RENO — The Barracuda Championship is famous for crowning first-time winners.
In the previous 16 tournaments there have been seven first-time winners — Notah Begay (1999), Chris Riley (2002), Vaughn Taylor (2004), Will MacKenzie (2006), Parker McLachlan (2008), Matt Bettencourt (2009) and Scott Piercy (2011).
Zack Sucher would love to add his name to that list, and if he plays like he did in Thursday’s first-round at Montreux Golf & Country Club, he could very well do that.
Sucher recorded nine birdies and nine pars en route to an 18-point day and a three-point lead over Patrick Rodgers, and four over part-time Truckee resident Ricky Barnes.
Past PGA Championship champ David Toms and former Barracuda champ J.J. Henry are five points back at 13. Rounding out the top 10 are Andres Romero, Robert Garrigus, Billy Hurley III, Jonas Blixt and Tom Hoge, all with 12 points.
Considering the field, Sucher was the unlikeliest of leaders. His best finish was a tie for 44th at the John Deere Classic, and he has made just four cuts all year in 16 attempts. On Thursday, however, he looked like a guy who had made 12 cuts. Sucher ties the record for the most single-day points in the event, joining Nick Watney (R1/2014), Justin Hicks (R4/2014) and Jonathan Byrd (R4/2013).
“I’ve been playing good lately,” he said. “I had last week off, I guess, which was nice. Worked on a few things with my coach, and they all panned out good today. We worked on set-up. We worked on getting my hips more open, I guess more closed to set up.
“I’m not very mechanical, so he just said put your right hip back, and I was. Ball striking hasn’t been great, and it was really good today. It was fun, and obviously I putted well which was the key.”
Sucher’s birdie putts ranged from 2 to 34 feet. He didn’t 3-putt a single green and played bogey free golf.
Sucher was technically at a disadvantage because the course usually plays tougher in the afternoon. Most of the leaders played in the morning when there was no wind and the greens were soft.
Rogers and Barnes were among the early golfers. Both played well, and both said the soft conditions made it easier.
“Yeah, I scored it really well today,” Rodgers said. “I took advantage of the easy holes and made a lot of birdies when I had chances to. It was nice. I felt comfortable on the greens. The greens were nice and smooth this morning, and I was obviously really happy with it.
“Yeah, it was nice and soft, but it was a little inconsistent with the bounces out there. There were a couple greens that were pretty firm that were sitting up top of the mountain and some of them were a little soft. But I was able to keep the ball in the fairway and the way to make a lot of birdies is to play from the fairway, which was really nice.”
Rodgers, who played Montreux for the first time last year, said nothing had really changed about the course.
“I just played nine holes Tuesday and the pro-am on Wednesday. It was very easy to get back accustomed to the golf course, and this format is a lot of fun. I think it favors my length and allows me to really free up and be aggressive and not really worry too much about messing up. I was just trying to fire at flags and take advantage of the chances that I had.”
Rodgers, who started on No. 10, opened with a par and then birdied Nos. 11 through 14 to get to plus-8.
He dropped in a 17-footer on No. 11, hit an approach shot from 120 on No. 12 and drained a 9-footer, had a two-putt birdie from 23 feet on the par-5 13th and drained a 9-footer for birdie on the par-4 14th.
After three straight pars, he finished the front nine with a two-putt birdie from 35 feet on No. 18. He birdied Nos. 1 and 2 to get to 14, suffered his only bogey at the par-3 7th when he hit his tee shot in the water, and then birdied the par-5 8th to get to 15.
Barnes also said playing in the early morning was a factor in his good start.
“Softer greens,” Barnes said. “We know this course gets firm and fast once it gets going. If the breeze picks up in the canyon it’s a little tricky. But like you said it was pretty benign until our last three holes where you were actually starting to feel it.
“I mean I played solid. I didn’t really hit a lot of fairways, but hit a lot of greens. I made some easy birdies out there and I think I probably had four easy birdies; four putts inside of 4-feet and it was solid. It was nice to get the last one. You hate kind of giving two points back on the last four holes when you really haven’t missed a shot; haven’t been in much trouble.”
Barnes opened with two straight birdies and added birdies on Nos. 5 and 6 to get to plus-8. After four straight pars, he birdied Nos. 11, 12 and 13 to get it to plus-14.
He gave strokes back on the par-4 14th and the par-3 17th, but finished with a birdie on the par-5 18th.
The second-biggest surprise of the first round may have been Toms’ play. He came into the event at 124 in FedEx standings, and a good finish here could solidify him for the postseason.
Toms started on 10, and drained a 15-footer for birdie, got down in two from 55 feet for a birdie at the par-5 13th, holed out a bunker shot for birdie at the par-4 15th and birdied the par-5 18th. On his back nine, Toms had birdies on Nos. 1, 4 and 9. He had just one bogey on the day.
“I hit a lot of good shots,” Toms said. “I didn’t really make very many putts on the back nine.”
