Patty Tavatanakit of Thailand and Jake Knapp birdied the first nine holes they played and added a late eagle on their way to the first-round lead at the Grant Thornton Invitational on Friday at Tiburon Golf Club in Naples, Fla.
The mixed team event featuring PGA and LPGA Tour stars employs three different formats over three rounds. In Friday’s scramble format — in which both players hit each shot and select which ball they’ll use for the following shot — Tavatanakit and Knapp put together a 14-under-par 58.
That was just one shot better than two teams, Jennifer Kupcho and Akshay Bhatia and Canadians Brooke Henderson and Corey Conners. The second round will be played in foursomes (alternate shot) and the third round will be a modified four-ball.
Knapp, 30, broke through on the PGA Tour this past season with his first career title at the Mexico Open. Tavatanakit, 25, has a major championship among the two LPGA titles under her belt. Their common trait: Both played collegiately at UCLA.
“I feel like we kept it pretty chill, we just talked about random things,” Tavatanakit said. “I feel like I haven’t played golf like this free in a while, so it is actually a really nice feeling. I feel very secure out there because I know I have a really good partner.”
“I feel that’s the overall theme of this week, kind of get to know one another and also just have a good time,” Knapp added. “Still go out there and compete obviously, but kind of have fun above all.”
Kupcho and Bhatia’s connection is Wake Forest, N.C.: Kupcho played for the Demon Deacons, and Bhatia is from the town.
“Other than that, we never met each other,” Bhatia said. “Obviously I’ve known of her and her success. Yeah, we met for about five minutes at the cocktail party on Tuesday, so not a lot of chemistry yet.”
Despite that, they managed 11 birdies (seven on the back nine) and one eagle in their first round together.
Henderson and Conners go back further as some of Canada’s top golf stars. They finished as runners-up last year in the exhibition’s inaugural run.
“I think we make a really great team,” Henderson said. “It’s a lot of fun for me to be paired with Corey and I was really happy that we were able to do this again this year. I feel like the runner-up finish was so fun last year, but also stung a little bit. So hopefully just take that as a little extra motivation into these next two days and try to put some solid scores up on the board and just see what happens.”
New Zealand’s Lydia Ko and Australia’s Jason Day won last year’s event. They opened with a 10-under 62 Friday and are tied for sixth with Thailand’s Jeeno Thitikul and South Korea’s Tom Kim.
Lexi Thompson and Rickie Fowler shot a 9-under 63, as did Nelly Korda and Daniel Berger. Tony Finau was slated to be Korda’s partner but withdrew while recovering from knee surgery, and Berger took his spot.
