Eight players shared the lead at 7-under 65 following Friday morning’s conclusion of the rain-delayed first round at the Puerto Rico Open in Rio Grande.
Scott Piercy and Joe Highsmith were the leaders in the clubhouse when play was halted for darkness on Thursday, following a nearly two-hour rain delay.
Friday started with 54 players completing the opening round and saw six others seize a share of the lead at Grand Reserve Golf Club: Kevin Streelman, Norman Xiong, Max Greyserman, Puerto Rico’s Rafa Campos, Rico Hoey of the Philippines and Japan’s Ryo Hisatsune.
Piercy and Highsmith are a study in contrasts: a 45-year-old, four-time PGA Tour winner in Piercy and a rookie making his eighth career start in Highsmith.
Piercy’s last win on tour came in 2018, and he squandered a 54-hole lead at the 2022 3M Open to finish tied for fourth.
The highlight of his round Thursday was a hole-out for eagle out of the rough at the par-4 14th hole.
“I guess I was in the rough, but you don’t plan on holing it from the rough or from the fairway very often,” Piercy said. “I had 176 (yards), kind of a little wind down off the right. I thought it was going to jump so I hit an 8-iron, landed about 3 yards short and trickled in the hole.”
Piercy was able to absorb three bogeys on the day by finishing his round with three straight birdies at Nos. 7-9.
Highsmith, meanwhile, went bogey-free with seven birdies. He hit 16 of 18 greens in regulation to help his cause.
“I think today was a lot of progress on the mental side,” Highsmith said. “I felt like this year I just haven’t done a great job kind of just focusing and being like clear on what I’m trying to do out there. It’s been easy to get distracted with a lot of stuff out here. (Thursday) was nice to kind of get back to the basics and see that work, which was great.”
Making his 15th appearance in the Puerto Rico Open, Campos’ best finish was third place in 2020.
Three players were one shot back and tied for ninth place entering the second round: Brice Garnett, Erik Barnes and South Africa’s Garrick Higgo.
–Field Level Media
