Kang starts with a bang in Vegas
SOUTH Korea’s Kang Sung-hoon fired a 10under par 61 to grab the early lead at the US PGA Shriners’ Children’s Hospital Open at Las Vegas.
Kang made nine birdies and a closing eagle against a lone bogey. He was two strokes clear of compatriot Im Sung-jae and Americans Charley Hoffman and Chad Ramey.
Australian Matt Jones was among five players who shared fifth on 64, alongside Americans Adam Schenk, Talor Gooch, Chesson Hadley and Matthew Wolff.
The round was the second-best of Kang’s PGA career, bettered only by his 60 in the second round of the 2016 Pebble Beach Pro-Am.
Kang, whose only top-20 showing this year was a share of 15th at Greensboro in August, opened with a birdie at the par-4 10th.
He closed his first nine holes with birdies on three of the last four, the longest with a ninefoot putt at the 18th. At the par-3 eighth, Kang rolled in a 15-footer for par, then blasted out of a fairway bunker at the par-5 ninth hole to 18 feet and sank his eagle putt.