Spieth will welcome good luck in Vegas
LAS VEGAS — Peter Uihlein topped the leaderboard at 8-under-par 63 Thursday in the Shriners Hospitals For Children Open, with Jordan Spieth three strokes back in his debut for the 2018-19 PGA Tour season.
Uihlein birdied six of his final nine holes in the morning round at TPC Summerlin. The 29-yearold former Oklahoma State golfer is searching for his first PGA Tour victory.
“It’s nice to get off to a good start, especially when there wasn’t much wind,” Uihlein said. “I’ve heard mixed reviews on the forecast this week, so nice to get off to a good start and take advantage of good conditions early.”
Seth Reeves shot a 64, electing to finish the par-5 ninth after the horn sounded suspending play because of darkness. Twenty golfers were still on the course.
“I had to stop because of darkness last week, and it’s just, you have rhythm out here when you’re playing good, especially,” Reeves said. “Then when I heard what the restart time was, basically an hour and five minutes before my original tee time. My hotel is 30 minutes away. I’m just like, ‘Man, I’m feeling good. I would rather finish.’ I feel like that will do me better for the morning round, to get an extra hour of the sleep.”
Harold Varner III and Robert Streb were two strokes back in third.
Spieth shot 66 in his first career start in a domestic fall event. He is playing for the first time since he was part of the United States’ loss at the Ryder Cup in September and making his first stroke-play start since the BMW Championship that month in the FedEx Cup playoffs.
“It’s gettable without the wind,” Spieth said. “We got really, really good conditions this morning, so an 8 under, certainly thought that was out there. To see Peter shoot that was no surprise. Then the guys in the afternoon are going to have it tougher. Looks like we might get the good end of the draw. It’s always nice having a little bit of luck in Vegas, right?”
Bryson DeChambeau also was at 66, tied for fifth with Abraham Ancer, Si Woo Kim, Whee Kim, Sebastian Munoz and Sam Ryder.
Baylor School graduate Harris English (71) was tied for 90th. Another former Red Raiders standout, Chattanooga’s Stephan Jaeger, was 1 over through 15 holes.
ANTALYA, Turkey — Paul Dunne shot a bogey-free, 7-under-par 64 to take a onestroke lead after the first round of the Turkish Airlines Open.
Dunne, who has not posted a top-10 finish since April, had his lowest score in Europe since a closing 61 to win the British Masters in October 2017. That remains the 25-year-old Irishman’s only European Tour title.
Three-time major winner Padraig Harrington, 47, whose most recent golf victory of any type was the Portugal Masters in October 2016, was tied for second with two former winners of this tournament — 2016 champion Thorbjorn Olesen and second-ranked Justin Rose, who is trying to repeat as an event’s title-holder for the first time in his professional career.
Harrington offset a bogey on the par-5 seventh hole with seven birdies, while Olesen avoided bogeys. Rose’s 65 was free of bogeys, highlighted by four birdies and an eagle at the par-4 fourth hole.
Rose spent two weeks at No. 1 in the World Golf Ranking after finishing second in the BMW Championship in September, and he can return to No. 1 with a second straight victory at Regnum Carya Golf & Spa Resort. He is a combined 44 under for his nine rounds in the event overall, and he also won its precursor — an eight-man match play competition — in 2012.
Among the group of seven players two shots off the lead and tied for fifth were former No. 1 golfers Martin Kaymer and Lee Westwood.
Dunne starts well