Nicolai Hojgaard and his twin brother, Rasmus, fired a best-ball score of 13-under 59 Thursday at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans.
They aren’t leading.
That designation goes to the rookie team of Isaiah Salinda and Kevin Velo, the Bay Area pair who put together a 14-under 58, the lowest best-ball score in tournament history since the event moved to a team format in 2017.
Velo had five birdies, all on the front nine, while Salinda carded an eagle on top of one of those birdies and birdied the four holes that Velo did not as the pair went out in 10-under 26. Salinda then made four back-nine birdies to cap what could’ve been an 11-under 61 on his own ball – Salinda didn’t get to putt a 4-footer for birdie on the first, though he also had 7 feet for par when Velo birdied the par-4 eighth.
Salinda only used his putter 19 times on the round.
“Everything,” Salinda responded when asked what was working so well.
“He one-putted damn near every green it seemed like,” Velo added. “Very easy to play when golf when you have a partner that’s stacking it and making a lot of putts. A few really clutch par saves that he had on the back nine, and it was a very, very solid day, but overall we kind of fed off each other, and I kind of sprinkled in some birdies when we needed to, but pretty much I was on his back the whole day.”
Salinda said that 9 under would’ve been a strong start. Velo was surprised when he looked at his first leaderboard, on the 11th hole, and saw that they were about to be 12 under through 11 holes.
“I kind of forgot where we were at,” Velo said. “I really had no idea because you’re never 10 under through nine.”
Then Salinda made one of his biggest putts of the day, a momentum-saving par putt from 10 feet at the par-4 12th hole, where both players found the right rough off the tee and had to play out short left of the green.
Now, Salinda and Velo, who played collegiately at Stanford and San Jose State, respectively, will shift focus to Friday’s alternate-shot format.
“It’s definitely going to be harder tomorrow, there’s no doubt about it,” Salinda said. “But I think we know our games so well that we can kind of, along with our caddies, kind of coach each other up when we need to. … I actually was looking forward more to the alternate shot part of this tournament because we play together all the time.”
Salinda was third earlier this season at the Mexico Open, which is a big reason he’s nearly inside the top 70 in FedExCup points, at No. 73. Velo, however, has struggled, missing eight of 10 cuts. Though a victory won’t come with Masters invites or world-ranking points, it does earn the winners two-year exemptions on Tour, over $1.3 million and 400 FedExCup points apiece, and spots in the PGA Championship and next year’s Sentry and Players Championship.
Three teams are tied for third at 11 under, including Cam Davis and Adam Svensson, while four are tied for sixth, including that of Ben Griffin and the red-hot Andrew Novak. Rory McIlroy and Shane Lowry shot 8-under 64 and are T-22.
