Cameron Younger, the one participant within the 20-man subject with no PGA Tour win, set the tempo early on and sustained it to complete atop the leaderboard at a bogey-free 8-under-par 64 after the opening spherical of the Hero World Problem on the Albany course on Thursday.
The American was two strokes away from two-time PGA Championship winner Justin Thomas, who rattled off six birdies on the again 9 (together with 4 straight from Gap 14), and three forward of a quintet that included defending champion and World No.1 Scottie Scheffler, three debutants – Ludvig Aberg, the Indian-origin duo of Akshay Bhatia and Sahith Theegala -and Patrick Cantlay.
The 27-year-old Younger, who carded 5 birdies on the entrance 9, was one stroke shy of the perfect opening spherical within the match historical past set by Michael Campbell 19 years in the past.
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Quite the opposite, Nick Dunlap, a nominee for the Arnold Palmer Award as PGA Tour Rookie of the 12 months, who additionally fired in eight birdies, endured a nasty run within the ultimate three holes with a bogey, par and double bogey after having been 7-under. He was Tied-8 on 68 together with three fellow rivals.
Actually, on a day that was partly sunny with the temperature hovering within the mid-20s Celsius, 16 gamers returned to the clubhouse with under-par scores.
Requested about what clicked for him, Younger, making his third look on the occasion, stated some constant good driving did the trick. “I drove it nice. I’m positive I missed a fairway or two, however for essentially the most half I used to be very well in place.”
Main scores (after Spherical 1):
64: Cameron Younger; 66: Justin Thomas; 67: Akshay Bhatia, Ludvig Aberg, Patrick Cantlay, Scottie Scheffler, Sahith Theegala.
(The author is in Nassau on the invitation of Hero MotoCorp)