The first round of a sneaky good Mayakoba event is in the books, and while the top of the leaderboard doesn’t jump off the page, the field’s strength sits just beyond the leaders.

Will Gordon and Russell Henley are Nos. 1-2 at the top of this board after firing 62 and 63 respectively in Round 1, but the heavyweights are a few strokes back and looking to roll to the top on Friday and beyond. Let’s take a look at how Thursday played out at Mayakoba.

The leader

1. Will Gordon (-9): Gordon made eight birdies and an eagle en route to his first-round lead. The former Vanderbilt golfer had a strong year on the Korn Ferry Tour last season, accumulating six top 10s (including a win) and finishing sixth on the KFT points list. His best finish on the PGA Tour, however, is a T3 at the 2020 Travelers Championship. He said after his 62 that he’s eschewing what he tried to do in the past by tempering his expectations.

“I think that’s what I’ve tried to do in the past, but honestly I’m just going to try to enjoy the moment and continue just to move forward,” Gordon said. “I don’t know what the rest of the week holds, nothing’s promised and nothing’s given, so I’ve just got to continue to try to go out and earn it.”

Gordon’s season has gotten off to a really nice start as he’s made the cut at each of his first four events of the year. It was fascinating to hear him discuss what he’s learned and how he’s grown mentally because of the success of those he’s competed with on the KFT.

“There’s a lot of guys kind of my age and younger that are having a lot of success out here and guys that have been out here and had some major success that I grew up playing with,” Gordon said. “So … it does kind of take the fear away in a sense because you know you can do it, but you’ve still got to go out and do it and earn it. So it’s been good to see the KFT class play well this fall and I’ve gotten to see a bunch of those guys, so it’s been a cool transition this fall.”

Other contenders

2. Russell Henley (-8)

T3. Scott Piercy, Francesco Molinari, Sam Ryder, Harris English (-7)

T7. David Lingmerth, Martin Laird, Scottie Scheffler, Viktor Hovland (-6)

The big dogs reside there at the T7 spot with Hovland going for his third consecutive victory at this tournament and Scheffler aiming for his fifth PGA Tour win in 2022. They played together on Thursday and shot a best ball 60.

“For the most part you’re doing your own thing, but it’s nice when you’re on the golf course and you can see other players hitting really good shots,” Scheffler said. “I think that’s good kind of momentum for the group, when somebody starts playing well, the other guys can kind of feed off of it sometimes.”

Hovland’s last nine rounds at Mayakoba look like this: 67-69-63-65-67-65-62-67-65. That makes for a 65.6 average over the last three seasons, which is absolutely ridiculous. Still, Hovland says he can (and should) play better than he did on Thursday.

“I think the last two years I’ve started 4 and 5 under (He was 4 under in the first round of both wins), so even improved on that,” Hovland said. “Obviously I made a couple putts and holed out from the bunker. Did a lot of good stuff today, but at the same time I felt like I hit some really bad shots, too. So I feel like there’s still opportunities to improve.”

Where’s Morikawa?

I’m not going to get concerned about Collin Morikawa (or any top 10 player in the world) at the start of November of any year. However, he shot 71 on Thursday and is currently T90. If he finishes outside the top 25 (which looks like a probability right now), that would mark three straight events to start his season in which he hasn’t notched a top 25 appearance. It’s something that’s worth monitoring.

2022 Mayakoba odds, picks

• Scottie Scheffler: 6-1
• Viktor Hovland: 13/2
• Russell Henley: 9-1
• Will Gordon: 14-1
• Harris English: 18-1
• Maverick McNealy: 18-1
• Tom Hoge: 22-1
• Francesco Molinari: 22-1

It’s a pretty interesting board right now. Scheffler is a bit too short for my taste, although I do kind of love Hovland at 13/2. Hoge at 22-1 is speaking my language. I’ve been riding the Hoge train for weeks now, and he can’t stop shooting scores in the mid 60s. He’s one of the best iron players in the world that nobody knows about. The value here is probably with Tony Finau — who was my pre-tournament pick — at 35-1. He’s 3 under and just four back of third place. That’s nothing for a scorer like Big Tone at a place like Mayakoba, and I’m  believing that he shook any rust he had off in Round 1.

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The PGA Tour returns following a terrific Presidents Cup with a fun Sanderson Farms Championship to kick-start the rest of the last fall as we know it for the foreseeable future. The tournament in Jackson, Mississippi, has become a fun fall staple — the type of throwback PGA Tour event that doesn’t really define the Tour anymore but provides a great launching pad for young talent and a nice landing spot for old stalwarts.

Sam Burns, fresh off his first Team USA event, rolled in as the defending champion and he played nicely on the first day at the Country Club of Jackson. However, he still trails the leaders — and there are a lot of them — after 18 holes.

Let’s take a look at his round as well as who else is in the hunt this week.

The leaders

T1. Davis Riley, Will Gordon (-6)

Riley is somebody who has been talked about as a potential future Presidents Cup or even Ryder Cup participant, and perhaps this is the beginning of that march toward Rome next year. That sounds ridiculous given the depth the U.S. has, but Riley is a terrific talent, and we often see 3-5 players drop off year over year on these U.S. teams. 

“I feel like I played really solid,” Riley said. “I feel like it was hard to get really, really close to a lot of pins just because the greens were rolling out, the wind up there. It’s hard to have a ton of opportunities, but yeah, I felt like I had a really solid day. The way I was playing, I feel like if I just kept going on, I would be pretty close to up there. To keep it stress-free was really nice.”

One thing to keep an eye on is that though Riley hit it well, he also rode a really hot putter in Round 1 (5th in the field) to that 6-under score. He has the tee-to-green chops to back it up, but it’s worth considering as we roll into the next three rounds.

Other contenders

T3. Andrew Putnam, Brandon Matthews, Kevin Yu, Christiaan Bezuidenhout, Mark Hubbard, Thomas Detry, Trevor Cone (-5)

T10. Nick Taylor, Kevin Roy, Russell Knox, S.H. Kim (-4)

Keep an eye on Matthews. He got married on Saturday and joked that his wife always dreamed of honeymooning in Jackson. He’s one of the longest good players in the world off the tee, and he gained nearly three strokes from tee to green Thursday. Matthews winning this week would be a great feel good story.

“I consider myself one of the luckiest guys in the world to be able to do this for a living because I love it so much,” Matthews said. “To have fun over the next three days, not put a ton of pressure on myself and just go out and enjoy it.”

Burns returns

A three-time winner a year ago, Burns is easily the class of this field, and he played well enough with a 2-under 70 on Thursday to stay in the top three of the betting odds (see below). The good news for Burns a week after he hit a bevy of long putts to help the U.S. to its win at Quail Hollow is that he didn’t putt well at all and has a lot of room for improvement (and perhaps a second straight win here) over the next three days. 

“This tournament means a lot to me, like you said,” Burns said. “It’s close to home, and I enjoy coming back here. I look forward to seeing a lot of familiar faces this week. I’ve gotten to know a lot of the Sanderson Farms family really well, and it’s been great coming back here. I’m excited for the next few days.”

2022 Sanderson Farms Championship updated odds and picks

• Davis Riley: 11/2
• Will Gordon: 10-1
• Christiaan Bezuidenhout: 11-1
• Thomas Detry: 12-1
• Sam Burns: 14-1
• Andrew Putnam: 18-1

Riley is compelling as a winner but not necessarily at this number. Bezuidenhout, on the other hand, is an interesting pick given that he’s coming off a successful Presidents Cup and led this field from tee to green Thursday. Burns, too, is a nice number, given his firepower and how poorly he putted (105th in the field) on Thursday. Those are the two guys that I would be on ahead of Riley.

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