Major champion Patty Tavatanakit and her partner Jake Knapp lead The Grant Thornton Invitational after a terrific opening round 58.
With the first round format being a scramble, it is no surprise that scores were low, but what Tavatanakit and Knapp did was absurd on the front nine.
Patty T and Knapp birdied each of the first nine holes. That front-nine 27 paved the way for the team to end Friday on top despite a weaker back nine, where they didn’t get a birdie until 13. They grabbed another on 14 before an eagle on the easy 17 and a final birdie to finish.
Sitting one back are a pair of groups led by LPGA major champions, Brooke Henderson and Corey Conners and Jennifer Kupcho and Akshay Bhatia. Conners and Henderson were spurred on by eagles on both of the par 5s on the back nine.
12 teams are currently within five strokes of the lead, with a particular log jam at -9, which includes Nelly Korda and Daniel Berger. While that marquee group struggled throughout the day, they made up for it a bit with birdies on 17 and 18 to finish.
The second round of the Grant Thornton Invitational will be an alternate shot format, and will begin airing at 2:00 est.
