- Casey Jarvis shot a 65 to lead the Genesis Championship by one shot.
- Korea’s Sanghun Shin is alone in second at Woo Jeong Hills Country Club.
- Jarvis is projected to move from fourth to second in the Race to Dubai Rankings.
Casey Jarvis birdied the 18th at Woo Jeong Hills Country Club in Cheonan to take a one-shot lead after the opening round of the Genesis Championship, the final event of the DP World Tour’s regular season.
The 23-year-old South African arrived fourth in the Race to Dubai. He is projected to overtake Rory McIlroy and Patrick Reed and enter the DP World Tour Play-Offs second, behind Eugenio Chacarra, who took over at the top with his win in Delhi last week.
How did Jarvis build his lead?
Three successive birdies from the 3rd took Jarvis quickly up the leaderboard, and another at the 8th put him on 4-under alongside early leaders Antoine Rozner and Mikael Lindberg. A bogey at the 9th meant he turned in 33.
Pars at the 10th and 11th followed before a fine approach from the rough at the 12th set up the birdie that restored his share of the lead. A 32-footer then moved him clear on 5-under. After Shin had drawn level, Jarvis holed from seven feet at the last to sign for a 65 and regain outright control.
“I definitely think the putting has improved a lot,” said Jarvis. “I went through a bit of a dip, so I worked hard with the putter and took some time in the middle of the season to start finding the stroke again. I started with a new putting coach and it seems to be working really well.”
It has been a breakout season. Jarvis won his maiden DP World Tour title at the Magical Kenya Open in February with a birdie-eagle finish, then won again a week later at the Investec South African Open Championship. A tie for second at the Joburg Open followed, and after a quieter middle stretch he returned to form at St Andrews, where he finished one behind Adrian Meronk at the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship.
Who is chasing?
Shin, the Korean Tour Order of Merit leader who only returned from military service this season, set the tone by holing out from a bunker at the 1st. He made six birdies and a single bogey at the 4th, closing with a birdie for his 66.
Frederic Lacroix briefly joined Jarvis at 5-under when he converted from two feet at the 6th, his 15th hole. The Frenchman missed the green at the par-3 7th to drop the shot straight back and finished with a 67.
He sits in a five-man group on 4-under with Rozner, Lindberg, Si Woo Kim and Niklas Lemke. Ryan Fox leads the pack on 3-under alongside Dan Bradbury, Marcus Kinhult and Ryggs Johnston, who is fighting for his Tour card this week.
Only the top-70 in the Race to Dubai after Cheonan advance to the Play-Offs in Abu Dhabi, which makes this week at the Perry Dye-designed par 71 the last chance for players further down the rankings to climb inside the line.
Related: Chacarra arrives in Korea as Race to Dubai leader with one event left before the play-offs
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Genesis Championship Leaderboard
| Pos. | Player | To Par | Thru | R1 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | JARVIS, Casey | -6 | F | 65 |
| 2 | SHIN, Sanghun | -5 | F | 66 |
| 3 | LINDBERG, Mikael | -4 | F | 67 |
| | ROZNER, Antoine | -4 | F | 67 |
| | LEMKE, Niklas | -4 | F | 67 |
| | LACROIX, Frederic | -4 | F | 67 |
| | KIM, Si Woo | -4 | F | 67 |
| 8 | KINHULT, Marcus | -3 | F | 68 |
| | JOHNSTON, Ryggs | -3 | F | 68 |
| | FOX, Ryan | -3 | F | 68 |
| BRADBURY, Dan | -3 | F | 68 | |
| 12 | KATSURAGAWA, Yuto | -2 | F | 69 |
| | LEE, Sangyeop | -2 | F | 69 |
| | BAIRSTOW, Sam | -2 | F | 69 |
| | LEE, Daihan | -2 | F | 69 |
| | CELLI, Filippo | -2 | F | 69 |
| | WILLIAMS, Robin | -2 | F | 69 |
| | SENIOR, Jack | -2 | F | 69 |
| | COUVRA, Martin | -2 | F | 69 |
| 20 | EOM, Jaewoong | -1 | F | 70 |
| | VIDAL, Quim | -1 | F | 70 |
| | OTAEGUI, Adrian | -1 | F | 70 |
| | LAPORTA, Francesco | -1 | F | 70 |
| | KRUYSWIJK, Jacques | -1 | F | 70 |
| | VEERMAN, Johannes | -1 | F | 70 |
| BERGSTROM, Albin | -1 | F | 70 | |
| | GUILLAMOUNDEGUY, Oihan | -1 | F | 70 |
| | STERNE, Richard | -1 | F | 70 |
| | HOSHINO, Rikuya | -1 | F | 70 |
| | SCHMIDT, Ben | -1 | F | 70 |
| | DETRY, Thomas | -1 | F | 70 |
| | STEINLECHNER, Maximilian | -1 | F | 70 |
| 33 | HALVORSEN, Andreas | Par | F | 71 |
| | DEL REY, Alejandro | Par | F | 71 |
| | JUNG, Jaehyun | Par | F | 71 |
| | ELVIRA, Nacho | Par | F | 71 |
| | IM, Sungjae | Par | F | 71 |
| | LEE, Soomin | Par | F | 71 |
| | MUN, Doyeob | Par | F | 71 |
| | TOWNSEND, Hugo | Par | F | 71 |
| | PARATORE, Renato | Par | F | 71 |
| | CHO, Wooyoung | Par | F | 71 |
| | PREMLALL, Yurav | Par | F | 71 |
| | COUSSAUD, Ugo | Par | F | 71 |
| | WU, Ashun | Par | F | 71 |
| | ROBINSON THOMPSON, Brandon | Par | F | 71 |
| | GIRRBACH, Joel | Par | F | 71 |
| | DE LEO, Gregorio | Par | F | 71 |
| | FISHER, Ross | Par | F | 71 |
| | CHOI, Seungbin | Par | F | 71 |
| REPETTO TAYLOR, Rocco | Par | F | 71 | |
| | HIDALGO, Angel | Par | F | 71 |
| 53 | SHARMA, Shubhankar | +1 | F | 72 |
| | CROCKER, Sean | +1 | F | 72 |
| | PARK, Junghun | +1 | F | 72 |
| | CHACARRA, Eugenio | +1 | F | 72 |
| | HILLIER, Daniel | +1 | F | 72 |
| | JANG, Yubin | +1 | F | 72 |
| | JAMIESON, Scott | +1 | F | 72 |
| | KANEKO, Kota | +1 | F | 72 |
| | PARK, Ilhwan | +1 | F | 72 |
| | MANASSERO, Matteo | +1 | F | 72 |
| | BAE, Yongjun | +1 | F | 72 |
| | MORRISON, James | +1 | F | 72 |
| | LEE, Sanghee | +1 | F | 72 |
| | KIM, Chanwoo | +1 | F | 72 |
| | SONG, Minhyuk | +1 | F | 72 |
| | KOBORI, Kazuma | +1 | F | 72 |
| | LEE, Junghwan | +1 | F | 72 |
| | MAZZOLI, Stefano | +1 | F | 72 |
| | LAGERGREN, Joakim | +1 | F | 72 |
| 72 | HUR, Inhoi | +2 | F | 73 |
| | KIM, Woohyun | +2 | F | 73 |
| | PARK, Eunshin | +2 | F | 73 |
| | CANTERO, Ivan | +2 | F | 73 |
| | OLESEN, Jacob Skov | +2 | F | 73 |
| | GOUVEIA, Ricardo | +2 | F | 73 |
| | YANG, Jiho | +2 | F | 73 |
| | VON DELLINGSHAUSEN, Nicolai | +2 | F | 73 |
| | KEWALRAMANI, Brandon | +2 | F | 73 |
| | RODRIGUES, Daniel | +2 | F | 73 |
| | CAMPILLO, Jorge | +2 | F | 73 |
| | ZHOU, Yanhan | +2 | F | 73 |
| | DANTORP, Jens | +2 | F | 73 |
| | AYORA, Angel | +2 | F | 73 |
| | LARRAZÁBAL, Pablo | +2 | F | 73 |
| 87 | JONSSON, Tobias | +3 | F | 74 |
| | DING, Wenyi | +3 | F | 74 |
| | MICHELUZZI, David | +3 | F | 74 |
| | NAIDOO, Dylan | +3 | F | 74 |
| | VAN DRIEL, Darius | +3 | F | 74 |
| | WALKER, Euan | +3 | F | 74 |
| | YOUNG, Daniel | +3 | F | 74 |
| | KO, Jeong weon | +3 | F | 74 |
| | KIM, Hongtaek | +3 | F | 74 |
| | GUMBERG, Jordan | +3 | F | 74 |
| | LEE, K.H. | +3 | F | 74 |
| | WANG, Jeunghun | +3 | F | 74 |
| | LEE, Hyungjoon | +3 | F | 74 |
| 100 | LOMBARD, Zander | +4 | F | 75 |
| CHO, Mingyu | +4 | F | 75 | |
| | LAW, David | +4 | F | 75 |
| | CHOI, Jinho | +4 | F | 75 |
| | JUNG, Chanmin | +4 | F | 75 |
| | CABRERA BELLO, Rafa | +4 | F | 75 |
| | APHIBARNRAT, Kiradech | +4 | F | 75 |
| | MOON, Donghyun | +4 | F | 75 |
| | KIMSEY, Nathan | +4 | 17 | - |
| 109 | JUNG, Hanmil | +5 | F | 76 |
| | SCRIVENER, Jason | +5 | F | 76 |
| | JUNG, Teayang | +5 | F | 76 |
| | SÖDERBERG, Sebastian | +5 | F | 76 |
| | RAVETTO, David | +5 | F | 76 |
| | OK, Taehoon | +5 | F | 76 |
| | ADAM, Cameron | +5 | F | 76 |
| 116 | CHOI, Chan | +6 | F | 77 |
| | GARCIA, Sebastian | +6 | F | 77 |
| | PARK, Sungkug | +6 | F | 77 |
| | CHOI, Minchel | +6 | F | 77 |
| 120 | SMYLIE, Elvis | +7 | F | 78 |
| | ELVIRA, Manuel | +7 | F | 78 |
| | NORRIS, Shaun | +7 | F | 78 |
| 123 | OH, Seungtaek | +8 | F | 79 |
| | MORY, Félix | +8 | F | 79 |
| | KIM, Minjun | +8 | F | 79 |
| 126 | SIEM, Marcel | +11 | F | 82 |
Simon Bale
Simon Bale is the publisher of Golf Today. A low single-figure handicap golfer, he was previously a major shareholder and course reviewer for Top100GolfCourses.com for over a decade, starting in 2010. Through this role, he developed extensive knowledge of golf course design and architecture while playing more than 300 courses worldwide.