HONOLULU – Uninspired. That’s how Keith Mitchell summed up his first 33 holes at the Sony Open.
His opening 68 included three bogeys and just two putts over 10 feet. And by the time he reached the par-3 seventh Friday, his 16th hole of the day, he was stuck at even par.
But then, Mitchell’s tee shot from 162 yards narrowly cleared a bunker in front of the green and rolled in for a hole-in-one.
“Hit it exactly how I wanted to, and the wind wasn't pushing it,” Mitchell said. “It just disappeared.”
Mitchell next rolled in a 16-footer for birdie at the eighth, but when his drive found the left rough at the par-5 ninth, he was just hoping not to make a mess of the closing frame.