SAN DIEGO – Rookie Kang Sung-hoon of South Korea took advantage of the par-five holes in near-perfect weather at Torrey Pines to surge into a one-shot lead in the Farmers Insurance Open first round on Thursday. With hardly a breath of wind on a glorious sun-kissed day, Kang fired a sizzling eight-under-par 64 on the North Course, one of two layouts hosting the fourth PGA Tour event of the year.
Kang, making only his second appearance on the US circuit, upstaged six-times winner Tiger Woods and three-times champion Phil Mickelson as he piled up six birdies, an eagle and a lone bogey. Woods, playing his first event of the season, opened with a bogey-free 69 on the North while left-hander Mickelson matched the lowest score of the day on the more difficult South layout, shooting a 67.
Kang birdied his last two holes to end the round one ahead of Americans Rickie Fowler and Alex Prugh, who also started out on the firm, fast-running North Course. The 24-year-old from Jeju booked his place on the 2011 PGA Tour via qualifying school and was delighted to be competing in the same event as multiple major winners Woods and Mickelson.
“Tiger and Phil, they are all really my goals,” said Kang who has competed on the Korean, Asian and Japan tours. “I always was trying to be like them. I don’t really try to beat them. I’m trying to learn from them all the time.” Chris Kirk carded a 66 on the North layout to lie fourth, a stroke in front of a group of 10 players including fellow Americans Mickelson and John Daly, Japan’s Ryuji Imada and Swede Fredrik Jacobson.
The scoring average on the North Course was 70.962 for the opening round.
