BLAINE, Minn. – Ben Kohles is playing the best golf of his career and he’s not afraid to say it.
“Yeah, I’d say. The last two months has been the best I’ve ever felt,” he said. “At times, I’ve had every part of my game clicking but not all of it put together. It feels like it’s all right there right now.”
It was all clicking on Thursday at the first round of the 3M Open. Kohles hit 17 greens in regulation and drilled a hybrid from 245 yards to 4 feet for an eagle at 18 and a 9-under 62 to grab a two-shot lead.
“I was just in control all day,” he said.
Confidence is knowing your best golf is still to come and Kohles has been rolling.
The 36-year-old has been splitting time between the Korn Ferry Tour, where he won the BMW Charity Pro-Am in June, and
PGA Tour this season. This is his 10th start in the big leagues. He was tied for the lead at the 72nd hole at the John Deere Classic a few weeks ago but tugged his approach into the water, made double bogey and dropped to a share of third. He followed it up with a T-15 at the ISCO Championship, lifting him to No. 100 in the FedEx Cup season-long standings. Kohles wasn’t dwelling on what could’ve been at the JDC.
“You know you're playing well so it's just about trying to get yourself back in those positions,” he said. “You've just got to keep putting the pedal down and see where you go.”
Kohles made four birdies on the back nine to go along with the eagle at the last en route to his career-low score on Tour.
“The wind kind of died a little bit so I just kind of backed off (hitting a cut) and went with a stock one and ended up being perfect. Nice to have a three-, four-footer there to finish off the day,” he said.
Kohles said his iron game has been sharp for the past few seasons. The difference of late has been that the putter has been cooperating. He started working last fall with putting coach Tim Yelverton and switched away from a zero torque putter the week before he won the BMW to a Scotty Cameron T9 model.
“Ever since then it's been feeling really solid in my hands and yeah, just rolling with it,” he said.
With the way he’s been playing the past few months, Kohles’s deserves a cap sponsorship deal. For now, he’s been rocking the cool multi-colored turtle logo of Atlantic Beach Country Club in Florida.
“If anyone wants to give me a hat deal I’d be happy for it, “ he said, “but happy to represent my course I play back home in Atlantic Beach.”
Adam Schupak is a Golfweek senior writer covering the PGA Tour.
This article originally appeared on Golfweek: Ben Kohles is playing the best golf of his career and isn't afraid to say so
