With a finish of three consecutive birdies, the Chilean Joaquín Niemann had an extraordinary close in the first round of The PLAYERS Championshipwhich had a couple of interruptions throughout the day as a result of the intense rains that fell in the TPC Sawgrass.
The Chilean started on the 10th hole and alternated birdies with bogeys at the start of his round. He birdied 11, 13 and 15, but raised on 12 and 14. However, he put in a brilliant final sprint. After hitting the 2, he dropped flags 7, 8 and 9 to end the day with 67 shots, -5 for the day. With this, he tied for third place provisionally.
The best rounds of the day corresponded to English Tommy Fleetwood and American Tom Hoge, who at 6-under 66 lead the championship, albeit with only half the field completing the first round. The first round will restart this Friday at 7:00 am (local time)
What did Niemann say after his great opening round?
“It was a great round and also a long round, I was able to take a nap in the middle, so it was pretty good. I’m very happy with how I played and how I finished”.
“Luckily we were able to finish today and tomorrow we don’t have to wake up early and we can rest a little more. Tomorrow the forecast is not good either, but we hope to be able to play some holes”.
“This morning we played nine holes and luckily I was able to return home, we are living very close. Carlos Ortiz, Sebastián (Muñoz), Mito (Pereira) were there, so we spent time together and I was able to rest for a while.”
“The rough is long and on this course the greens can be made very firm, but unfortunately this weather does not allow the course to be made as fast and firm, but for all that it rained I think he is playing well.”
“I hit the ball very well, I gave myself a lot of chances in the last nine holes and I was able to finish in the best way, making good putts and hitting great shots.”
