Garnett & Martin tied at the top of the leaderboard

Corales Puntacana Championship R1

2018 champion Brice Garnett closed with a 6-under 66 for a share of the lead in the Corales Puntacana Championship. He hit 11 of 14 fairways, 16 of 18 greens in regulation and made 28 putts.

Garnett has made six cuts in eleven starts this season, his best result so far was T21 at the Sony Open in Hawaii.

“Great way to start the week here. We were pretty excited when we saw the wind forecast for the week where it’s going to be windy morning and afternoon.

“We just have a lot of good vibes around here. We do a pretty good job guessing the winds, always putt pretty good on this grass, so it was a great day to start off a fun week.

“It’s been really good at times [this season] and then usually fall a day short somewhere during the week. Just waiting and patiently hoping that we can get all four days together here before long. Had a good run at Honda and had a bad Sunday, had a good run at Puerto Rico and had a bad Sunday. So just kind of keeping our nose down and keep on grinding. We know it will all come together eventually.”

Fellow American Ben Martin also signed for a 66 to take a share of the lead.

This is his second consecutive lead/co-lead in the event. He finished T2 last year after holding the 18-, 36- and 54-hole leads/co-leads.

“It was a solid day, bogey free. I got a nice break at the last hole. Hit a very questionable shot that hit the rocks and somehow ended up on the green. It’s nice to get good breaks. We probably get a few more bad bounces than we do good throughout the season, so took advantage of that, stayed bogey free. I guess I just like the golf course down here at Corales.

“I think if you come here you kind of expect it to blow every day and so I feel like I’m a pretty decent wind player, which is maybe why I’ve played well here in the past. I hit a lot of nice just flighted shots. Having to pull 7 irons from 150 yards, that kind of
stuff, that’s hard a little bit to wrap our heads around, pull that club with that number. But I’ve been practicing that shot and kind of got it dialed in, so I hit two or three flighted shots in the wind that ended up close and made birdies.

“I think anytime you show up to a golf course where you’ve had success in the past, it’s going to be a little added boost of confidence. And I feel like my game’s been solid since the end of the west coast, had some decent finishing at Pebble and then in Florida. I think combine confident golf with a place I’ve played well in the past, I think it’s a good recipe.”

The leaders were the only two players in the field to record bogey-free rounds.

England’s Matt Wallace, playing this event for the first time, shot a 67 to take solo third place at 5-under followed by six Americans in fourth at 4-under.

“I wish I would have hit a couple – on 16 and 18 I had like quite a lot into wind and I definitely was a club out, but we got a lot right today and learned from those two mistakes,” said Wallace. “Not mistakes, just misclubbed. Take that forward and hopefully have two good chances in the next few days.”

Defending champion Chad Ramey played a 71 and lies in T26 at 1-under.

Pos.PlayerTo ParR1
T1Brice Garnett-666
T1Ben Martin-666
3Matt Wallace-567
T4Max McGreevy-468
T4Dylan Wu-468
T4D.A. Points-468
T4Sean O'Hair-468
T4Ricky Barnes-468
T4Kelly Kraft-468
T10Martin Trainer-369
T10Doug Ghim-369
T10Erik van Rooyen-369
T10Bill Haas-369
T10Wyndham Clark-369
T10Brent Grant-369
T10Austin Eckroat-369
T10Sam Stevens-369
T18Tyson Alexander-270
T18Kevin Chappell-270
T18Scott Harrington-270
T18Andrew Novak-270
T18Michael Kim-270
T18Austin Cook-270
T18Thomas Detry-270
T18Brandon Matthews-270
T26Kevin Tway-171
T26Emiliano Grillo-171
T26Camilo Villegas-171
T26Erik Compton-171
T26S.Y. Noh-171
T26Chad Ramey-171
T26Jonathan Byrd-171
T26Chris Stroud-171
T26Nicolai Hojgaard-171
T26Michael Gligic-171
T26Brian Davis-171
T26Matthias Schwab-171
T26Sung Kang-171
T26Tyler Duncan-171
T26Mark Hubbard-171
T26Vincent Norrman-171
T26MJ Daffue-171
T26Harry Hall-171
T26Harry Higgs-171
T26Stephen Stallings Jr.-171
T46George McNeillPar72
T46Jason DufnerPar72
T46Brian StuardPar72
T46Wesley BryanPar72
T46Tano GoyaPar72
T46Chris NidoPar72
T46Justin HicksPar72
T46Rafael CamposPar72
T46Scott BrownPar72
T46Greg ChalmersPar72
T46Henrik NorlanderPar72
T46J.J. HenryPar72
T58William McGirt+173
T58David Hearn+173
T58Kramer Hickok+173
T58Carson Young+173
T58Hank Lebioda+173
T58Joel Dahmen+173
T58Ben Crane+173
T58Nick Hardy+173
T58Kevin Roy+173
T58Trevor Cone+173
T58Paul Haley II+173
T58Akshay Bhatia+173
T58Kyle Westmoreland+173
T58Juan Jose Guerra+173
T58Cougar Collins+173
T73Charley Hoffman+274
T73Scott Piercy+274
T73Justin Lower+274
T73Sangmoon Bae+274
T73Adam Long+274
T73Russell Knox+274
T73Cameron Percy+274
T73Fabián Gómez+274
T73Cody Gribble+274
T73Aaron Baddeley+274
T73Trevor Werbylo+274
T84Richy Werenski+375
T84Matt Every+375
T84Grayson Murray+375
T84Harrison Endycott+375
T84Ryan Gerard+375
T84Geoff Ogilvy+375
T84Fabrizio Zanotti+375
T84Jeff Overton+375
T84Kyle Maxwell(a)+375
T93Tommy Gainey+476
T93D.J. Trahan+476
T93Augusto Núñez+476
T93Matti Schmid+476
T93Thomas Longbella+476
T93Santiago Tarrio+476
T93Jonas Blixt+476
T93Ryan Brehm+476
T93Rhadames Pena(a)+476
T102Ted Potter, Jr.+577
T102Richard S. Johnson+577
T102Arjun Atwal+577
T102Robert Garrigus+577
T102John Rollins+577
T102Justin Kim+577
T102Ryan Moore+577
T102Chesson Hadley+577
T102Patrick Rodgers+577
T102Taylor Pendrith+577
T102Derek Ernst+577
T102Carlos Franco+577
T102Angel Hidalgo Portillo+577
T115Daniel Chopra+678
T115Dominic Bozzelli+678
T117Bo Van Pelt+779
T117Omar Uresti+779
119Hiram Silfa+880
120Kevin Stadler+981
Updated: March 24, 2023
Corales Puntacana Championship 2023
Date: 23rd March - 26th March, 2023
Location: Puntacana Resort & Club (Corales Golf Course) Punta Cana, Dominican Republic
Purse: $3,800,000