Chesson Hadley completed his opening round in the lead at the Sanderson Farms Championship with a bogey-free 8-under 64 marking his 12th straight par-or-better opening round in individual stroke-play events on the PGA Tour.
“I feel like when you shoot one of these rounds, it seems kind of everything is working for you,” said the American.
“I put the ball in the fairway quite a bit, which was nice, and that’s something you have to do out here with this Bermuda rough and the greens as fast as they are, and when I did put myself in the fairway, I gave myself quite a few opportunities, some very reasonable opportunities to make birdie.
“I played the par-5s great today, putted it well. I mean, I really did, I felt like I was kind of clicking on all cylinders today.
“The kind of key now is to just go rest and let’s try and follow it up with another one tomorrow. Let’s not feel like we have a letdown day, shoot even par or something like that. Sometimes it’s hard to follow up a good round with another good one. Hopefully I’m up to the task. I feel good.”
He sits No. 122 in the FedExCup standings as he attempts to finish inside the Top 125 for the fifth time in the last six seasons.
Sweden’s Henrik Norlander equalled his best score of the season, a 65, for a share of second place alongside American Brandon Wu. Both went bogey-free.
Seven players are tied in fourth place at 6-under including Scotland’s Russell Knox.
Ludvig Åberg, a member of the winning European Ryder Cup team last week in Italy, carded an opening-round 67 and sits T11.
Defending champion Mackenzie Hughes (T65) opened with a 70 in a bid to join Max Homa (Fortinet Championship), Rory McIlroy (THE CJ CUP) and Scottie Scheffler (WM Phoenix Open) as players to successfully defend a title this season.
The 2023 Sanderson Farms Championship is the second of seven events in the FedExCup Fall, a group of tournaments after the Tour Championship to help finalize eligibility for the 2024 PGA Tour season; as part of the return to a calendar-based schedule in 2024, all seven events will be played twice as part of the 2022-23 season.
Nos. 1-50 in the FedExCup standings through the Tour Championship are locked in their positions while Nos. 51 and beyond carry their FedExCup points into the Fall. Nos. 51-60 through the FedExCup Fall will qualify for two Signature Events in 2024: AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am and The Genesis Invitational.
