DP World/PGA Tours ; Open Championship
Suber is this week competing on European soil for the first time after securing a debut at golf’s oldest championship by finishing tied fourth at the RBC Canadian Open on the PGA TOUR last month.
In just his third career Major Championship appearance, the World Number 115 surged to the summit in what were the tougher afternoon conditions at the sun-baked Southport venue with a -5 65.
England’s Dan Brown and South Korea’s Sungjae Im, playing together in the benign morning conditions on day one, were then one shot off the lead.
Without a win on the PGA TOUR, Suber arrived in England on the back of three top tens in his last six starts.
After opening with four straight pars, he mixed two birdies with two bogeys in a topsy-turvy finish to his front nine to hit the turn at level par.
Suber picked up another gain at the 16th, before producing an excellent second shot to set up a seven-foot eagle putt which he converted to hit the top of the leaderboard.
"Things just really started going after the birdie on the tenth," he said. "I just felt like the momentum was really in my favour. Just kind of kept the ball in good spots and didn't put much pressure on my game to make pars.
"This is my fifth day here. Monday was my first round of links golf, so I've played 27 holes before I played the first round today. I've never been to the UK
Asked what he put his immediate adjustment to the test posed by links golf, he added: "I'm not really sure, but I feel like I've just been playing good the last few months and just knowing that good golf is going to take care of everything, and really trusting my caddie to figure out where we're going to hit it.""
Brown announced himself on the world stage at this event when he finished tied tenth after holding the first-round solo lead on debut at Royal Troon two years ago.
Very nice day," he said. "Tee to green, it's similar to how I've been playing recently. But today a few putts dropped, which was nice to see because I've not seen that for a while.
"I think it's just a fair golf course. There's not too many humps and undulations in the fairway, so if you hit a good shot, generally it stays in the fairway, which I like.
There were then nine players two shots off the lead at -3 including 2018 Open champion Francesco Molinari, Scottish star Robert MacIntyre, two-time U.S. Open champion Bryson DeChambeau, this year’s Players Championship winner Cameron Young and Belgian Thomas Detry all with -3 67.
Defending champion and World Number One Scottie Scheffler was four under through six holes but stalled with several badly missed putts, and settled for a -2 68, while Rory McIlroy struggled on the greens as he opened with a +2 72.
EDIT>>> Canadians, Nick Taylor T13 68 -2, Corey Conners T60 71 +1
europeantour.com
Bryan Angus (edit)
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