Koepka has lead after strong start
SHANGHAI — The HSBC Champions is the first stop for PGA Tour golfer Brooks Koepka during his four-week Asian adventure that will include two weeks on the beaches of Vietnam and Thailand and an attempt to repeat as champion at a tournament in Japan.
Splotches of mud on his shirt were evidence that it started with a wild ride Thursday at Sheshan International Golf Club.
“Yeah, I had some fun in the water,” he said in reference to a birdie on the par-5 eighth that included a barefoot shot from a shallow stream.
Koepka played so beautifully, he had reason to believe his 8-under-par 64 for a one-shot lead could have been much lower. He burned the edge of cup on a few birdie putts, missed one birdie attempt from four feet and turned a certain birdie into an aggravating bogey when he three-putted from four feet on No. 3.
The rest of the round was crisp for Koepka, especially considering he had not played since the Presidents Cup at the start of the month. Along the way, he ticked off another goal for 2017 — having a lead to himself after the opening round, though it wasn’t a big one with Kiradech Aphibarnrat and Gavin Green just behind in this World Golf Championship.
Haydn Porteous and Patrick Reed of South Africa were tied for fourth at 66, with Paul Dunne, Tony Finau, Matt Kuchar, Justin Rose and A-Shun Wu another stroke back in sixth.
Crowded up top
JACKSON, Miss. — Five players, each looking for his first PGA Tour win, shared the lead after the first round of the Sanderson Farms Championship.
Ryan Armour, Wyndham Clark, Andrew Landry, Conrad Shindler and J.J. Spaun each opened with a 6-under 66, with Derek Fathauer, Smylie Kaufman, Peter Malnati and Brian Stuard another stroke back at the Country Club of Jackson.
Landry was 6 under after his first five holes — he started on No. 10 — a run that included an eagle on the 110-yard No. 14. His gap wedge shot bounced once on its way into the hole.
Athens, Tenn., native Eric Axley was part of a 10th-place logjam at 68. He made five birdies and one bogey as one of eight players in the group.
Chattanooga’s Stephan Jaeger (72) shared 69th, former Baylor School standout Keith Mitchell (74) was 102nd and Harris English (76), another former Red Raider, was 118th.
Lydia Ko leads
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia — Lydia Ko fired a 7-under 64 for her best opening round of the year and led the LPGA Tour’s Sime Darby tournament, and she hopes her best start will lead to her first title of 2017.
Formerly the No. 1-ranked women’s golfer in the world, she is one shot ahead of Su Oh and two ahead of Eun Hee-Ji, Madelene Sagstrom and Feng Shanshan. The latter has won the tournament twice, including last year, and Hee-Ji won the Swinging Skirts Classic by six strokes on Sunday in Taiwan for her first LPGA Tour title since 2009. Ko was second at that event.
Ko opened her round Thursday with a birdie, one of seven in an unblemished showing on the 6,246-yard layout at TPC Kuala Lumpur. She has three top-10 finishes since September and 10 overall this year.