Stallings, Mullinax lead rain-affected Zurich Classic
- On the shortened first day, where play was suspended due to darkness, Scott Stallings and Trey Mullinax were a stroke clear.
Scott Stallings and Trey Mullinax topped the Zurich Classic of New Orleans leaderboard as rain wreaked havoc in the opening round.
Inclement weather caused a seven-and-a-half-hour delay on Thursday, meaning only a few teams were able to finish their first 18 holes.
On the shortened first day, where play was suspended due to darkness, Stallings and Mullinax were a stroke clear of Martin Laird and Nick Taylor, and Brian Gay and Rory Sabbatini.
Stallings and Mullinax carded an 11-under-par 61, combining for 11 birdies including four in a row as they made their way to the clubhouse.
Leaderboard update after a Thursday @Zurich_Classic:
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) April 26, 2019
1. Stallings/ Mullinax -11
2. Laird/Taylor -10
Gay/Sabbatini
4. Dahmen/Harkins -9
Garnett/Hadley
6. Kim/Im -8
Kisner/Brown pic.twitter.com/UlQc8D2BYz
Gay and Sabbatini still have four holes remaining in their opening round – play set to resume at 07:00 (local time) on Friday with the second wave of round one scheduled to begin at 07:15.
The longstanding PGA Tour tournament turned into a team event in 2017 and features eighty teams of two. However, only 13 teams played the entire 18 holes at TPC Louisiana.
Joel Dahmen and Brandon Harkins were one of the other teams to finish and are tied for fourth place at nine under with Brice Garnett and Chesson Hadley, who also completed their round.
Dahmen and Harkins were off to a hot start, carding the tournament's first birdie of the day. The two went on to birdie five of their first six holes to hold the early lead.
They continued their bogey-free round with four more birdies.
C.T. Pan – coming off his first career PGA Tour victory at the RBC Heritage – is teamed up with Michael Kim. The two are just two holes shy of finishing their first round and are in a sizable tie for 27th place, seven shots off the pace.
Teams including Patrick Reed and Patrick Cantlay, Billy Horschel and Scott Piercy, and Louis Oosthuizen and Charl Schwartzel have yet to tee off.
Published 26 Apr 2019, 07:52 IST