Hahn, Barnes share lead at Nelson; late trouble drops Koepka 3 behind

IRVING, Texas - Brooks Koepka leaned in for a closer look at his ball buried in deep rough when a critter he couldn’t identify caused him to jump back with a bit of a startled look.

His best guesses were a frog or rat, though he was too disoriented to be sure. It definitely wasn’t a birdie, because Koepka was on his way to finishing with two straight bogeys after sharing the lead late in his opening round of the AT&T Byron Nelson on Thursday.

A year after losing to Sergio Garcia in a playoff at the TPC Four Seasons, Koepka settled for a 3-under 67 and trailed coleaders James Hahn and Ricky Barnes by three shots.

“It jumped out and I didn’t know what was going on, freaked me out,” said Koepka, who needed help from a bevy of tournament volunteers and fans to find his ball while hitting two shots out of the thick grass and just missing a chip that would have saved par on the ninth hole, his last.

“I was so in amazement of what just happened, whether it jumped out, scared me. I couldn’t see it because it ran underneath the grass again.”

Matt Kuchar, Jhonattan Vegas, Jason Kokrak and Cameron Tringale shot 66, and top-ranked Dustin Johnson topped the group at 67, a stroke ahead of fourth-ranked Jason Day and Jordan Spieth, the No. 6 player competing in his hometown event.

LPGA Tour

WILLIAMSBURG, Va. - Lexi Thompson had six birdies in a sevenhole stretch and finished with a 6-under 65 on Thursday to take the firstround lead in the Kingsmill Championship.

Top-ranked Lydia Ko was two strokes back at 67 along with Sarah Jane Smith and Giulia Molinaro. Defending champion Ariya Jutanugarn shot a 72.

Champions Tour

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - Scott McCarron eagled the par-5 18th hole for a 7under 65 and a share of the first-round lead Thursday in the Regions Tradition, the first of the PGA Tour Champions’ five majors.

Lee Janzen, Jeff Sluman and Miguel Angel Jimenez joined McCarron atop the leaderboard at Greystone.