Gonzalo Fernández Castaño came out in the Northern Trust Open with a convincing performance in the first round, turning in a card for PAR which puts him at 33º place, with only three players left to finish the round, suspended by lack of light at the Riviera Country Club (Pacific Palisades, California).
The Madrid native left things off just five shots away from the next position up, where there are six players who are neck and neck: two 'old time rockers', Retief Goosen and Vijay Singh, in addition to Nick Watney, James Hahn, Daniel Summerhays and Derek Fathauer.
Gonzalo landed two greens and three putts, not exactly a disaster but which meant that he wouldn't be able to win the battle on the California course. He was reliable off the tee (only missing three fairways) and a bit off on the second shots, although he left himself a good amount of options for birdie from distances of six and eight meters away, which he wasn't able to convert in the end. However, he did finish off the round by sinking an excellent putt for birdie from four meters out on the 8th hole (he started off on the 10th).
In any case, it was an inspiring beginning, very well done (keeping in mind that the tournament cut could easily extend to +3 today). Coincidentally, last year he started off very similar to this tournament: four birdies and four bogeys, the same as this Thursday. The key will be to continue to catch a good amount of fairways, due to the fact that the rough is giving the golfers a really hard time. Fernández Castaño will play today in the second round starting at 11:30 am local time (8:30 pm Peninsular Spanish time).
