Thomas, Rahm open with 63s to share lead

Jon Rahm returned from a month off and played like he was never gone. Justin Thomas took the advice of a 15-year-old and had his lowest score of the year.

Both opened with an 8-under-par 63 on Thursday at The Northern Trust in Jersey City, N.J., as the PGA Tour’s postseason began with no shortage of bizarre developments.

Rahm, who missed his chance at the Olympics because of what amounts to a false-positive test result for COVID-19, expected a little rust in his game. It just didn’t show on his card. He chipped in for birdie, saved par on the next two holes and was on his way.

Thomas had benched his putter for bad behavior after he spent too much of the year not seeing putts go in the hole. But during his junior event last week, a teenager asked why he wasn’t using his old putter.

“And I found myself defending myself to this 15-year-old,” he said. “I was like, ‘Why am I not using this thing?’ It’s not like I’m making a lot of putts with what I have. If you’re putting well, any of us can go out and putt with anything.”

He recorded nine birdies for his lowest round since a 62 in November in Mexico.

Bryson DeChambeau also made nine birdies. He was eight shots behind. His round of 71 was noteworthy because of the pars he made on No. 4 and No. 10. Those were the only pars he made all day. The nine birdies were offset by five bogeys and two doublebogeys.

It was the first time in 10 years someone shot par or better with two pars or fewer.

Harold Varner III had a 66 in the morning, boosting his postseason chances. He is No. 72 in the FedEx Cup standings, and only the top 70 after this weekend advance to the next tournament. With the points at quadruple value, some big movements are expected.

The six players at 67 included Adam Scott (No. 82), Robert Streb (No. 68) and Mackenzie Hughes (No. 67).

Dustin Johnson, last year’s FedEx winner, shot 70. British Open champion Collin Morikawa, the No. 1 seed, struggled to keep the ball in play and opened with a 74. Jordan Spieth at No. 2 opened with a 72.

Women’s British Open: Nelly Korda’s sensational summer form is showing no sign of dipping. Two weeks after winning a gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics, the top-ranked player began her bid for a second major title in two months by shooting 5-under 67 to share the first-round lead at the Women’s British Open at Carnoustie, Scotland.

Korda rolled in a 5-foot putt at No. 18 at Carnoustie for her eighth birdie of a round that also contained three bogeys in overcast, chilly but largely wind-free conditions over the links in eastern Scotland. She was later joined at 5-under by Sweden’s Madelene Sagstrom, who has not recorded a top-10 finish at a major, and South Korea’s Sei Young Kim, a major champion last year.

Korda, 23 has climbed to No. 1 by winning the PGA Championship in June and followed that by winning the Olympic tournament in Tokyo this month. The American has four wins in 14 events in 2021.

European Tour: Henrik Stenson, the 2016 British Open champion, and Maverick Antcliff both shot a 5-under 67 to share the lead after the opening round of the Czech Masters in Vysoky Ujezd.