David Skinns had a splendid first round at the Sanderson Farms Championship. The second tournament of FedExCup Fall is being held at the Country Club of Jackson in Mississippi from Thursday, October 3 to Sunday, October 6.
Skinns scored 60 in the first round and missed breaking 50. He started his round on the back nine. So, he was 9 feet and 1 inch away from the hole on the par-4 ninth after two shots. He putted the ball 10 feet and 7 inches on his third shot and missed breaking 59 by inches. He finished the hole with an even par.
The moment of Skinns' third shot on the par-4 ninth can be watched below:
In the post-round press conference, David Skinns was asked about the last putt when he was nine feet after the second shot.
"Yeah, I had it about probably a ball outside the cup. If I could do it again I'd have it a cup outside. But yeah, just broke way more than I thought. I thought it was more downgrain than across the grain," David Skinns said.
"That's kind of this golf course. Sometimes the grain is a little different to what you think. Just so happened that that was for a 59. But there were a lot out there that I got right, so I'm going to focus on them."
The English player scored a bogey-free 12-under 60 with 12 birdies in the first round and is on the top of the leaderboard. He scored six birdies on the back nine on the 10th, 11th, 14th, 15th, 16th, and 17th holes and six more birdies on the front nine on the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 7th, and 8th holes. He is three shots ahead of Michael Thirbjornsen. Gary Woodland and Ben Griffin tied for third with 8-under 64.
Skinns acknowledged he was "a little bit disappointed" not breaking 59 when asked about the round.
"Yeah, it's hard not to be a little bit disappointed because how many nine-footers are you going to get to shoot 59? I'm sure I'm not going to get many. Tough not to be a little bit disappointed, but I really want to just look back on how kind of in control mentally I felt, how I kept attacking," David Skinns said.
"Wasn't really thinking about the future at all, which is kind of the thing I'm going to take away from today."
David Skinns will tee off at 2:18 p.m. ET alongside Vince Whaley and Chandler Phillips in the second round of the Sanderson Farms Championship.
A look at David Skinns' performance in 2024
David Skinns has had a poor 2024 season. In 21 starts on the PGA Tour, he has had two top-10 finishes and six top-25 finishes. He is currently positioned 108th in the FedExCup standings for the season. His best performances this year include a T4 at the Cognizant Classic and a T7 at the Texas Children's Houston Open. His other notable finishes include a T17 at the Rocket Mortgage Classic, a T20 at the Myrtle Beach Classic, and a T21 at the RBC Canadian Open. He has had 10 missed cuts in 21 starts this year.
Here's a look at Skinns' performances in the 2024 PGA Tour tournaments:
- Sony Open in Hawaii: Missed Cut (71-70, 141, +1)
- The American Express: Missed Cut (69-67-68, 204, -12)
- Farmers Insurance Open: Missed Cut (73-69, 142, -2)
- Mexico Open at Vidanta: Missed Cut (73-68, 141, -1)
- Cognizant Classic: T4 (65-69-66-71, 271, -13) $344,250
- Puerto Rico Open: 67 (68-72-75-68, 283, -5) $8,520
- THE PLAYERS Championship: Missed Cut (71-73, 144, E)
- Valspar Championship: T75 (75-67-74-78, 294, +10) $16,212
- Texas Children's Houston Open: T7 (67-69-65-69, 270, -10) $276,413
- Valero Texas Open: Missed Cut (75-77, 152, +8)
- THE CJ CUP Byron Nelson: T48 (65-69-70-68, 272, -12) $24,985
- Myrtle Beach Classic: T20 (71-68-68-66, 273, -11) $43,800
- Charles Schwab Challenge: Missed Cut (76-71, 147, +7)
- RBC Canadian Open: T21 (62-71-73-67, 273, -7) $106,377
- Rocket Mortgage Classic: T17 (71-66-67-72, 276, -12) $149,500
- John Deere Classic: Missed Cut (68-75, 143, +1)
- ISCO Championship: Missed Cut (69-72, 141, -3)
- 3M Open: T24 (68-70-71-66, 275, -9) $61,695
- Wyndham Championship: Missed Cut (69-72, 141, +1)
- Procore Championship: T44 (69-71-69-74, 283, -5) $20,100