ZCZC
BSP-07
GOLF-USPGA-PUR
Argentina’s Romero leads Puerto Rico Open
MIAMI, Feb 22, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – Andres Romero, seeking his first US PGA
Tour win in more than a decade, fired six birdies in a six-under par 66
Thursday to take the first-round lead in the Puerto Rico Open.
Romero was one shot clear of Austrian rookie Sepp Straka, who had six
birdies and one bogey in his 67.
While Romero hasn’t won on the US tour since the 2008 Zurich Classic of New
Orleans, he captured the European Tour’s BMW International Open in 2017.
Although he hadn’t cracked the top 20 in two prior events this season,
Romero said he had been playing well, and was delighted to see that reflected
in his score
“I’m really happy with the round. It’s my putting that has been letting me
down lately and today it was very good,” he said.
“So it gives me a lot of confidence for my whole game.”
Straka, a graduate of the Web.com developmental tour, is seeking his first
PGA Tour title.
He was one stroke in front of a group of nine players on 68, a group that
included Canadian David Hearn.
A group of eight players on 69 included amateur Bryson Nimmer, a Clemson
University senior who is making his first PGA Tour start.
D.A. Points, who won the most recent edition of the Puerto Rico Open in
2017 — with 2018’s edition cancelled as the island recovered from the
devastation of Hurricane Maria — opened with a one-under par 71 in the
tournament played opposite the elite WGC-Mexico Championship.
BSS/AFP/GMR/0816 hrs