Kevin Roy fired eight birdies and an eagle at the par-5 17th to take a share of the lead at the Rocket Classic. His 10-under 62 is a new 18-hole tournament scoring record.

“Just one of those days everything was clicking. Lot of fairways, lot of greens, putter got hot, bonus chip-in on 17 for eagle. It’s just when you’ve got it going, it’s a lot of fun to try to keep it going. Yeah, just really happy with it,” said the American.

“I feel like I’ve been playing pretty well the last few weeks. I had a good finish up in Canada. I’ll be honest, I wasn’t really happy with how I struck it yesterday in the pro-am, but I came out, had a good practice session and kind of had the same feels that I had in Canada where I drove it and ironed it really well. Just kind of took that out to the course and, you know, worked out.”

Roy matched his career-low 18-hole score on the PGA Tour set in the first round of the 2025 Puerto Rico Open. He holds the 18-hole lead/co-lead for the second time of his career (Puerto Rico Open).

In 16 starts this season, he has recorded five top-25 finishes and one top-10 (T6/Puerto Rico Open).

Last year on the Korn Ferry Tour, Roy logged two runner-up finishes and five top-10s, finishing No. 13 on the points list and securing a return to the PGA Tour.

South Africa’s Aldrich Potgieter started on the back nine but also eagled at the 17th and made eight birdies for his share of the lead. He leads all players in Driving Distance this season (326.6)

He recorded a 7-under 29 on his first nine holes, becoming the first player to card a sub-30 score on the back nine at Detroit Golf Club. The lowest nine-hole score in tournament history is 28 (Cameron Champ/2019/R2/front nine).

“Putts were definitely dropping. Hitting a lot of shots to pin high helped, so spin control, irons were a lot better. Got a new set in the bag so it was nice to see some results.

“We needed some more spin to keep the ball in the air a little bit. You wouldn’t have thought that with the driving distance to add more spin, but it kind of keeps the ball in the air a little bit longer. When I hit that knuckle one, it kind of comes off a little hot. So through the year I’ve been long over the green a lot, so trying to take that spin off shot into the wind. Now it’s a little bit easier that it has that bit of spin so I’m not thinking about it too much and I can just hit the shot now.”

The PGA Tour rookie owns three top-25 finishes in 13 starts this season (T15/Farmers Insurance Open, P2/Mexico Open at VidantaWorld, T6/Charles Schwab Challenge).

Potgieter is the youngest 2025 PGA Tour member (20 years, 9 months, 13 days) and bidding to become the second rookie to win on this season (Karl Vilips/Puerto Rico Open).

Australia’s Min Woo Lee made one bogey at the par-3 11th and closed with a 63 for a share of third place at 9-under. He tied his career-low 18-hole score on Tour and set a new career-low score relative to par.

American Mark Hubbard carded a bogey-free 63, his lowest score in 15 career rounds played at Detroit Golf Club, to join the tie for third place alongside Lee and compatriot Max Greyserman who made one bogey at the par-4 6th.

Defending champion Cam Davis of Australia opened with a 74 and lies in T149 at 2-over. The only two-time winner in tournament history, he has finished inside the top-25 in each of his last four starts in the event (Won/2024, T17/2023, T14/2022, Won/2021).

25 players recorded bogey-free rounds, the most in a single round this season (previous: 23/R1/The American Express). 129 players were under-par in the first round, the most in a single round this season (previous: 118/R2/The American Express).

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