DP/PGA Tours: Genesis Scottish Open
Justin Thomas enjoyed a mid-round birdie blitz as he carded a bogey-free 62 to take a one-shot lead after day one of the Genesis Scottish Open.
The Rolex Series event co-sanctioned by the PGA TOUR has brought a stellar field to The Renaissance Club and former World Number One and two-time Major champion Thomas took top billing in round one with his eight under par effort.
The American birdied the first but really got going from the fifth, picking up seven shots in nine holes to lead by one from South Korea's Sungjae Im.
Swede Ludvig Åberg, Belgian Thomas Detry, German Maximilian Kieffer, China's Li Haotong and American Justin Lower were then two shots off the lead.
Thomas is a 15-time winner on the PGA TOUR but has not won outside of the Majors and World Golf Championships on the DP World Tour, with his last worldwide win coming at the 2022 US PGA Championship.
He has a fine record at Renaissance, with two top tens in four previous appearances, and is looking to become the third American winner of Scotland's national championship in the last decade.
"This is as easy as I feel like you're going to get a links golf course weather-wise and conditions.
"It was nice," he said. "It's always good to get off to a good start and even better to get off to a great one.
"I felt like I was in great control of everything. Just when I missed it, I missed it in the right spots and had a lot of really quality shots. On those four, five, six-footers to kind of make something out of them, I stole a couple with some long or mid-range putts.
"Like any golfer, I would have loved to finish those last five holes a little bit better but I played really, really solid today and that par putt on 17 was huge. I love going bogey-free so it was nice to - I would have had a different taste in my mouth walking off 18.
Detry started birdie-bogey but made a two-putt birdie on the par-five next and ignited his round with a hole-out eagle from 119 yards at the fourth.
A hat-trick of birdies from the eighth sent him into a share of the lead and he led again after another gain on the 14th but dropped a shot on 17th to fall back.
Åberg was three shots back stood on the 16th tee after five birdies and two bogeys but he holed from 21 feet for eagle at the par-five 16th and almost 30 feet at the next to catapult himself up the leaderboard.
Playing partners Li and Kieffer had set the early target and they were two ahead of the field when they made a pair of birdies on the 16th but they then both bogeyed the last.
Lower carded seven birdies and a bogey as he played his first DP World Tour event outside of the United States.
There were then 15 players at five under including defending champion Rory McIlroy, fellow Rolex Series winners and Ryder Cup stars Tommy Fleetwood and Alex Noren, and 2021 Race to Dubai Champion Collin Morikawa
edit **** Canadians had a mixed bag in their opening rounds. Corey Conners and Nick Taylor are off to great starts..T8 -5
Then : Mac Hughes T23 -4 66
Adam Hadwin T77 -1 69
Aaron Cockerill T117 +1 71
The lead -8 62 Justin Thomas..
My previous post called this a putting contest with light winds and early soaking rain..more to follow..
europeantour.com
Bryan Angus (edit)
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