After the first 18 holes of golf of a new decade, a player who could one of the best of the next 10 years leads at the Tournament of Champions. Joaquin Niemann shot a 7-under 66 on Thursday in Round 1 of 2020, and he leads by one over maybe the hottest golfer in the world.
Let's dive into Round 1 and look at what it means for the rest of the week.
First place -- Joaquin Niemann (-7): The 21-year-old Chilean went out early and he went out hot. Niemann played bogey-free golf on Thursday and finished third in the field in strokes gained tee to green. This isn't unusual for him. He didn't always display it at the Presidents Cup, but he's one of the better ball-strikers on the PGA Tour and definitely has the juice to go out and win this thing.
Last place -- J.B. Holmes (+5): It was a tough day for Holmes, who lost five strokes to the field from tee to green. Five! It's been a bit of a tough stretch for Holmes, too, as he only has one top-50 finish since last year's Texas Open. He's guaranteed a second this week, but that's only because there are just 34 players in the field.
Other contenders -- Justin Thomas (-6), Matt Kuchar (-5), Rickie Fowler (-5), Xander Schauffele (-4), Jon Rahm (-4), Matthew Wolff (-4), Patrick Cantlay (-4): Thomas was terrifying on Thursday. He was bogey-free, shot a 32 on the back nine and led the field from tee to green. He could have legitimately been 10 under if he'd made anything at all. Wolff was a nice little first-round surprise here. He started with a 361-yard drive, and added five more at 360 or more yards over the next 17 holes on his way to dropping a 4-under 69 early on.
Scorecard of the day: How about this from Dustin Johnson, who made seven pars en route to a casual 1-under 72 that was actually insane. Even the pars were an adventure. On the par-5 18th hole, Johnson hit a line drive into the embankment in front of the green and somehow made a 20-footer to save par.
Shot of the day: You see a lot of this at the Plantation Course in Kapalua, and I love it. Because of the way the course is built, players use slopes and angles more than they would at a regular PGA Tour stop. It happens most prominently on the par-5 18th, but Fowler did it here to set up one of his six birdies.
Using the slope to perfection. 👌
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) January 2, 2020
Make that a tap-in birdie for @RickieFowler. pic.twitter.com/swyGRygs8M
What to watch on Day 2: Niemann played great, but he should be concerned that J.T. didn't make many putts on Thursday. I said this in my predictions piece to start the year, but Thomas feels like he could have a "the gauntlet has been thrown down" kind of year, and it feels as if the gauntlet might be thrown down over the next three rounds in Hawaii.
