HONOLULU: Graham DeLaet has never been happier to be on the PGA Tour, and it showed Thursday in the Sony Open.
One year after back surgery that made him wonder if he could ever play golf again, DeLaet chipped in for eagle and twice holed 35-foot birdie putts for a 7-under-par 63 that gave the Canadian a 2-shot lead among the early starters.
Carl Pettersson and former Sony Open champion K.J. Choi were among those at 65, while Webb Simpson was in the group at 66.
“I’m just so excited to be back out,” DeLaet said. “I had a good season my rookie campaign, and then it was all basically just taken away. And I realize now how fortunate we are to be playing golf for a living. My whole attitude is definitely better.”
His game looked to be in pretty good shape, too.
Thursday was a gentle start of the season in the first full-field tournament of the year on the PGA Tour, with the ocean breeze barely strong enough to move fronds on the palm trees that line the fairways. Just under half of those with early tee times broke par.
Kapalua winner Steve Stricker was among those who played in the afternoon.
DeLaet surged to the top of the leaderboard when he chipped in from just short of the green on the par-5 ninth, then holed a 35-foot birdie putt on the 10th and hit his approach to 6 feet on the 12th for another birdie. He took the outright lead with birdies on the last two holes, getting up-and-down from just short of the green on the par-5 18th.
At this time a year ago, he was a week removed from surgery on his lower back, which included shaving part of his disk to keep it from pressing against a nerve.
“It took me a couple of months before I could even watch golf,” he said.
The injury was nothing new, first suffered when DeLaet was playing hockey as a junior. His lower back would give him fits, and then the pain would subside. Toward the end of his rookie season in 2010 — he finished 100th on the money list to easily keep his card — it got so bad that he couldn’t sit for more than a few seconds.
Surgery took care of the pain, and DeLaet tried to return in the summer in the two tournaments sandwiched around the U.S. Open. His next start was supposed to be the AT&T National at Aronimink, but after playing a few holes before the Wednesday pro-am, he realized he was trying to get back too soon.
“I think I wanted to be there so bad that I felt that I was better physically than I actually was,” DeLaet said. “I just knew that it’s hard enough to compete out here when you’re healthy, and I just knew that I wasn’t in good enough shape to compete.”
For the moment, he feels great.
It wasn’t windy enough for Choi’s tastes — he practices in blustery conditions all the time at home in Dallas — and while he was still tired from a week at Kapalua, he was pleased to start with a 65. Ditto for Pettersson, who worked harder than usual in the offseason by playing golf just about every day in North Carolina.
“I took one week off,” Pettersson said. “I work hard. A lot of people think when you’re overweight, you’re lazy. I don’t do much gym work. I did do some stretching. I worked hard on my game.”
European Tour
Ireland’s Damien McGrane and England’s Jamie Elson each shot an 8-under 63 to share the lead in the rainy first round at the Joburg Open in Johannesburg. Nearly half the field, including defending champion Charl Schwartzel, failed to complete the round because of a four-hour rain delay at the Royal Johannesburg and Kensington Golf Club. South Africa’s Desvonde Botes was part of a three-way tie for third after a 65 on the East Course. He was tied with Reinier Saxton and Peter Karmis.
