mean to win on home soil, Ortiz said, “Winning anywhere, it’s pretty special, and winning in front of my family would probably be like a dream come true.”

All four rounds of the Mayakoba Golf Classic have been played under preferred lies due to heavy rain earlier in the week that prevented play on Thursday. The field has been playing catch-up ever since. Todd fired 6-under 65 in Sunday morning’s third round to grab a one-stroke lead over Taylor and English at 17-under 196.

Todd vaulted into the lead with a chip-in at 16, one of seven birdies in his third round. His string of eight rounds in the 60s is his longest since carding eight straight in 2014, the year of his maiden victory at the AT&T Byron Nelson.

Carlos Ortiz of Mexico watches his drive on the 17th hole during the final round of the 2019 Mayakoba Golf Classic. (Photo by Cliff Hawkins/Getty Images)

Taylor, 43, is seeking his fourth victory and first since the 2016 AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. He stormed out of the gate on Sunday with birdies on four of his first five holes en route to shooting 4-under 67 and a 54-hole total of 16 under. In the final round, Taylor hit 10 of 11 fairways and 11 of 14 greens in regulation before play was suspended for the day.

English, 30, endured a roller-coaster round of 3-under 68 to improve to 16 under and extend a streak of shooting par or better in all 19 rounds he’s played in the 2019-20 season. El Camaleon is a course he’s always enjoyed and he is bidding to make his own slice of tournament history. No player in the 12-year run of the tournament has won it twice. But to do so, he’ll have to catch and pass Taylor and Todd, his fellow Georgia Bulldog alum, over the final four holes. Play is scheduled to resume at 7:30 on Monday morning.

“I feel great about my game,” Todd told Golf Channel. “I feel real happy to have a chance to win this tournament coming off a win in Bermuda and I’m excited to tee it up tomorrow and see if we can get another W.”

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Mayakoba Golf Classic: Round 3 tee times, TV info

Here are the tee times and viewing information for the third round of the Mayakoba Golf Classic.

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The Mayakoba Golf Classic at El Camaleon Golf Club began Friday, a day late thanks to inclement weather that totally washed out play on Thursday.

With 36 holes remaining, players will go as long as they can Sunday before darkness, and the 72-hole event will conclude Monday. Even with the new policy of top 65 and ties making the cut, 82 players advanced to the final two rounds.

Mayakoba: Leaderboard | Photos | Tournament updates

The third-round tee times can be seen below.

All times listed in Eastern Standard Time.

Round 3

1st tee

Tee time Players
7 a.m. Henrik Norlander, Matthew NeSmith, Harry Higgs
7:10 a.m. Abraham Ancer, Brice Garnett, Luke Donald
7:20 a.m. C.T. Pan, Scott Harrington, Brian Gay
7:30 a.m. Joel Dahmen, Ryan Armour, Patton Kizzire
7:40 a.m. Graeme McDowell, Matt Kuchar, Chase Seiffert
7:50 a.m. Brandon Wu, Aaron Baddeley, Emiliano Grillo
8 a.m. Scott Piercy, Nick Taylor, Harold Varner III
8:10 a.m. Chris Stroud, Ben Martin, Billy Horschel
8:20 a.m. Scottie Scheffler, Calum Hill, Chez Reavie
8:30 a.m. Bo Hoag, Dylan Frittelli, Robert Streb
8:40 a.m. Zach Johnson, Carlos Ortiz, Mark Hubbard
8:50 a.m. Alvaro Ortiz, Chris Baker, Pat Perez
9 a.m. Danny Lee, Adam Long, Robby Shelton
9:10 a.m. Harris English, Vaughn Taylor, Brendon Todd

Round 2 – 10th tee

Tee time Players
7 a.m. Chris Kirk, Bronson Burgoon, Patrick Rodgers
7:10 a.m. Lanto Griffin, Cameron Champ, Graham DeLaet
7:20 a.m. David Hearn, Wes Roach, J.T. Poston
7:30 a.m. Hudson Swafford, Talor Gooch, Zac Blair
7:40 a.m. Matt Jones, Ryan Brehm, Denny McCarthy
7:50 a.m. Brendan Steele, Cameron Tringale, Will Gordon
8 a.m. Tyler Duncan, Maverick McNealy, Beau Hossler
8:10 a.m. James Hahn, Shawn Stefani, Scott Brown
8:20 a.m. Brian Harman, Jim Herman, Charles Howell III
8:30 a.m. Peter Malnati, J.J. Spaun, Rafael Campos
8:40 a.m. Scott Stallings, Brian Stuard, Sam Ryder
8:50 a.m. Rory Sabbatini, Satoshi Kodaira, Kevin Kisner
9 a.m. Russell Knox, Kevin Chappell
9:10 a.m. Xinjun Zhang, Sebastian Cappelen

How to watch

All times listed in Eastern Standard Time.

Sunday
Golf Channel: 2-5 p.m.
PGA Tour Radio: 11 a.m.-5 p.m.

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‘I’m in a good spot:’ Mayakoba leader Harris English is on the upswing again

English won at Mayakoba in 2013 when it was the final PGA Tour event of the year. That was his last win, 170 tournaments ago.

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PLAYA DEL CARMEN, Mexico (AP) — Harris English feels he got away from the basics that carried him to a promising start to his PGA Tour career. He hopes he’s headed in that direction again.

English holed a chip-and-run from off the 18th green Saturday for birdie and a 7-under 64, giving him the 36-hole lead at the Mayakoba Golf Classic as he tries to end six years without winning.

English was at 13-under 129, one shot ahead of Vaughn Taylor, who had a 66 in the afternoon. Brendon Todd, coming off a victory two weeks ago in the Bermuda Championship, had a 68 and was two back.

“Just mainly working on the same stuff every day and kind of going back to the drawing board and figuring out what I was doing really well my first couple years on tour and just stick to that, not trying to reinvent the wheel,” English said.

Mayakoba: Leaderboard | Photos | Tournament updates | TV info

Whatever he’s doing, English is on a roll.

He had to go back to the Korn Ferry Tour Finals after last season to regain his card. Since then, he has finished in the top 10 in three of his four tournaments.

Next up is a long day.

Because rain washed out all of Thursday, players will go as long as they can Sunday before darkness, with the 72-hole event concluding Monday. Even with the new policy of top 65 and ties making the cut, 82 players advanced to the final two rounds.

The course, which received more than 9 inches of rain from Monday through Thursday, dried remarkably well and the greens had plenty of pace. English motored along, rarely getting into too much trouble. He birdied his last two holes to set the pace.

English won at Mayakoba in 2013 when it was the final PGA Tour event of the year. That was his last win, 170 tournaments ago.

“I had a lot of success here and I love this place, love the greens,” English said. “Feel like if I can get it on the dance floor and hit 14, 15, 16 greens a round, I can give myself a chance. With this wind, anything can happen, but if I stay the course and keep hitting like I am, I’m in a good spot.”

So is Todd, who overcame a mental block — he called it the yips — of a big miss to the right that nearly drove him from the game. Todd got it sorted out and picked up loads of confidence with his victory in the inaugural Bermuda event.

His only frustration Saturday was with putting.

“I hit it to 25 feet, 6 feet, 12 feet, 4 feet, and then missed a 12-footer for par on 5,” he said. “Striped it at the flag on 7, and on 8 I hit a close one in there about 10 feet and burned the edge. I just didn’t get the putts to fall in the second nine.”

Danny Lee, who started the tournament 10 under through 13 holes for a 62, shot 70 and was three shots back.

“Just missed a couple putts out there, made bogey on a couple par 5s,” he said. “Just golf happened.”

Jason Day, playing Mayakoba for the first time in 10 years as he tries to get ready for the Presidents Cup, shot 77 and missed the cut.

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Russell Henley assessed 8 penalty shots in oddball ruling at Mayakoba

Russell Henley had to add eight penalty shots to his score in Round 2 of the Mayakoba Classic when he found an unexpected ball in his bag.

The Rules of Golf continue to flummox players on every level.

During Saturday’s second round of the Mayakoba Golf Classic, Russell Henley became the latest player to face the consequences of a rules violation, and with some level of surprise. Henley was assessed eight penalty shots when he discovered a different model of golf ball in his bag than what he usually uses, and the rules committee and Henley assumed that he must have used that ball at some point during his round.

According to PGA Tour Communications, Henley was signing golf balls for fans when he noticed that one of the balls in his golf bag was a slightly different model than the kind of ball he uses. According to the statement, which was posted to Twitter, Henley didn’t know how that got in his bag. Henley self-reported his possible violation to the rules officials onsite.

Tour pros typically keep new, unused balls in one pocket in their bags, then place used balls into another pocket after they are taken out of play. Henley apparently found the different model of ball in his used-ball pocket, leading himself and the committee to assume he had unwittingly used it at some point during the round.

The PGA Tour uses a one-ball rule, which means players can only use one specific brand and model of ball during a round. The penalty for using a different model is two strokes per hole that the ball is used, maximum of eight strokes.

Mayakoba: Leaderboard | Photos | Tournament updates

This one-ball rule typically is used only in high levels of competition and does not apply to most everyday amateurs out for a round of golf. Recreational amateurs can carry as many brands or models as they like and use a different brand or model on every hole, if they choose. There are other rules about substituting a ball during the play of any given hole, such as when a ball is damaged, but recreational players are allowed to change models of ball on each tee before the start of any given hole.

And it’s not against the rules for a Tour player to carry a different brand or model of ball in their bag even when the one-ball rule is in effect. It’s only a penalty if they use that different ball.

That’s where the Henley situation got tricky, because it was an unusual circumstance and he didn’t know how the ball got in his bag. Like the balls he normally uses, it was a Titleist Pro V1x. But it was a slightly different model with one different marking on the ball. Henley told officials there was no doubt he unwittingly must have used the ball at some point in the round.

As per Rule 20-3, which relates to “situations not covered by the Rules,” the committee ruled that Henley must have used the improper ball during his round, and he was assessed a two-stroke penalty on Nos. 9-12. Those eight strokes – which meant he took a double bogey on all four holes – pushed him to a second-round 77.

Henley had opened with 66. The penalty strokes dropped him more than 80 spots on the leaderboard, ultimately depositing him outside the cutline.

Prior to this week, Henley was 4-for-4 in cuts made in the 2020 PGA Tour season.

It’s another rules headline in a month that has been full of them. Most recently, two amateur women representing the U.S. at the Spirit International Amateur were disqualified for a four-ball scoring error. Days before that, much was made of penalties assessed at the LPGA Q-Series for a violation of the advice rule, covered by Rule 10-2a.

Also in the “bizarre” category, European Tour player Eddie Pepperell fired his entire ball supply into a pond beside the fourth green at last week’s Turkish Airlines Open, eventually walking off the course when he ran out of golf balls – which earned him a DQ anyway.

If there’s any bright side, it’s that Henley suffered penalty shots instead of an immediate disqualification.

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Aces wild at Mayakoba Golf Classic

Not one, but two pros will be buying drinks tonight after acing the par-3, 4th hole at the Mayakoba Golf Classic.

Aces are wild at the Mayakoba Golf Classic.

With only one round in the books, there already have been two holes-in-one at the fourth hole – in back-to-back groups, no less.

First, it was Cameron Tringale, who teed off at 8:10 a.m. on Friday and marked a one on his scorecard at the 112-yard, par-3 fourth at El Camaleon Golf Club.

“It looked good the whole way,” Tringale told PGA Tour.com. “It landed about two inches short and went straight in.”

It was his second career hole-in-one on the PGA Tour (2011 Valspar Championship) and the second ace at the fourth hole in tournament history (Aaron Wise did the trick in Round 1 in 2016). Tringale signed for 2-under 69.

“It was early, so there weren’t too many spectators,” he said. “They cheered, threw their hands up. I wasn’t really paying attention to them. I was slapping fives with the guys in the group (Fabián Gómez and K.H. Lee).”

 

But, Tringale can split the bar bill for his heroics with rookie Chase Seiffert, who shot 68 and recorded his first hole-in-one on Tour, also at the fourth.

“We were in the fairway and heard the applause and saw (Tringale) kind of high-fiving everyone. I just tried to hit a 106 shot, downwind. It landed maybe a foot right of it and spun back into the pin. It’s kind of cool to go back-to-back there. Very rare,” Seiffert said. “There may have been six or seven people around the green, so it was quiet except for us on the tee. My caddie (Brian Fitch) and I high-fived way too hard, and my hand got a little sore for a few minutes.”

There were no keys to a car up for grabs, but Tringale and Seiffert were rewarded with bottles of Patrón tequila. The two aces ups the tally to seven in the first 10 events of the 2019-20 season. There were 36 holes-in-one last season.

When was the last time aces were made in back-to-back groups, you ask? Padraig Harrington and Kirk Triplett did so at the 16th hole in the final round of the 2004 Masters Tournament.

The National Hole-in-One Registry says that the odds of a PGA Tour pro getting a hole-in-one is 3,000 to 1. (It also says the “average” golfer has a 12,000 to 1 shot at making an ace).

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Danny Lee flirts with 59, shoots 62 to lead at Mayakoba Golf Classic

Danny Lee took advantage of wet conditions and preferred lies to shoot 9-under 62 in the opening round of the Mayakoba Golf Classic

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Danny Lee flirted with shooting a magical 59, but settled for a 9-under 62 to grab the first-round Mayakoba Golf Classic lead at El Camaleon Golf Course.

“Something about this course that just suits my eye very well,” Lee said.

Lee, 29, did most of his damage on the front nine, posting a 7-under 29, which tied his career-low nine-hole score. Lee made a birdie on the first hole, and then after a pair of pars, his putter warmed up.

He played Nos. 4-8 in 6 under, including an eagle at the par-5 fifth hole. That streak is the longest birdie-eagle streak in the tournament’s 13-year history. It was shades of 2014 for Lee, when he strung together seven birdies in a row on the front nine in the fourth round.

“Just one of those days, I felt like I can make anything today,” said Lee, who took 26 putts in all.

This time, Lee kept the momentum going with birdies at Nos. 11 and 12 to get to 10 under and thoughts of 59 began floating in his head, especially as he eyed a 15-foot downhiller to climb to 11 under at No. 14.

“I really wanted to make that birdie putt,” Lee said.

Maybe too much. He gunned it through the break and missed the 3-foot comebacker for his lone bogey of the day. That took some of the wind out of his sail and he finished with four straight pars coming home.

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Lee’s round, which was played under preferred lies due to heavy rain the past few days that prevented play on Thursday, threatened the course record of 10-under 61 held by Roland Thatcher. The El Camaleon course has always been a favorite of Lee’s. He was the runner-up here last year and finished T-3 in 2014. According to the PGA Tour, he has shot 29 on the front nine twice in 18 career rounds at El Camaleon and has never broken 30 anywhere else in 666 rounds.

“I can only take positives from today’s round,” he said.

Lee, who has one career Tour title, entered this week on a roll, having finished second at the CJ Cup at Nine Bridges and T-10 at the Zozo Championship in Japan.

Lee’s 62 on Friday was one stroke better than Adam Long and Brendon Todd, winner of the Bermuda Championship two weeks ago, who missed a 5-foot birdie putt at the last to tie Lee.

“It was pretty getable,” said Long, who notched a career-best nine birdies on a day when the average score was 69.5. “The Tour did a great job of moving some of the tees up where the fairways were really saturated, so it was a lot of wedges. You had a lot of shots from 100 to 140 yards, so if you’re hitting those in there tight, making some putts, you can definitely make a lot of birdies.”

That was the case for Todd, 34, who shot a final-round 62 to win the Bermuda Championship and picked up right where he left off on Friday with one of seven bogey-free rounds.

“I proved in Bermuda that I can kind of get into that mentality where I can go low again, and I basically started the day and said let’s try and birdie every hole,” Todd said. “I knew it was going to be soft and there’s going to be birdies out there.”

Chris Baker, a rookie who missed the cut in his first four events, stuck an old putter in the bag in Bermuda, where he tied for 31st. He made the biggest charge Friday among the afternoon wave.

Baker didn’t need the help of his putter on two occasions, chipping in for eagle at No. 13 and birdie at No. 14. He caught Lee at 9 under before two late bogeys and signed for 64 (a personal-best in seven career Tour starts) and a share of fourth with, among others, Zach Johnson.

Defending champion Matt Kuchar carded two double bogeys en route to a 2-under 69.

After Thursday’s wash out, the first round was delayed 30 minutes on Friday while the course was being prepared.

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