European/PGA Tours

WGC-Bridgestone Invitational

August 02-05

Firestone Country Club, Akron, Ohio

$10,000,000

August 02-05

Firestone Country Club, Akron, Ohio

$10,000,000

Round 1

Brilliant Poulter charges to lead in Ohio

Round 2

Round 3

Round 4

Round 2

Round 3

Round 4

August 02, 2018

Ian Poulter produced his lowest round in eight years to open up a one-shot lead on day one of the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational.

- Getty Images

“When you shoot eight under par on a notoriously quite difficult golf course, you know, everything has to be right. I drove it in the fairway a lot, I gave myself many looks at birdie, took quite a few of those opportunities. Hit a few shots real close and kind of obviously tapped them in. When I needed to make up-and-down, I obviously did that as well."

“World Golf Championships are where you want to play. Majors and World Golf Championships mean you're in the top 50 and obviously you're doing something quite well. To be back here, I know it's our last one here and it's a place I haven't played well. So today was nice to kind of get a decent number on the board, give myself some confidence going into the next three days and hopefully I'll continue that form."

His opening 62 was Poulter's best score since the 2010 UBS Hong Kong Open, when he posted a second-round 60 on his way to lifting the trophy.

American duo Kyle Stanley and Rickie Fowler were in a tie for second on seven under par after shooting opening 63s, while Spain's Jon Rahm, American Patrick Cantlay and South Korea's Si Woo Kim were then another stroke back on six under.

“It's fun being able to take advantage when the golf course is playing on the easier side," said Fowler. "We've seen this place play very firm and it makes it very hard to hit fairways and ultimately to get the ball on the green or close. So to go out, I feel like I hit a lot of good drives today. A couple bad ones, that's going to happen, but it wasn't very far off. Made a few good putts, hit a lot of great approach shots and just a solid day of golf."

Northern Irishman Rory McIlroy, Australian duo Jason Day and Marc Leishman, Indian Anirban Lahiri and America's Luke List, Kevin Na and Justin Thomas were all on five under as 13 players shot 65 or better in a single round at a World Golf Championships event for the first time.

“I was saying over there, you can't find this golf course any easier than we had it today," said McIlroy. "It's probably the softest I've ever seen it. Usually you have to hit your ball in the fairway here, but even I missed a few shots in the rough and it seemed like you could even get your ball to stop on the greens, even if they're tucked behind bunkers.

“I'm just working through a couple of things, but I got it going towards the end of the round, which was good to see. But yeah, the ones that I missed in practice, I was missing them right, and then the first couple tee shots today I missed left. So it's fine. I think it's minuscule things. Whenever you're swinging it that hard and at that speed, it just has to be a little off and it sort of is magnified. But I got it going later in the round, which is good.”

Course-specialist Tiger Woods - an eight-time winner at Firestone - opened with a 66 to sit a shot further back.

“I felt like today I didn't quite hit it as well as I wanted to, but I fought out a score today, which was good. Really felt like I putted well. I did a little bit of work yesterday trying to get a feel for the ball rolling out because the last time I played that wasn't the case. Hit a lot of putts from above the hole yesterday, and consequently, today I felt really comfortable."

“It's nice to shoot rounds like I did at The Open and like I did today, put together rounds where I may not feel the best but I'm able to post a score. That's how you win golf tournaments.”