When play was suspended for darkness on Thursday, Dylan Frittelli was safely in the clubhouse with a two-under-par 68 behind his name in the opening round of the PGA Tour’s Honda Classic in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida.
Frittelli was in a share of 10th after his round of four birdies and two bogeys. He was four shots behind the leader, Kurt Kitayama of the United States, winner of the 2018 AfrAsia Bank Mauritius Open. Kitayama had a one-stroke lead over South African-turned-Slovak Rory Sabbatini, and fellow-Americans Daniel Berger and Chris Kirk.
Also in a share of 10th with Frittelli was Garrick Higgo, who had five birdies and three bogeys in his round. Christiaan Bezuidenhout opened with a one-under, which Charl Schwartzel and Dawie van der Walt each carded a four-over-par 74. Louis Oosthuizen had a poor start with his five-over opening round.
Frittelli started his round on the back nine, and made just a single birdie in that stretch, on the 18th. Birdies on two and three got him going, but he dropped shots on four and six. A final birdie came for him on the seventh.
Sabbatini also started slowly, with just a single birdie on the front nine on the third hole. But four birdies on the homeward nine, on 10, 11, 14 and 18 with no dropped shots had him right in the thick of things.
There were just three players left to complete their first rounds.
