Rickie Fowler’s birthday surprise, Sahith Theegala’s secret weapon

I am involved in mixed team events. I would like to see something with a match play format going on.

Rickie’s birthday surprise

The fun started on the first tee at Tiburon when Lexi Thompson gave Rickie Fowler a cake for his 36th birthday. Props to the LPGA media team for taking the cake, and word on the street is that someone from their camp went the extra mile and put the orange icing on it themselves.

Not only did Fowler get a birthday cake in the first round, he took it another one cake and balloons when he walked off the 18th green after he and Thompson shot a nine-under 63.

I guess if you’re as good at golf as Rickie Fowler, you get two cakes! It must be beautiful. Also, fun fact: there were two birthdays in Fowler’s group today. Lexi Thompson’s brother Curtis turned 31 today and was in his sister’s bag in Tiburon. I hope he got at least one cake to celebrate the occasion!

Old friends reunite

One of my favorite pairings this week is that of Allisen Corpuz and Sahith Theegala, who met each other in the parking lot of a junior golf tournament when they were six years old. Their parents have been friends ever since.

Theegala joked that their team’s secret weapon this week is their dads. But not for the reason you might think.

To know Sahith Theegala is to know how supportive his family is, especially his father, Murli. So I expected it that to be the reason he and Corpuz said their dads are their secret weapon this week. However, Theegala’s explanation for it was much funnier.

The best presser of the day

I became a massive fan of Jake Knapp and Patty Tavatanaki today, and not because of their spectacular playing (although that is definitely a bonus).

They both had so much fun getting together (I mean, how could you not when you’re teeing off every hole on the front nine?) and had such great energy at their post-round press conference.

Regular clothes: I feel like we kept it pretty cool, just talked about random things. I feel like I haven’t played free golf like this in a while, so it’s actually a really nice feeling. I feel very safe there because I know I have a very good partner.

Knapp: It’s like I got to spend some time with Alison Lee a week ago, so she gave me some insight into Patty. I think that’s the general theme of this week, getting to know each other and also having a good time. Still go out there and compete obviously, but most of all have fun.

Q. What did Alison tell you about Patty?

Knapp: She said that she can get a little upset at times and maybe get frustrated with herself, so she was like just don’t let it get that way. I was like, well, I get bored too. No, it was a little bit more like keeping the conversation going and just making sure we had a good time between shots.

Regular clothes: Basically, he’s just taking care of me.

I’m sure if they keep playing the way they are, we’ll be hearing a lot more from them as the weekend goes on.