Finau, Pendrith share lead after 64s in Detroit
Tony Finau, coming off his third victory on the PGA Tour, and Taylor Pendrith shared the first-round lead at eight-under-par 64 on Thursday in the Rocket Mortgage Classic.
Former U.S. Open champion Webb Simpson, Michael Thompson, Cameron Champ, Lee Hodges and Matt Wallace were two shots back.
Si Woo Kim and Kurt Kitayama, both ranked among the top 70 in the world, were in the pack at 67 at Detroit Golf Club.
The leaderboard was filled with players who took advantage of favorable scoring conditions with morning tee times. In the afternoon, the wind picked up and the scores did as well.
Finau, who rallied from a five-shot deficit with 11 holes left to win the 3M Open by three shots Sunday in Minnesota, opened with a birdie and had five birdies on his front nine.
After cooling off with four straight pars, Finau closed with his seventh and eighth birdies in a bogey-free round. He hit all 18 greens in regulation for the first time in 728 PGA Tour stroke-play rounds.
Pendrith, a 31-year-old PGA Tour rookie, surged into a share of the lead with five birdies in a seven-hole stretch on his back nine.
Pendrith is atop a leaderboard for the first time on the PGA Tour following an opening round. The Canadian did have the thirdround lead by three shots last October at the Bermuda Championship before closing with a 76 and finishing a career-high fifth.
Choi leads at LPGA Scottish Open
LPGA Tour rookie HyeJin Choi shot an eight-under 64 to take a one-shot lead at the Scottish Open on a day of low scoring on the Dundonald Links course in Ayrshire.
Choi had seven birdies, one eagle and a bogey to tie her career-low round on the LPGA Tour.
Three players were tied for second with opening 65s. Lydia Ko went bogey-free for the 11th time this season in her fifth appearance at the Scottish Open, which leads into the LPGA Tour’s final major of the season next week — the Women’s British Open at Muirfield.
Celine Boutier and Lilia Vu also shot 65.
Georgia Hall and LPGA Tour rookie Na Rin An were tied for fifth with 66s with seven players in a tie for seventh with 67s, including U.S. Women’s Open champion Minjee Lee. Defending Scottish Open champion Ryann O’Toole shot 68.
Crocker shoots course record
Sean Crocker shot a course-record nine-under 63 to lead by one shot after the first round of the Hero Open on the European tour at St. Andrews, Scotland.
It was the American’s lowest round on the tour, featuring eight birdies and an eagle at Fairmont St. Andrews — just up the road from the storied Old Course where the British Open was held two weeks ago.
Crocker went on a run of birdie-birdie-birdie-eaglebirdie from the third hole and had four birdies in five holes from No. 11.
Five players were in a tie for second place after rounds of 64s: Romain Langasque of France, English pair Ben Stow and Ashley Chesters, Jens Dantorp of Sweden and Adrian Otaegui of Spain.