Englishman Matt Wallace birdied five of his first six holes and sailed to an 8-under-par 63 to establish the first-round lead at the CJ Cup Byron Nelson on Thursday in McKinney, Texas.
Wallace’s bogey-free round ended with a birdie at the par-5 18th hole at TPC Craig Ranch. He is one shot clear of seven players tied at 64, including Japanese phenom Taiga Semikawa who had a chance to tie the lead at the end of the night but settled for a three-putt par at No. 18.
Also tied for second were Jake Knapp, Davis Riley, Chesson Hadley, Kelly Kraft, Canada’s Taylor Pendrith and Sweden’s Alex Noren.
Nine players had one or two holes left to play when darkness fell. They will finish their first rounds Friday morning.
Wallace, 34, has four career wins on the DP World Tour and one the PGA Tour at the 2023 Corales Puntacana Championship in the Dominican Republic — but he has yet to win on U.S. soil. This might be the week for that to change, as world No. 20 Jordan Spieth was the only top-20 golfer in the field in the Dallas-Fort Worth suburb.
“Watching some of the best players in the world, and what I’m seeing from a lot of them, especially the younger guys, younger than me — I’m not too old, but younger than me — they’re so focused in their shot and not worrying about the outcome or what’s out there,” Wallace said. “That’s what I’m trying to do now. So this might be test No. 158 of me with a different round of golf.”
The 63 marked a career low on the PGA Tour for Wallace. His approaches were dialed in, as four of his first five birdie putts were from inside 3 feet.
Not bad for someone who assessed his season up to this point as “terrible.”
“I’ve played poor,” Wallace said. “But I’m old enough now to know it’s a long season and there is so much golf to be played.”
Brad Hopfinger, a 35-year-old who qualified into the Byron Nelson on Monday for his PGA Tour debut, fired a spotless 6-under 65 and is tied for ninth with Ben Kohles, Alex Smalley and Hayden Buckley. Hopfinger finished his round birdie-eagle as he made an 18-foot eagle putt at the last.
Defending champion Jason Day of Australia is part of a large tie at 5-under 66.
Also making his PGA Tour debut was 16-year-old amateur Kris Kim of England, who chipped in for eagle from 67 feet away on his final hole (the par-5 ninth) to shoot a 3-under 68. He had a hectic round, with five birdies and four bogeys before that finishing flourish.
“I would say short game is my strength, but just got lucky a bit today,” Kim, who also made a chip-in birdie at the par-4 16th.
Spieth had three birdies early in his round but only managed to add one more with one bogey down the stretch, settling for a 68.
“Started really nicely and then stalled,” Spieth said. “Yeah, it’s a very gettable golf course. Obviously very wet, but I just played the easy holes poorly; played the par-5s 1 over. That was kind of the story of the day.”
Mexico’s Raul Pereda, another player making his first PGA Tour start, aced the par-3 seventh hole and is also part of the group at 3 under.
–Field Level Media
