Matt Wallace was already 5-under through six holes at the CJ CUP Byron Nelson and went on to make three more on the back nine to close with an 8-under 63 to take the lead.
“It was great. Really solid day. Got off to a great start. Three birdies to start any tournament is nice,” said Wallace. “Just a really solid round of golf. The wind started to pick up at the end, but the course is in amazing condition considering the rain we had and the delay this morning.
“Ball in hand is really important, so drove it nice for the most part. Few times I was in the semi-rough with a bid of mud on the ball which can cause a little bit of doubt.
“Top up on those, really focus on hitting my tee shots well for the next few days and we’ll be in good shape.”
The Englishman takes the No. 1 spot in the Aon Swing 5 where the top five FedExCup points earners from the Corales Puntacana Championship, Zurich Classic of New Orleans, and THE CJ CUP Byron Nelson will earn spots in the Wells Fargo Championship.
Canada’s Taylor Pendrith signed for a bogey-free 64 to take a share of second place at 7-under alongside six other players including American Chesson Hadley who made five consecutive birdies from the 5th, tying his career-best consecutive birdies.
Tee times were delayed one hour due inclement weather on Thursday and nine players will have to complete their rounds on Friday morning when more rain is expected.
Related: Langasque & Söderberg take opening lead in China
| Pos, | Player | To Par | Thru | R1 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Matt Wallace | -8 | F | 63 |
| T2 | Taylor Pendrith | -7 | F | 64 |
| T2 | Alex Noren | -7 | F | 64 |
| T2 | Chesson Hadley | -7 | F | 64 |
| T2 | Jake Knapp | -7 | F | 64 |
| T2 | Davis Riley | -7 | F | 64 |
| T2 | Kelly Kraft | -7 | F | 64 |
| T2 | Taiga Semikawa | -7 | F | 64 |
| T9 | Ben Kohles | -6 | F | 65 |
| T9 | Brad Hopfinger | -6 | F | 65 |
| T9 | Alex Smalley | -6 | F | 65 |
| T9 | Hayden Buckley | -6 | F | 65 |
| T13 | Justin Lower | -5 | F | 66 |
| T13 | Keith Mitchell | -5 | F | 66 |
| T13 | Jason Day | -5 | F | 66 |
| T13 | Nate Lashley | -5 | F | 66 |
| T13 | Max Greyserman | -5 | F | 66 |
| T13 | David Lipsky | -5 | F | 66 |
| T13 | Adam Schenk | -5 | F | 66 |
| T13 | Stephan Jaeger | -5 | F | 66 |
| T13 | Nick Dunlap | -5 | F | 66 |
| T13 | Byeong Hun An | -5 | F | 66 |
| T13 | Nick Hardy | -5 | F | 66 |
| T13 | K.H. Lee | -5 | F | 66 |
| T13 | Zach Johnson | -5 | F | 66 |
| T13 | Min Woo Lee | -5 | F | 66 |
| T13 | Chan Kim | -5 | F | 66 |
| T13 | David Skinns | -5 | 17 | - |
| T13 | Tom Whitney | -5 | 16 | - |
| T30 | Cameron Champ | -4 | F | 67 |
| T30 | Daniel Berger | -4 | F | 67 |
| T30 | Nico Echavarria | -4 | F | 67 |
| T30 | Ben Martin | -4 | F | 67 |
| T30 | Maverick McNealy | -4 | F | 67 |
| T30 | Joseph Bramlett | -4 | F | 67 |
| T30 | Chris Gotterup | -4 | F | 67 |
| T30 | Ryan McCormick | -4 | F | 67 |
| T30 | Max McGreevy | -4 | F | 67 |
| T30 | Carson Young | -4 | F | 67 |
| T30 | Beau Hossler | -4 | F | 67 |
| T30 | Dylan Wu | -4 | F | 67 |
| T30 | Luke List | -4 | F | 67 |
| T30 | Joel Dahmen | -4 | F | 67 |
| T30 | Troy Merritt | -4 | F | 67 |
| T30 | Martin Laird | -4 | F | 67 |
| T30 | Austin Cook | -4 | F | 67 |
| T30 | Aaron Rai | -4 | F | 67 |
| T30 | Adrien Dumont de Chassart | -4 | F | 67 |
| T30 | Harrison Endycott | -4 | F | 67 |
| T30 | Rafael Campos | -4 | F | 67 |
| T30 | Alejandro Tosti | -4 | F | 67 |
| T30 | Kevin Dougherty | -4 | 17 | - |
| T53 | Kevin Chappell | -3 | F | 68 |
| T53 | Kevin Yu | -3 | F | 68 |
| T53 | Scott Piercy | -3 | F | 68 |
| T53 | Tom Hoge | -3 | F | 68 |
| T53 | Jordan Spieth | -3 | F | 68 |
| T53 | Aaron Baddeley | -3 | F | 68 |
| T53 | Matti Schmid | -3 | F | 68 |
| T53 | Doug Ghim | -3 | F | 68 |
| T53 | Callum Tarren | -3 | F | 68 |
| T53 | Zecheng Dou | -3 | F | 68 |
| T53 | Raul Pereda | -3 | F | 68 |
| T53 | Bill Haas | -3 | F | 68 |
| T53 | Austin Smotherman | -3 | F | 68 |
| T53 | Norman Xiong | -3 | F | 68 |
| T53 | Kris Kim(a) | -3 | F | 68 |
| T53 | Sung Kang | -3 | F | 68 |
| T53 | Si Woo Kim | -3 | F | 68 |
| T53 | Andrew Novak | -3 | F | 68 |
| T53 | Ryan Moore | -3 | F | 68 |
| T53 | S.H. Kim | -3 | F | 68 |
| T53 | Tyson Alexander | -3 | F | 68 |
| T53 | Henrik Norlander | -3 | F | 68 |
| T53 | Ryan Fox | -3 | F | 68 |
| T53 | Jorge Campillo | -3 | F | 68 |
| T77 | Ben Griffin | -2 | F | 69 |
| T77 | Ryan Palmer | -2 | F | 69 |
| T77 | Patton Kizzire | -2 | F | 69 |
| T77 | Matt Kuchar | -2 | F | 69 |
| T77 | Tom Kim | -2 | F | 69 |
| T77 | S.Y. Noh | -2 | F | 69 |
| T77 | Robert MacIntyre | -2 | F | 69 |
| T77 | Jimmy Stanger | -2 | F | 69 |
| T77 | Rico Hoey | -2 | F | 69 |
| T77 | Thorbjørn Olesen | -2 | F | 69 |
| T77 | Jimmy Walker | -2 | F | 69 |
| T77 | Justin Suh | -2 | F | 69 |
| T77 | Brandt Snedeker | -2 | F | 69 |
| T77 | Adam Scott | -2 | F | 69 |
| T77 | Kevin Tway | -2 | F | 69 |
| T77 | Bronson Burgoon | -2 | F | 69 |
| T77 | Nicholas Lindheim | -2 | F | 69 |
| T77 | Alexander Björk | -2 | F | 69 |
| T95 | Michael Kim | -1 | F | 70 |
| T95 | Cody Gribble | -1 | F | 70 |
| T95 | Greyson Sigg | -1 | F | 70 |
| T95 | Kevin Kisner | -1 | F | 70 |
| T95 | Vincent Norrman | -1 | F | 70 |
| T95 | Chez Reavie | -1 | F | 70 |
| T95 | Matt NeSmith | -1 | F | 70 |
| T95 | Brandon Wu | -1 | F | 70 |
| T95 | Robby Shelton | -1 | F | 70 |
| T95 | Jacob Bridgeman | -1 | F | 70 |
| T95 | Ryo Hisatsune | -1 | F | 70 |
| T95 | Richy Werenski | -1 | F | 70 |
| T95 | Jhonattan Vegas | -1 | F | 70 |
| T95 | Garrick Higgo | -1 | F | 70 |
| T95 | Lanto Griffin | -1 | F | 70 |
| T95 | Sam Stevens | -1 | F | 70 |
| T95 | J.J. Spaun | -1 | F | 70 |
| T95 | Thomas Detry | -1 | F | 70 |
| T95 | Vince Whaley | -1 | F | 70 |
| T95 | Pierceson Coody | -1 | F | 70 |
| T95 | Ben Silverman | -1 | 17 | - |
| T95 | Quade Cummins | -1 | 17 | - |
| T117 | Nick Watney | Par | F | 71 |
| T117 | Stewart Cink | Par | F | 71 |
| T117 | Mackenzie Hughes | Par | F | 71 |
| T117 | Mark Hubbard | Par | F | 71 |
| T117 | Zac Blair | Par | F | 71 |
| T117 | Trace Crowe | Par | F | 71 |
| T117 | Patrick Fishburn | Par | F | 71 |
| T117 | Mac Meissner | Par | F | 71 |
| T117 | Wilson Furr | Par | F | 71 |
| T117 | Peter Kuest | Par | F | 71 |
| T117 | Harry Hall | Par | F | 71 |
| T117 | Chad Ramey | Par | F | 71 |
| T117 | Carl Yuan | Par | F | 71 |
| T117 | Hayden Springer | Par | F | 71 |
| T117 | Joe Highsmith | Par | F | 71 |
| T117 | Erik Barnes | Par | F | 71 |
| T117 | Parker Coody | Par | 17 | - |
| T134 | C.T. Pan | +1 | F | 72 |
| T134 | Martin Trainer | +1 | F | 72 |
| T134 | James Hahn | +1 | F | 72 |
| T134 | Sami Valimaki | +1 | F | 72 |
| T134 | Davis Thompson | +1 | F | 72 |
| T134 | Ryan Brehm | +1 | F | 72 |
| T134 | Bud Cauley | +1 | F | 72 |
| T134 | Sam Ryder | +1 | F | 72 |
| T134 | Chandler Phillips | +1 | F | 72 |
| T143 | Josh Teater | +2 | F | 73 |
| T143 | Camilo Villegas | +2 | F | 73 |
| T143 | Roger Sloan | +2 | F | 73 |
| T143 | Seamus Power | +2 | F | 73 |
| T143 | Paul Barjon | +2 | 17 | - |
| T143 | KK Limbhasut | +2 | 16 | - |
| T149 | Wesley Bryan | +3 | F | 74 |
| T149 | Ben Taylor | +3 | F | 74 |
| T149 | Brice Garnett | +3 | F | 74 |
| T149 | Scott Gutschewski | +3 | F | 74 |
| T149 | David Nyfjall | +3 | 17 | - |
| 154 | Blaine Hale, Jr. | +4 | F | 75 |
| 155 | Kevin Streelman | +6 | F | 77 |
| 156 | Taylor Montgomery | +9 | F | 80 |
