Justin Thomas and Rickie Fowler. Rickie Fowler and Justin Thomas. Either way you look at it, we have a bang-up leaderboard after 18 holes of the 2019 Waste Management Phoenix Open. Those two and Harold Varner III all shot 7-under 64 over the first 18 holes of what's sure to be a neck-and-neck race no matter who ends up the champ at the end (this course has produced three straight playoffs). Let's look back on their days and what lies ahead at this event.

First place -- Justin Thomas, Harold Varner III and Rickie Fowler (-7): The trio combined for 21 birdies and an eagle, and Thomas made six 3s on the front nine of the course (his back nine). Fowler has a pretty good history at this tournament (he lost to Hideki Matsuyama in a 2016 playoff), and Thomas is coming in off back to back top 20s in the Hawaii swing. Interestingly the two are sharing a house this week, which led Fowler to lament lipping out a putt on his final hole for 63.

"I was really hoping I was going to make that last putt," Fowler said. "I hit it perfect and it kind of, I thought it was going to break a little more at the end, it didn't. We're sharing a house this week, so I wanted bragging rights at dinner. But, no, we're going to keep it rolling, it's going to be fun, hopefully we can keep it going into Sunday and put on a little boxing match."

Last place -- Whee Kim (+8): It was not a good day for Whee, who bogeyed three of his first four holes, went out in 40 and never improved on it on the back nine.

Other contenders -- Bubba Watson (-5), Tyrrell Hatton (-5), Matt Kuchar (-4), Jon Rahm (-4), Xander Schauffele (-4), Webb Simpson (-4): Some of the big names I expected to make a lot of noise (like Jon Rahm and Xander Schauffele) had solid first days and are very much in the mix. The result? A diverse leaderboard, and what should be a great final three days.

Who had a great day? Amateur Matthew Wolff shot a 4-under 67 in his first PGA Tour event. He did everything right, including finishing in the top 10 in driving distance at 328 yards. 

"It was awesome," Wolff said. "At the first I was really nervous and, I mean, playing in front of a crowd like this, I never experienced anything like it before. Got off to a little slow start. Missed a short one on 11. But my coach was on the bag for me and he told me to just stay calm and stick to my game plan and every single time just be confident and stick to your shot routine, stick to your game plan. 

"And from then on I just settled in a little bit, hit some drives in the fairway and gave myself some good looks and the putts were dropping today, so it was nice."

If you haven't seen his swing, you might want to sit down.

Shot of the day: Sung Kang didn't have the greatest day of his career, but this shot on the famous 16th was money.

Quote of the day: Thomas was asked about not having won yet this season (even though it's not even February yet). He gave a good, mature answer.

"I don't remember saying I was surprised I haven't won," Thomas said. " I only played five events or something like that. ... I understand you're not going to win every tournament, Guys like Bryson, on the run he's on, stuff like that happens, but I just have to stay patient and wait for it to happen."

What to watch on Day 2: Fowler led the PGA Tour in Round 1 scoring last season but his average faded as the week wore on. Will he be able to maintain his stout first 18 holes, or will he be overtaken by Rahm, Watson and Co.? It remains to be seen, but I do know that with Johnny Miller on the final broadcast of his career, it's going to be a blast either way.