LOS ANGELES — This is the starring role Sam Saunders prefers.
Saunders, the grandson of Arnold Palmer who so famously kept his composure during a heartfelt eulogy of The King, rolled in birdie putts and kept a clean card at Riviera on Thursday for a 7-under 64 and an early two-shot lead in the Genesis Open.
Saunders called it his best round on the PGA Tour, and it was merely a coincidence that it came on the 50-year anniversary of Palmer defending his title at the Los Angeles Open, when it was played at Rancho Municipal.
Saunders had a two-shot lead over Dustin Johnson, who has a chance to go to No. 1 if he were to win this week. PGA Tour rookie J.T. Poston joined Johnson at 66, while Phil Mickelson was among those at 67.
The morning was perfect for scoring once the fog lifted, and Saunders rarely had a round with so little stress. He only came close to making bogey twice, saving par with an 8-foot putt on the par-3 fourth hole and a 6-foot putt on the par-3 14th.
Kirk leading Women’s Australian Open
ADELAIDE, Australia — Playing for the fourth consecutive week, Katherine Kirk wasn’t showing any signs of fatigue after shooting an 8-under 65 at Royal Adelaide to take a two-stroke lead after the first round of the Women’s Australian Open on Thursday.
The Australian player birdied four of the first five holes on the front nine and three of four in the middle of the back nine at Royal Adelaide.
Tied for second with 67s were Marissa Steen and Jane Park of the United States, South Korean Chella Choi and Min Lee of Taiwan, who was the only afternoon golfer to make any inroads on the leaderboard.
Rumford, Foster tied in World Super 6
PERTH, Australia — Brett Rumford and Mark Foster shot 6-under 66s Thursday to lead after the first round of the World Super 6 golf tournament at Lake Karrinyup, with 10 others a stroke off the lead of the European Tour event.
The tournament, also sanctioned by the Australian and Asian tours, will feature three days of stroke play before switching to a match-play format in the final round when the top 24 golfers will play a series of six-hole knockout duels.
Robert Dinwiddie, Hideto Tanihara, Casey O’Toole and Johannes Veerman were among those tied for second with 67s. Former British Open winner Louis Oosthuizen had a 69 while the top-ranked player in the tournament, No. 11 Alex Noren, shot 74.
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