Thomas shares historic day with close friends

HONOLULU, Hawaii – Notes and observations from Thursday’s opening round of the Sony Open in Hawaii, where Justin Thomas was on fire on the way to becoming the youngest player to shoot 59 on the PGA TOUR. For more from Waialae Country Club check out the Daily Wrap-up. BETTER WITH FRIENDS Jordan Spieth raised his putter and began walking in the long birdie putt on the 7th hole. As the ball inexplicably bobbled right at the very last second and sat on the lip he sank to his knees in disbelief. It wasn’t even his own putt. Spieth was riding the rollercoaster of Justin Thomas’ brilliant 11-under 59 at Waialae Country Club as if it was his own tilt at history, such is the bond between many of the youth brigade on the PGA TOUR. History already shows Thomas backed up his win at the SBS Tournament of Champions last week by becoming the youngest player to ever shoot sub-60 on the TOUR. The 23-year-old did it with friends Spieth and Daniel Berger in his group. More importantly he did it with his Mom and Dad in the gallery. As he coaxed in the 14’11” eagle putt on the last for the momentous score it was those around him who celebrated most, but Thomas did feel the gravity of the achievement. He claimed the feat was more significant than any of his three wins, given its reference to history. Only seven players have now broken 60 on the TOUR. “I have a chance to win a golf tournament every week. I don’t have many chances to shoot a 59,” he said. “I didn’t feel how I thought I would feel. I thought I would have been just as nervous as I was trying to win a golf tournament. I was in an unbelievable zone, and very, very focused and in good rhythm.” “The coolest part for me was how excited they (Spieth and Berger) were for me on 18. To do that with two of your best friends out here and two of your friends that you played with for so long (is great). “There’s a handful of guys that are just cool to be around, but those are people that I’m going to be playing with and hanging out with for the next 20, 25 years out here. I’ll have that on them for now but that was a lot of fun.” The trio played together for some fun in the lead up to last week at Makena Golf Club in Maui and while Thomas suggested he did not play as well and lost a few golf balls, Spieth said there were signs of what was to come. “We had some fun in that round. We always do when we play together,” Spieth said. “We love playing with each other. It’s cool. It reiterates the journey we’ve all been on to get out here from when we’ve been playing together since we were 13 years old. “We were really excited about the pairing from the beginning of the week, and hopefully we can kind of continue what all of us did today, tomorrow. We were 21-under par as a group, so if we can duplicate that, maybe Berg and I make up a little bit of ground, we’d be pretty pumped.” For the record both Spieth and Berger signed for rounds of 65. Read about Thomas’ epic round here. CALL OF THE DAY SWING FIX SENDS SWAFFORD SOARING Hudson Swafford admits he did not expect the 8-under 62 he posted to open up his 2017, particularly as he was “chopping wood” recently. The Georgia resident was not referring to getting the fires stoked for winter in St. Simons Island, but rather a problem with his swing that thankfully he was able to iron out with coach Scott Hamilton before heading to Honolulu. “I was chopping wood, getting laid off and out,” Swafford explained of his issues. “It was just something really small, just getting my hands a little more in on my takeaway and that was getting the club a little more down the line at the top. Wasn’t swiping it across it and having a two-way miss. Just kind of my fault. I get the club going a little way from my body and gets laid off. “So when we got it down the line, it was quick, really. I was really struggling, and went to him and it was a quick fix, just a couple hours.” Swafford, who currently sits 102nd in the FedExCup race, feels right at home at Waialae Country Club. In his three previous appearances, two were top-10s. Amazingly his best ever score on TOUR was only good enough to sit second, three shots off the pace after Justin Thomas’ heroics. “This is one of my favorite events,” Swafford said. “Played well here. It’s kind of a golf course like that I grew up on. My home golf course is similar to this, short, dogleg, country club. You’ve got to control your golf ball really well here, and I feel like I do a really good job of that. “62 is not quite what I saw opening round but these are probably as soft as I’ve seen these greens, ever. “So you could get it a little closer to the pins and the greens are phenomenal, so you can make some putts.” SUCCESS FOR SABBO Six-time PGA TOUR winner Rory Sabbatini has finished second twice at Waialae Country Club but he is hopeful he can go one better this time around at the Sony Open. Sabbatini opened with a 7-under 63, marking his 11th opening round in the 60s over the last 12 years in Honolulu. And while he still sits four shots back of the lead held by youngster Justin Thomas, the 40-year-old wily veteran says he’s ready to pounce over the next three days. “Justin is playing some phenomenal golf, and the conditions were pretty benign today,” Sabbatini said. “But the way I look at it, he’s young and he kind of burned the fuel tank a little bit hard today. “I kind of left a little bit in the fuel tank, so I have three more days to catch him.” Playing in the afternoon wave after Thomas’ morning heroics, Sabbatini was seven under through 12 holes, giving hope to another super low round going on the boards. But he was forced to settle for six closing pars. “That’s kind of how this course is, it gives you some and then all of a sudden it puts up a little defense on you, and you just have to kind of battle through it,” he said. “I got it going nicely. I gave myself a lot of opportunities, and just on the back nine, the greens got a little bumpy. You make mistakes, you’re getting old, you’re getting tired. It happens.”

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