Kevin Streelman, Tom Whitney and Rico Hoey are tied atop the leaderboard after the first round of the World Wide Technology Championship on Thursday in Los Cabos, Mexico.
The round is effectively but not officially over, as play was suspended due to darkness with one threesome still on their last hole at El Cardonal at Diamante.
Streelman, Whitney and Hoey set the number to chase at 5-under 67 with seven players tied one behind them. The leading trio features a 46-year-old former PGA Tour winner in Streelman, a 35-year-old journeyman in Whitney and a Filipino up-and-comer in the 29-year-old Hoey.
Streelman kicked off his tournament with an eagle at the par-5 first hole and was 3 under par through two. After his only bogey of the day at No. 8, he birdied Nos. 10, 11 and 14.
He was happy with his performance in Thursday’s stiff winds.
“It’s a tiring golf course, especially when it blows this hard out here,” Streelman said. “You have holes you need to take care of with 1 being one of them, it’s kind of a downwind par 5, and 18 in a similar fashion. But then you turn into the wind. No. 4 we all ripped drivers and had 3-woods in there. So it’s just, like I say, every shot is kind of stressful out there. It’s an awesome golf course, it’s holding its own clearly.”
Streelman is seeking his first win since the 2014 Travelers Championship. He hit 16 of 18 greens in regulation Thursday, tied for the best showing of the round.
Whitney had a difficult season, missing 16 of 24 cuts entering this month. He stood just 171st in the FedEx Cup Fall standings to start the week, and a win would propel him into the top 125, where he needs to finish the fall to secure his tour card for 2025.
“(I) started off really quick, birdie, birdie, birdie, and then made a bogey where the scoring average is easily going to be over par on that (fourth) hole,” Whitney said. “So didn’t really get too down on myself after that and just kept the pedal down.”
Hoey had a remarkable chip-in birdie at the par-3 11th hole. With plenty of green to work with, he chipped into a stiff wind and judged the distance perfectly. The shot looked like it would settle a foot to the left of the hole, but the wind pushed it right into the cup.
“I just tried hitting it lower and luckily I hit the right shots,” Hoey said of playing in the wind.
Hoey is wrapping up his first full season on the PGA Tour after earning his way on via the Korn Ferry Tour the year before.
South Africa’s Erik van Rooyen, the tournament’s defending champion, was 6 under through 15 holes but bogeyed two of his final four to settle for a 4-under 68.
“Completely different test than what we had last year,” van Rooyen said. “There was maybe one club (length) of wind last year and like I said, I think this course kind of needs the wind for protection. The fairways are quite wide. I think 4 under’s a good start.”
Tied with van Rooyen for fourth were Taylor Montgomery, Max Greyserman, Nate Lashley, Austin Eckroat, Kelly Kraft and Ryan McCormick. Lashley and McCormick were the only players in that top 10 to end the day bogey-free.
