Kevin Roy fired a 10-under-par 62, the lowest round of his career, to capture the first-round lead at the Puerto Rico Open on Thursday at Grand Reserve Golf Club in Rio Grande.
Roy holds just a one-stroke advantage over Chris Gotterup, who stood at 10 under himself before his only bogey of the day came at the par-4 18th. Davis Riley and Denmark’s Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen were tied at 8-under 64, and Karl Vilips of Australia was alone in fifth at 7-under 65.
Due to a weather delay of one hour and 17 minutes in the early afternoon, 24 players were still on the course when play was suspended due to darkness, none of them lower than 6 under. They will complete their first rounds early Friday.
Roy, 34, is making just his 38th career start on the PGA Tour after regaining his card via the Korn Ferry Tour last summer.
He started his round on the back nine and rolled in six birdies, getting to 7 under through 10 holes with another birdie putt at the par-4 first. His only misstep was a bogey at the par-4 eighth, amid a late surge of birdies.
“It was one of those rounds that just obviously everything was clicking,” Roy said. “Hit a lot of fairways, lot of greens, hit quite a few wedges in there close and finally saw some putts go in, which is always nice.”
The highlight was a birdie holeout from the greenside bunker at the par-3 seventh immediately after the weather delay.
“Yeah, that was silly, I’ll be the first to admit it,” Roy said. “… The lie was perfect. Obviously just trying to get it up and down and it came out great with a little bit of spin and trickled in. Huge bonus, but I would have taken a 3 there, too.”
The Puerto Rico Open is an alternate event for players who didn’t qualify for the Arnold Palmer Invitational. Gotterup knows a thing or two about alternate events; his first win came last year at the inaugural Myrtle Beach Classic, during his rookie season on tour.
The big hitter reached the green of the par-5 14th in two and made a short eagle putt to go with his eight birdies.
“Because we have a big stretch coming up here and I was like, ‘Do I really want to play seven (weeks) in a row,’ but my agent called me and my dad talked to me and they said, ‘I think you should go down there and play,'” said Gotterup, who won a college tournament at this course. “And I’m like, ‘Yeah, let’s do it.’ So I’m happy they told me to do that.”
–Field Level Media
