Flurry of birdies at end of first round gives Guthrie chance to make cut at Valspar Championship

PALM HARBOR, Fla. — Once Luke Guthrie found his rhythm on the greens, the Quincy native gave himself a chance to play on the weekend in his return to the PGA Tour.

Guthrie birdied four of his final six holes Thursday in the opening round of the Valspar Championship at the Copperhead Course at Innisbrook Resort and Golf Club, finishing with a 2-under 69 and tied for 50th in the 144-player field.

This is Guthrie’s first PGA Tour event since the 2019 U.S. Open.

It wasn’t the smoothest of starts in his return either.

Guthrie’s tee shot on the par-5 first hole went left into the tree outline and he was forced to punch out, leading to a bogey. He missed the fairway on the par-4 second hole and the green on the par-3 fourth, salvaging pars on both to sandwich them around a birdie on the par-4 third.

His drive on the par-5 fifth hole found a fairway bunker and led to bogey, which led to him making the turn at 1-under 37.

Three consecutive pars to open the back nine — seven consecutive pars overall — preceded a string of quality holes. It began on the par-3 13th when he stuck his tee shot inside 11 feet from the cup and rolled in the birdie putt.

He made a 12-footer for birdie on the par-5 14th before giving a shot bank when he couldn’t get up-and-down from the greenside bunker on the par-3 15th. A par on No. 16 set up a strong finish.

Guthrie’s tee shot on the par-3 17th left him less than 8 feet for birdie and he buried the putt. On the par-4 18th, he left himself a 13-foot putt for birdie and calmly sank it to get under the projected cutline going into the second round.

Four golfers shot a 7-under 64 and are tied for the lead.

Guthrie’s putting kept him in the mix. He hit just 38.5 percent of his fairways, but he needed 13 putts to navigate the back nine in 3-under 32.

The Quincy High School Hall of Famer will tee off in the second round at 8:41 a.m.