Barracuda Championship Round 1: Ben Martin Banks 16 Points to Lead at Altitude

While most of the golf world was staring at Royal Portrush, Ben Martin was quietly piling up points 6,000 feet above sea level.

Martin made nine birdies against two bogeys on Thursday at Tahoe Mountain Club's Old Greenwood course to post 16 points and take a two-point lead after the first round of the Barracuda Championship. David Lipsky and Nick Watney are tied for second on 14. A six-player logjam sits on 13: Cameron Champ, Rico Hoey, Joel Dahmen, Danny Walker, Dale Whitnell and Todd Clements. Andrew Putnam, Jackson Suber, Yuto Katsuragawa and Vince Whaley are next on 12.

Points, Not Strokes

First, a quick primer, because this week plays by its own rules. The Barracuda is the only event on the PGA TOUR schedule that uses Modified Stableford scoring, and it has been doing so here since 2012. Every hole is worth points. A double eagle pays 8, an eagle 5 and a birdie 2. A par is worth nothing. A bogey costs 1 point, and a double bogey or worse costs 3.

The math changes the personality of a round. Because a birdie is worth twice what a bogey takes away, aggression gets rewarded and a messy hole is not the end of the world. A blow-up hole still stings, though, and an eagle on a par 5 can reshuffle a leaderboard in a single hole. Big numbers on the board are good. Small or negative ones are bad.

The Old Man Gets Hot

Martin did not exactly arrive in Truckee as a headliner. The 37-year-old's lone PGA TOUR win came in Las Vegas back in 2014, and by Martin's own account the body is not what it used to be. "I'm getting old," Martin said, per the AP, after a chilly morning warmup on the range.

It did not show on the card. Nine birdies in an opening round is a strong day in any format, and in this one it was a runaway. The only real wobble came in the middle of the round, when Martin dropped back-to-back bogeys on Nos. 6 and 7. In a stroke-play event that stretch might stall a round for good. Here Martin answered right away with birdies on Nos. 8 and 9 to close out the morning, flipping a 2-point loss into a 2-point net gain and finishing with the best total of the day.

Lipsky's Blazing Start

The most electric nine holes of the day belonged to Lipsky. Starting on the back nine, Lipsky covered the opening nine in 7-under 29, with five birdies and an eagle on the par-5 15th, to bank 15 points before making the turn. At that pace, a historic number looked possible.

Then the second hole happened. Lipsky's approach into the par-4 2nd hit a greenside sprinkler head and took off. "Bounced way over the green," Lipsky said. The result was a double bogey and a 3-point hit, the harshest penalty this format hands out. Lipsky got two back with a birdie on the par-5 3rd and then parred the last six holes to finish on 14, two behind Martin.

Watney joined Lipsky in second. The 44-year-old has five PGA TOUR titles, though the most recent came in 2012, and a 14-point start puts a veteran in a spot to chase another.

The Crowd at 13

The group at 13 is where this tournament could get interesting. Hoey, still searching for a first PGA TOUR win, is in that bunch. So is Dahmen, who produced the Shot of the Day by walking in a long birdie putt. Clements and Whitnell are in the mix too, a reminder that this event is co-sanctioned with the DP World Tour and draws a healthy international contingent.

A little further back, 2021 champion Erik van Rooyen opened with 11 points. Max McGreevy posted 9, and Ryan Gerard, who arrived as the highest-ranked player in the field at 46th in the FedExCup, opened with 7. In this format, those gaps are nothing. One eagle and a birdie is a 7-point swing.

A Rough Afternoon for the Names

The marquee afternoon group did not enjoy Thursday. Max Homa, the biggest name in the field, finished at minus 1. Defending champion Nick Dunlap had a far tougher day and ended at minus 6. Playing alongside them, NCAA champion Michael La Sasso of Ole Miss, in the field on a sponsor exemption, dropped 7 points in a hard introduction to TOUR life.

The German twins had their own struggles. Yannik Paul made zero points, and Jeremy Paul lost two. The former Colorado teammates now have work to do on Friday just to stick around for the weekend.

What Is at Stake

The Barracuda is an opposite-field event, played the same week as The Open, but the prizes are real. The winner gets FedExCup points, a TOUR exemption and a spot in next year's PGA Championship, though not a Masters invitation. For a field full of players chasing status in the back half of the season, that is plenty to play for.

Friday brings the cut, and in this format the line can move in strange ways. Martin has the lead, Lipsky and Watney have the momentum, and a crowd of players on 13 can pass all of them with one hot stretch. Thursday proved how fast points can come at altitude. Friday will show who can keep them.

Full Round 1 details are in the PGA TOUR's Round 1 recap (opens in a new tab).

Sources: PGA TOUR (Round 1 recap, AP), Golf Channel, Sportskeeda leaderboard. More golf coverage on Undrafted.

Photo: PGA TOUR.