Brooks Koepka fired a storming eight-under 63 to take the clubhouse lead within the first spherical of the The CJ Cup Byron Nelson in Texas.
4 days on from the conclusion of the PGA Championship, received by Englishman Aaron Rai, common tour motion within the US resumed at TPC Craig Ranch with world No 1 and defending event champion Scottie Scheffler headlining the sphere.
Nevertheless it was former No 1 and five-time main winner Koepka, taking part in in a bunch alongside Scheffler, who made essentially the most eye-catching begin in McKinney on his eleventh look again on the PGA Tour due to a bogey-free opening spherical that includes six birdies and one eagle.
Ranging from the tenth gap, Koepka birdied the par-four eleventh earlier than discovering an eagle on the subsequent gap, the par-five twelfth. After an extra birdie on the 14th helped him exit in a four-under 31, the American birdied the second, fourth, fifth and sixth on his means in for a spherical of 63.
Koepka has returned to the PGA Tour this 12 months after 4 seasons on LIV Golf and has thus far recorded a greatest end of tied-ninth on the Cognizant Basic in February. He completed tied fifty fifth final week at Aronimink.
Because it stands with Thursday’s play persevering with, Koepka leads by one shot from a bunch of 5 gamers – Argentina’s Emiliano Grillo, South Korea’s Si Woo Kim, Germany’s Stephan Jaeger and American duo Keith Mitchell and Michael Thorbjornsen – tied on seven underneath.
Texan resident Scheffler, who received final 12 months’s event on 31 underneath par to equal the document or the fewest quantity of strokes in a PGA Tour occasion, opened his title defence with a five-under 66.
Within the group with Koepka and Kim, beginning on the tenth, Scheffler birdied the twelfth and thirteenth earlier than ending his day by going three underneath by way of his remaining 5 holes, together with a round-ending birdie.
Extra to comply with…
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