Three-way tie on top, debutant McDowell joint fourth in Texas

>> FORT WORTH: Americans Kelly Kraft, JT Poston and Derek Fathauer shared the first round lead at Colonial on Thursday with a host of big names on their heels in the US PGA Tour Dean & DeLuca Invitational.

Kraft, Poston and Fathauer fired five-under-par 65s on the par-70 Colonial Country Club layout in Fort Worth, Texas.

They were one in front of Northern Ireland’s Graeme McDowell, rising Spanish star Jon Rahm and American Scott Brown, with five-time major winner Phil Mickelson heading a group a further stroke back on 67.

McDowell, the 2010 US Open champion, is making his debut in a tournament that clashes with the European PGA Championship at Wentworth and made the most of benign morning conditions to grab four birdies without a bogey.

“It’s a real classic old-school golf course,” he told PGATour.com. “At the back of your mind you’re hoping you making right decisions off tees and get the right strategy on holes. I really felt like I played the course correctly today.”

Mickelson also teed off early and finished with three straight birdies at the seventh, eighth and ninth.

Fathauer set an early target with six birdies in his 65 — including four in his final nine holes.

Kraft, runner-up at Pebble Beach this year, had five birdies without a bogey, his 40-footer at 16 giving him a share of the lead.

Poston had six birdies against one bogey.

Defending champion Jordan Spieth endured a roller-coaster of a day in which four bogeys and a double-bogey and six birdies — including back-to-back birdies to end his round — yielded an even-par 70.