Kennedy pleased with opening 67 in Puerto Rico
Max Kennedy in action at the 2023 LIV Golf Promotions event in Abu Dhabi. Photo by Chris Trotman/LIV Golf
Max Kennedy felt right at home as he fired a five-under 67 on his PGA TOUR debut in the Puerto Rico Open.
The Royal Dublin man (23) made six birdies and took just 25 putts at Grand Reserve Golf Club, where rain delayed play for an hour and 17 minutes as he was coming to the end of an excellent opening round
“It was great,” said Kennedy, who birdied the third, fourth and fifth, then followed his lone bogey at the seventh with birdies at the ninth and 12th before chipping in for another birdie at the short 15th.
“It was something that I've played in before in Europe —a pretty similar sort of event to the Irish Open or the ISPS HANDA , so I was comfortable out there and played nicely too. A 67 on day one is always okay.”
He ended his day just five shots behind early clubhouse leader Kevin Roy, who shot a 10-under 62 to lead by a shot from Chris Gotterup as Denmark’s Rasmus Neegaard-Petersen (25) signed for a 64.
Kennedy did not suffer major first tee jitters as he made his PGA TOUR debut as a reward for winning the General Hackler Championship during his final year at the University of Louisville last year.
“Not a whole lot,” said the Dubliner, who has a full card on the HotelPlanner Tour in Europe after missing out on his DP World Tour card by just one stroke at last year’s Qualifying School.
“Actually. I was very focused on my game plan and the way I wanted to play the golf course, and I executed that fairly well. I hit a couple bad shots, but after that, it was pretty clean sailing.
“I played a lot of these style of golf courses in college — a grainy Bermuda, Zoysia, sort of grass, — so I'm definitely used to it, and it didn't seem like anything different out there. “
As for the highlight of his day, he said: “I chipped in on 15 that was pretty nice from from back right.
"I didn't leave myself in the best position, but was able to hole out, which gave me some momentum going into the last couple holes and then into tomorrow.”
