LAS VEGAS — Taylor Pendrith took two weeks off from the Presidents Cup and didn’t miss a beat, matching his career low on the PGA Tour with a 10-under 61 that gave him three shots at the Shriners Children’s Open. on Thursday.
Pendrith missed just one fairway and one green at TPC Summerlin, both on the same hole. The Canadian pulled his tee shot on the 18th hole — the ninth — and had to tee off, hit a 7-foot bogey and save his par.
The rest was a steady diet of big drives, lots of wedges and good putting. His only disappointment was the par-5 ninth, his final hole. He was only 200 yards from the green and knew an eagle would give him a 59.
“I tried to be aggressive and hit a good shot but I caught it all, and I went out of the basement,” said Pendrith.
He blasted to 12 feet and missed the putt, and a chance to tie the course record at Summerlin held by Rod Pampling in 2017.
Pendrith also shot 61 at the Bermuda Championship three years ago.
Bud Cauley and Matti Schmid were among 10 players at 7-under 64. The first round was halted by darkness, the second week in a row the opening round was not completed despite weather delays. Seven players did not finish.
Pendrith had a chance to play in the morning, before the wind picked up. The strongest winds are in the forecast for Friday, over 20 mph.
Tom Kim, the two-time defending champion, needed to make five birdies in the final 11 holes to shoot a 69. That leaves him eight goals in his attempt to become the first player since Steve Stricker in the John Deere Classic (2009). -11) to win the same PGA Tour event three straight times.
Matt McCarty, a Korn Ferry Tour graduate who won the inaugural Black Desert Championship in Utah last week, missed three birdies on the par-5 and shot a 71.
Schmid was coming off a final-round 62 in Utah to finish fifth, moving him off the bubble at No. 120 to No. 105 in the fall of the FedEx Cup. The biggest part of this PGA Tour installment is for players to finish in the top 125 to earn a full 2025 card.
Pendrith knows that feeling.
He was at No. 123 in the FedEx Cup last year when he arrived in Las Vegas, and tied for third to successfully seal his card for the following season. He went on to win in Dallas at the CJ Cup Byron Nelson for his first PGA Tour title, and also won the Tour Championship.
“I know it’s an important time of year for a lot of guys and I’ve certainly been there,” Pendrith said. “It’s stressful. But it’s a different feeling for me, obviously you’re already locked in for next year. It’s a different feeling that I think I’m playing. But I’m really enjoying this place.”
Pendrith was also selected for the President’s Cup at Royal Montreal, posting a 2/3 record and going 2-1 in team play alongside Adam Scott. The plan was to take a short break, but that changed when Hurricane Milton crossed Florida.
“I think I’ve played three times since the President’s Cup, and then I was planning to practice and everything was shut down,” said Pendrith. His coach joined him in Las Vegas for a high-profile performance earlier in the week.
“I feel rested and happy to play,” said Pendrith. “I wasn’t really expecting 10 under, I’d say. I thought I’d be a little rusty than that. Obviously, I’m happy, I just have to keep getting back into the rhythm of things and the next few days.”
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