Stephan Jäger shines with a stellar 65, placing in the top 5 at the Farmers Insurance Open on the PGA Tour. Brooks Koepka faces challenges during his comeback round.
Stephan Jäger had an excellent start Thursday at the Farmers Insurance Open on the PGA Tour. With a round of 65, he tied for 5th, staying close to the lead. Other German players struggled more: Thomas Rosenmüller finished T55 with a 2-under par round, ahead of Jeremy Paul who is tied 87th at even par, and Matti Schmid, one over par, who sits at T101 heading into the second day. LIV Golf returnee Brooks Koepka, also at T101, experienced difficulties in his first tournament back on the American Tour. Leading after day one is Justin Rose with 10 under par.
PGA Tour: Stephan Jäger Nearly Flawless
Stephan Jäger delivered his best start in some time at the Farmers Insurance Open on the PGA Tour. On the North Course at Torrey Pines Golf Course in San Diego, he played a nearly flawless round, except for the opening hole where his second shot landed in a bunker and he failed to get up and down, starting with a bogey. Undeterred, he quickly recovered with a birdie on hole 3 by hitting a strong tee shot on the 150 meter par 3 close to the hole. His round peaked during a great stretch on holes 7 through 9, where he made three birdies, positioning him at 3 under par after the front nine. The highlight was a fantastic birdie on hole 8, where despite landing his tee shot in a greenside bunker, he holed an impressive sand shot. Jäger carried the momentum into the back nine with two birdies to start and added two more on holes 16 and 17, finishing the round 7 under par and placing 5th heading into the rest of the week.
Thomas Rosenmüller had a steadier round. Like Jäger, he began with a single bogey, but a birdie on hole 9 brought him to even par after nine holes. Two more birdies on 11 and 17 led to a 70 and 55th place on the leaderboard.
Jeremy Paul started on the back nine but struggled on the front nine where three unanswered bogeys (holes 2, 4, and 6) set him back despite earlier birdies, finishing even par at T87.
Matti Schmid also began on the back nine. Despite three birdies on holes 10, 13, and 3, inconsistent putting and four bogeys resulted in a +1 round and T101, requiring significant improvement on Friday to make the