JOAQUIN NIEMANN CHIPPED in for eagle from off the green at the 18th hole to grab a share of the first-round lead in the Sony Open alongside Peter Malnati and Jason Kokrak.
Chile’s Niemann, who lost a playoff to Harris English at the Tournament of Champions on Sunday, added seven birdies and one bogey in his eight-under par 62 at Waialae Country Club in Honolulu, Hawaii.
Malnati had nine birdies and one bogey as he set an early target, and Kokrak fired eight birdies without a bogey in an afternoon effort that matched his career-low round on the PGA Tour.
Niemann, who grabbed his first US tour title at the Greenbrier in September of 2019, said his near-miss at Kapalua last weekend provided “a little extra motivation”.
“It hurt a little bit,” the 22-year-old said. “But you have to go to the next page. We’re in another week. (You’ve) just got to forget about it and take the positives of last week.”
The top trio were two strokes in front of a group of six players on 64: Australian Aaron Baddeley, South Korean Kim Si-woo and Americans Vaughn Taylor, Jim Herman, Patton Kizzire and Daniel Berger.
Seamus Power, the only Irish player in Hawaii this week, finished with an eagle but it was only good enough for a level par 70 which leaves him well down the field in a share of 99th place.
Thank god for that. Not great today but again, playing with a 3rd choice striker and a makeshift midfield it’s gona be difficult playing against a team with 10 men behind the ball. Ange made a mistake playing the back up full backs to rest the starters ahead of Wednesday. We can’t be doing that when the league is so close. Best players need to start always.
Dundee Utd got exactly what they deserved today. Time wasting literally from the 46th minute. Sweet, sweet Karma.
@Ciarán Rice: win on Wednesday night and watch that lot in castlegreyskul fall apart. Momentum surely with Celtic going into Wednesday night?
@mel roberts: that it is my friend . Time to put them animals down back to where they belong !!
@Niall James Fergal McCormack: yes the absolute filth . We have gotten very lucky with them dropping 4 points a win would be great..
@mel roberts: momentum is with us but Celtic are effectively putting out a reserve side at the minute. Rangers will have pretty much a full strength side to pick from. It’s gona be tough.
@Ciarán Rice: Does bitton miss out now as well? Thought he was immense against hearts despite the handball.
@mel roberts: he will miss the game. He was one of our best players today. Took two yellow cards for the team. Although the second was very soft and Celtic should have had a blatant free kick before it.
That means playing McCarthy, who has been nothing short of awful any time he had played, which isn’t much.
@Ciarán Rice: watched the Ross watch today the Gers are very poor time to nail them with a big score. Would be very confident going into Wed’s game
@Aidan Maher: with a full team, I have no doubt we’d win and probably win comfortably. The amount of players out who are key to the system means we are struggling our way through games. Having to put square pegs in round holes and asking them to employ a playing style they aren’t suited to. It’s not good.
On the bright side, Rangers are even more defensive under GVB than they were under Gerrard. So I’m confident they won’t have us under pressure for much of the game.
Have to improve for Wednesday s game .It would be wrong tactic to invite them on to us , also they are weak at the back as seen today from the last minute corner . This will be a good indication on how far we have come , injuries are the bad luck we have , but it’s a chance to come up to the plate for others .