After a “terrible” season that left him confined to watching the Masters, Matt Wallace began to wonder what exactly made some of the world’s top golfers so exceptional. When asked if Scottie Scheffler was one of the players he was keeping an eye on, Wallace stammered a little bit. Wallace remarked, “Well, him, but, I mean, so good that it’s difficult to take a lot from him.” Wallace was playing incredible golf. “For everyone else out there, it’s not as realistic.”
Wallace may be able to profit from the world No. 1 skipping his local competition in order to give birth to his first child. In the opening round of the CJ Cup Byron Nelson on Thursday, the former winner of the PGA Tour recorded an 8-under 63 to take a one-shot lead over seven competitors. Nine players were still on the course as darkness forced the 23-year-old Japanese player Taiga Semikawa, who was playing on a sponsor exemption, to settle for a 64 after making a three-putt par on the par-5 18th. The round had been delayed due to rain and featured favored lying.
Taylor Pendrith, Alex Noren, Chesson Hadley, Jake Knapp, Davis Riley and Kelly Kraft also were at 7 under at TPC Craig Ranch, just north of Scheffler’s hometown of Dallas.
The biggest local favorite in Scheffler’s absence, Jordan Spieth, was 3 under after he and the defending champion Jason Day struggled down the stretch while playing in the same threesome. Wallace was two shots ahead of Brad Hopfinger, a 35-year-old making his PGA Tour debut, and Ben Kohles, Alex Smalley, and Hayden Buckley.
Wallace birdied five of the first six holes and finished his bogey-free, career-low round with a tap-in birdie on the 18th. Wallace has missed the cut five times this year and has not finished in the top ten in eleven tournaments. The young Swede Ludvig Aberg, who attended Texas Tech, is one of the 27 players in the top 30 who are not playing in the Nelson due to upcoming $20 million signature event, Wells Fargo Championship, and PGA Championship. The 34-year-old Englishman has found himself mentally noting these players.
Wallace, who won in the Dominican Republic a little over a year ago, said, “What I’m seeing from a lot of them, especially the younger guys, younger than me – I’m not too old, but younger than me – they’re so focused in their shot and not worrying about the outcome or what’s out there.” On the fifth hole, a par-5, Day and Spieth both made bogeys, their 14th of the day. Day finished with a par-5 ninth hole, two birdies, and one bogey over the last four holes. Spieth was 1 over on the par-5s and could only par the last hole.
Spieth remarked, “It’s a very gettable golf course.” “I just didn’t play well on the simple holes.” That was the day’s main narrative, in a sense. Spieth is still chasing his first win in his 12th visit to the tournament, where he made his debut in 2010 as an amateur at the age of 16. When Spieth was making headlines, Day won his first tournament on the PGA Tour. The previous year, he snapped a five-year winless streak.
Due to a wrist injury, the 30-year-old Spieth was unable to compete in the Nelson last year. He finished second in 2022. Rain was predicted for the entire weekend, which caused an hour-long delay in the start time. In its four years as the Nelson’s home course, the soft course has given up some of the most birdies on tour; if the rain holds off, golfers may have very little wind.
“I’m still in it, but as you go through the first few rounds, you definitely want to stay two or three ahead of the lead,” Spieth remarked. “There will be a lot of guys shooting low scores, so I’m going to have to really make it up because it doesn’t look like we’re going to get a ton of wind or anything.” In the 16-year-old Englishman’s debut on the tour, Kris Kim shot 68 after he aced the 236-yard seventh hole. Kris Kim’s mother was born in South Korea and played on the LPGA Tour in the 1990s.
Playing off a sponsor exemption in the inaugural Nelson tournament, which was named after the South Korean firm CJ Group, Kim finished an up-and-down round that featured five birdies and four bogeys at No. 9.
Kim, who won the Junior Ryder Cup without losing and is the first amateur sponsored by CJ Group, stated, “The first couple holes the nerves were definitely there, but as we got on, it was just playing golf.”
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