Im Sungjae and Kepka "Even Par Tied 54th"... Henry and Leishman "5 Under Par Tied Lead"

Hewlett-Packard Houston Open Day 1: Dufner 5th, Wolf and Scott Tied 12th, Bae Sang-moon Tied 118th

Im Sung-jae is teeing off at the 10th hole on the first day of the Hewlett Packard Houston Open. Houston, USA = Getty Images / Multibits

[Asia Economy Reporter No Woo-rae] ‘Shriners Champ’ Im Sung-jae (23, CJ Logistics) has had a quiet start.

On the 12th (Korean time), at the Memorial Park in Houston, Texas, USA (Par 71, 7,021 yards), during the first day of the 8th event of the 2021/2022 PGA Tour season, the Hewlett Packard Houston Open (total prize money $7.5 million), Im was unable to reduce his strokes over 10 holes and stood tied for 54th place (even par). Russell Henley (USA), Mark Leishman (Australia), and two others occupied the top of the leaderboard at 5 under par. Due to bad weather followed by sunset, about 60 players were unable to complete their rounds.

Im started at the 10th hole (Par 4) and recorded pars on all holes. At the 10th hole, which is the 1st hole (Par 4), he holed out with ‘2 on 2 putts’ before play was suspended due to darkness. His shot accuracy was notable, with a fairway hit rate of 75% and a greens in regulation rate of 80%. However, his putting average per hole soared to 2.00, making it difficult to secure birdies. He is 5 strokes behind the co-leaders. After finishing tied for 9th at last month’s The CJ Cup, he had not participated in any tournaments for a while.

2017 champion Henley collected 6 birdies (1 bogey). Jason Dufner is in 5th place (4 under par), while Matthew Wolff (both USA) and Adam Scott (Australia) are tied for 12th place (2 under par) showing strong performances. Tony Finau is tied for 32nd place (1 under par), and Brooks Koepka (USA) is tied for 54th. From Korea, Bae Sang-moon (35, Kiwoom Securities) lost 3 strokes over 14 holes and is tied for 118th place (3 over par). Kang Sung-hoon (34, CJ Logistics) also struggled, tied for 125th place (4 over par).

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.