Langer and Dawson Lead After the 1st Round of the Ally Challenge

Warwick Hills Golf and Country Club, Grand Blanc, MI — August 28, 2021

The late start of The Ally Challenge Presented by McLaren on Friday due to early morning rains resulted in the first round extending to Saturday morning. Marco Dawson and Bernhard Langer sit atop the leaderboard at 8 under par.

Dawson started his round on the 10th hole, birdies on 10 & 11 got him going early. Another birdie on 15 and an eagle on the par 5 16th had him at 5 under through his opening 9 holes. Three more birdies on his 2nd nine got him to 64 on the day.

Langer was in one of the first groups off the 1st hole when play began. He had three birdies through the first seven holes but carded a bogey on the 9th. Langer got red hot on the back nine scoring three birdies on 11-13 and three more on 15-17 to reach the 8 under score that Dawson matched.

The Defending Champion

Jim Furyk, last year’s winner of The Ally Challenge, made a statement on the 1st hole with an eagle three on the par 5 to start his round. Three more birdies on the front moved him to 5 under after 9 holes. However, on the back nine Furyk could only add two birdies to his card and finished one stroke off the lead at 7 under.

Joe Durant and K.J. Choi are tied for 3rd with Furyk after shooting scores of 65 for their opening rounds. Durant had the more exciting 18 as he holed his shot from the fairway on the par 4, 4th hole for an eagle. Birdies on 6, 7, and 9 had him at 5 under. On the back nine, four birdies and two bogies resulted in his score of -7.

Crowded Leaderboard

Darren Clarke, Woody Austin, and Doug Barron are tied for sixth at 6 under par. Six players are tied for ninth at 5 under including Davis Love III and Retief Goosen. The 2019 Ally Challenge Champion, Jerry Kelly, is four strokes out of the lead at 4 under. He is tied with six other players including Corey Pavin and crowd favorite John Daly.

Other notables include Ernie Els(-3), Vijay Singh(-3), former Ally winner Paul Broadhurst(-3), Masters winner Larry Mize(-2), Kenny Perry(-1), and José María Olazábal(E).

The tournament resumes at 10:10 this morning with the first group off tee #1.

The Celebrity Challenge with feature golf’s greatest champion Jack Nicklaus; fellow World Golf Hall-of-Famer Lee Trevino; NCAA Men’s Basketball title-winning head coach Tom Izzo of Michigan State University, and Detroit Red Wings head coach Jeff Blashill teeing off on the 10th hole after the final group of professionals advance past that point on the course.

It was announced yesterday that the Community Concert set for Saturday night would have a different headline act.  The 2021 ACM Female Artist of the Year and GRAMMY Award winner Maren Morris set to replace Little Big Town at the 2021 Ally Challenge presented by McLaren. Health issues caused Little Big Town to bow out and organizers scrambled to bring in one of the most popular new artists in Country Music to sub for the group.

Tickets are still available and can be purchased at the Ally Challenge website.

Round 1 Leaderboard at The Ally Challenge Presented by McLaren