……… Fatiha Betscher, Pacific Palisades, CA.
Double US Open winning Retief Goosen admitted he ‘feed off’ playing alongside Vijay Singh for the duo to post superb five under par 66s and share the clubhouse lead on day one of the Northern Trust Open at the Riviera Club in suburban Los Angeles.
Goosen, who recently turned 46, birdied three of his opening four holes in his lowest score this season and less than a week after posting a final round 73 in the Farmers Insurance Open.
Along with Goosen and Singh there is also three Americans in Nick Watney, Daniel Summerhays and James Hahn at five under par.
Retief Goosen shoots his lowest score of 2015, a round of 66 that included just 24 putts. (Photo – www.golfbytourmiss.com)
“I got off to a good start managing to birdie the first and then managed a good par save at the second before birdies at three and four, so what as a nice way to start the day,” Goosen said.
“From there on I hit a lot of good shots but some of the pins were pretty tough to get close. So overall the round was good while it was nice to finish off with a few birdies.
“It was good to play with Vijay. He had a good round going, too. So between the two of us, we were sorting of feeding off each other.”
Goosen’s round is his lowest in 13 rounds this year on the PGA Tour as he looks also to end a six-year victory drought since capturing the 2009 Transitions Championship, and with the help of a hot putter, and in a round that included 24 putts.
“I felt like I played okay last week at Torrey Pines but it was the putter today that was the key,” he said.
“I made a lot of good putts, a couple of good par saves here and there, like I say, on No. 2 and No. 8 was good in saving par from about 10 to 12 feet.
“I would say I’ve not been putting so well. I putted poorly at the Humana, but then I changed the loft on my putter a little bit. I took a little bit of the loft off it and it seems to be much better.
“So I feel now the putter is sitting nice for me, and today especially, you get those days when you put a putter down and it’s aiming the way you want it to go.”
