Sony Open Notebook: Harris English Hopeful, Rust-Free Rory Sabbatini and a Part-Timer Starts Solid

Five-time Tour winner Harris English opened with a 5-under 65 one year after he left Waialae knowing he needed major surgery on his hip.

HONOLULU — Nothing feels better as a golfer than when you step on the opening tee and think you can birdie every hole.

That was Harris English in Thursday’s first round of the Sony Open after a bogey-free 5-under 30 that included five birdies, feeling somewhat clairvoyant while sitting one shot off the lead of Chris Kirk and Jordan Spieth.

After making the cut but finishing T55 at last year’s Sony Open, English knew his right hip—after a band-aid approach that included shots, injunctions rehab and physical therapy—was not going to cut it anymore.

He needed a drastic fix, so he went to Vail, Colo., to repair a torn labrum that has been an issue since he was a boy of 14.

After a five-month hiatus, English returned at the Memorial Tournament and after consecutive 77s there, made the cut at the U.S. Open and finished T19, his best finish in the 2021-22 season.

This fall, Harris played in seven events on the PGA Tour with nothing spectacular, his best being a T9 at the Fortinet Championship.

But potentially this week is his best chance at a fifth career victory and his first since 2021, when he won twice.

“I'm getting old, getting old,” said English, who is 33. “I mean, I would love to play the Champions Tour. That's a big goal of mine. But I know I'm not 22 anymore. I can't show up at the course and go straight to the range and hit balls and go straight to the first tee.”

English's norm these days is to spend about an hour and a half to two hours warming up his body before he can go to the range.

And then after his round, more time with the physio.

It’s not ideal or optimum, but what is required.

“I know it's never going to be absolutely perfect, “English said. “But I feel like the more I learn about it and how I can get better at realizing when it's going to come on.”

No Rust for Rory Sabbatini

Rory Sabbatini’s claim to fame is a final-round 61 at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021 to come from nowhere and win a silver medal for Slovakia, his wife’s home country.

The runner-up finish put Sabo back on the PGA Tour map, but a non-productive 2021-22 season with a 152nd-place finish in the FedEx Cup forced the 46-year-old South African to use his top 25 PGA Tour money list exemption for one more season on the PGA Tour.

The 5-under 65 Sabbatini shot in the first round of the Sony Open was only his third round in the 60s in the 2022-23 season.

“I went to Europe, and I did not touch or even look at a golf club for four weeks,” Sabbatini said of his preparation for the start of 2023. And the first time I looked at one is Monday this week here, so I figured it's gonna be pretty rusty.”

Good ballstriking and solid putting that included a 46-footer for birdie on the par-3 11th hole gave Sabbatini his lowest opening round since a 65 at The Honda Classic last year, where he eventually finished 48th.

“Most of the day it was inside of 10 feet,” Sabbatini said of his seven-birdie, two-bogey performance. “So, I had some good golf shots. I had some really bad golf shots. And it was a good combination of almost like mixed personalities out there. One hole I played like a genius and next time I played like I'd never played before.”

Part-time Player Starts Well at Home

Last week, Collin Morikawa was quick to thank Parker McLachlin for some short game assistance.

Ultimately, it would be his short game that let Morikawa down on Sunday’s final round when he lost a seven-shot lead to Jon Rahm.

McLachlin, who never had much success on the PGA Tour with a lone win at the 2008 Legends Reno-Tahoe Open, hasn’t kept his PGA Tour card after losing it in 2010 and has played sparingly since with a total of 58 events and only 12 cuts made.

Which makes his 1-under 69 in Thursday’s first round a bit miraculous.

“This tournament means everything,” said McLachlin, a Honolulu native. “I think this tournament inspired me to want to become a professional golfer and play on the PGA Tour, so for me this tournament means a lot. A hundred feet away I'm cleaning the bathrooms when I was 13 years old.”

While McLachlin would like to be the Robert Rock of the PGA Tour, his game may be past prime time.

Rock is a very successful teacher on the DP World Tour, but also has found a way to keep his card.

“I pivoted only because I had to,” McLachlin said about why he made the transition from playing to teaching. “I would love to be out here playing every week if I was in the top 50, 60, 70 in the world.”

Instead, McLachlin is left with getting sponsor’s exemptions as he did this week, playing occasionally and the rest of the time connecting to golf by teaching.

“Paul Azinger was the biggest influence on me,” McLachlin said. “I fought through a lot of sort of dark times playing golf, and Paul was one of those guys who reached out to me and offered, 'hey, come back, stay at my house. I think I can help clear the cobwebs for you and get you out of this dark place.'“

McLachlin, who uses the handle @shortgamechef on Instagram, used all the information he learned from Azinger and parrots the former PGA champion and Ryder Cup captain.

It seems to be working with 84,000-plus followers, that what McLachlin learned from Azinger clearly resonates.

Tidbits From Waialae

> With a 2-under 68, defending champion Hideki Matsuyama turned in his 12th consecutive under-par round at the Sony Open in Hawaii, tied with Kevin Kisner for the longest active streak at the event. He's seeking to become the first repeat winner since Jimmy Walker (2015).

> Rory Sabbatini and Jerry Kelly opened with rounds of 65 and 70, respectively, in their 25th straight starts, neither has missed a start since Sony took over as title sponsor of the event in 1999.

> Ryan Armour aced the par-3 17th hole with a 6-iron from 204 yards, his third ace on the PGA Tour including a hole-in-one earlier this season at the 2022 Cadence Bank Houston Open. He's the second player with two aces this season, joining Wyndham Clark.