Qualifier Peter Kuest carded an 8-under par round of 64 on Thursday to share the lead with Taylor Moore after the first round of the Rocket Mortgage Classic.
It appeared Kuest would hold the outright lead, but Moore poured in his fourth birdie in a five-hole stretch on No. 17 to pull even. Moore’s birdie attempt on No. 18, which would have tied the course record, slid just right of the cup.
Scoring was low at Detroit Golf Club, but nobody went lower than Moore and Kuest, who had to play his way into the field on Monday.
Kuest offset a lone bogey with nine birdies, including going out in 6-under 30 on the front nine. He attempts to become the first Monday qualifier to win on the PGA Tour since Corey Conners at the 2021 Valero Texas Open.
“It feels good. We’ve got another round tomorrow so we’re going to get ready for that and then just take it one step at a time,” said Kuest, who added that he probably would have been fishing back home in Utah on Thursday had he not made it through the Monday qualifier.
Kuest is ranked 789th in the Official World Golf Ranking and while he holds Korn Ferry Tour status, he hasn’t gotten into an event yet. So he has been hammering on the Monday Qualifiers, in addition to posting a T14 on a sponsors exemption at the Byron Nelson in June.
Kuest was 1 over through three holes in the Monday Qualifier, but birdied seven of his final 15 to get into a 4-for-3 playoff. He then got into the field when it was discovered that another player had 15 clubs in his bag.
“It’s just a fun ride learning every week,” Kuest said.
Meanwhile, Moore came within inches of tying the course record Thursday – an unpredictable round as this year’s Valspar Championship winner entered the week having missed his past three cuts.
With the current state of my game I’ve kind of been stuck in neutral, so this has been really good for me to see,” said Moore, who finished sixth in Detroit last year.
The group of seven players at 7 under includes rookie Ludvig Aberg, who reached 9 under while playing in the morning wave, only to close his round with a pair of bogeys. Also at 7 under is fellow rookie Sam Bennett and Dylan Wu, who carded a pair of eagles during his round. Wu’s birdie attempt to tie for the lead slid left of the cup on his final hole.
Aberg carded his third 65 in his past four rounds, and became the first player to hit every fairway and hit at least 17 greens in a single round on the PGA Tour since Jon Rahm in the opening round of this year’s Masters. Of his 14 drives, 11 traveled more than 310 yards.
“Driver is one of my favorite clubs and I like hitting it,” Aberg said. “Obviously, you’re not going to hit the fairway every time, but hopefully I’ll be able to keep it up the next couple of days as well.”
Collin Morikawa, trying to win in a tournament debut for the fifth time in his career, is another shot back at 6 under. Rickie Fowler, who reached 7 under during his morning round, also bogeyed his final two holes to drop back to 5 under.
“To be perfectly honest, I had to go to the bathroom pretty badly, so luckily I just got drug tested so I went straight in,” Fowler said when asked if he went straight to the range to practice. “There weren’t many bathrooms the last five holes, so I was a little shaky coming in. And not to necessarily blame the finish on that, but it didn’t help.”
Defending champion Tony Finau struggled to an even-par round of 72 with four pars and four bogeys.
That was still significantly better than two of the biggest names in the field.
Former Masters champion Hideki Matsuyama is tied for 147th after opening with a 3-over 75. That was one shot better than playing partner Justin Thomas, who finished Thursday better than only three in the 156-player field.
Thomas added the event to his schedule last month as he tries to secure a spot in the FedEx Cup Playoffs – he’s currently No. 66 in the standings and only the top 70 qualify for the first leg of the playoffs. After a promising T9 last week, Thomas opened with a birdie on Thursday, only to go 4 over in his final 14 holes.
–Field Level Media
