All eyes are on the Arnold Palmer Invitational but there’s another PGA Tour tournament going on this week.
The Puerto Rico Open is the first opposite-field event of 2022 and Chase Seiffert posted an opening-round 65 to stake claim to the solo lead at the Grand Reserve Golf Club. He’s now posted under-par scores in all nine rounds he’s played in this event.
Last week, Seiffert was in a 16-for-1 playoff in the Monday qualifier for the Honda Classic. He didn’t win that playoff, which actually ended on Tuesday, but then managed to snag a spot in the field as the second alternate after Cameron Tringale and Tyler Duncan each withdrew. He made the most of his week there, as he was tied for sixth heading into the weekend and eventually finished T-25.
Seiffert on Thursday was 4 under through five holes and carded his fifth birdie on the front on the 9th hole. His only bogey came on the sixth hole. One of his birdies was a chip-in on the 13th.
Another week, another @ChaseSeiffert hole out.
Sixth birdie of the day and T1. pic.twitter.com/Mlk92qXcHh
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) March 3, 2022
Later in the day, Michael Kim closed with three birdies on his last four holes to also post a 65 and claim co-leader status. Kim’s round was bogey-free. His last Tour win came in the 2018 John Deere Classic.
Seiffert and Kim have one-shot lead over Ryan Brehm and a two-shot lead over Kiradech Aphibarnrat and Aaron Baddeley. Brehm also posted a bogey-free round Thursday. He has two Korn Ferry Tour wins but is seeking his first PGA Tour victory.
Aphibarnrat has 12 professional victories but is seeking his first PGA Tour win. He’s missed four cuts in six tournaments so far this season. His career-best finish on Tour is a tie for third, which he’s accomplished twice.
Baddeley has four Tour wins, the last coming in 2016 at the Barbasol Championship. This is just his third start on Tour this season. He’s earned more than $22 million in his career but banked just $160,000 last season.
First place in Puerto Rico is good for $666,000. The par-72 course is playing at 7,506 yards this week. Designed by Tom Kite, the back nine at Grand Reserve has two par-5s that are longer than 600 yards.