Australian Min Woo Lee set a career-best 18-hole score with a bogey-free, 10-under 62 on the Nicklaus Tournament Course in his 69th career start for a share of the lead at 10-under at The American Express.

Lee holds his first career 18-hole lead/co-lead on the PGA Tour (previous best 18-hole position: T3/2025 Rocket Classic/finished T13). The three-time DP World Tour winner earned his first PGA Tour title last season at the Texas Children’s Houston Open.

“There was a little bit of anxiousness starting out,” said Lee. “The first round of the year, bit of a swing, not change, but something that we’ve been working on in the off-season. So you didn’t really know how it was going to go. But, yeah, started off really nice. Yeah, kept it going. It was a great day to make some birdies.

“I drove it really well early on. Gave myself a lot of short wedges. Hit a lot of good numbers. Holed some putts. So I think driving and everything was the key, but, yeah, I mean holing out on the greens was really nice. I changed my grip only like a week and a half ago, so it was a very, it’s good that you see results straight away. But that was pretty much the anxiousness that I had. I didn’t know how it would go on the greens and it turned out well.”

American Pierceson Coody also opened with a bogey-free 62 on the Nicklaus Tournament Course, the second-lowest 18-hole score of his career, for a share of the lead. His best 18-hole score was 61 during R1 of the 2024 ISCO Championship where he finished T2.

He recorded a back-nine 29 that included seven consecutive birdies on Nos. 11-17, setting a career-best birdie streak on Tour.

“I thought on the front I was hitting my wedges really nice,” said Coody. “I missed some 10 or 12-footers. Probably missed with about three or four in that range. They’re certainly not outside looks, but they’re not gimmes. But I was making good putts and got things going on the back nine. It was really nice to see some good wedges go my way, and knock in some of the nice six and eight foot putts that you have to that are — yeah, it feels easy when you’re playing golf in this kind of weather with the pace the greens are and everything like that, so it was nice to manage my emotions and keep going well.

“It’s almost easier knowing that you’re playing three courses, you have a lot of time between rounds, playing early, so it feels like you’re really kind of staying in a process of like, Okay, now I’m going to go work on my stuff at Stadium. I’m going to putt those greens. It feels like I’m prepping every day for a new round. It’s easy to get ahead of yourself when you’re playing well. So having kind the breakup of these different rounds, different courses kind of helps that mindset this week.”

In 17 starts last season, Coody recorded two top-10s and finished No. 110 in the 2025 FedExCup Fall standings.

In his first start of the season, American World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler opened with a bogey-free 63 at La Quinta Country Club
and lies in a nine-way tie for third place at 9-under including Scotland’s Robert MacIntyre who made one bogey at La Quinta and Australian Jason Day who made one bogey for the low round of the day on the Stadium Course.

The American Express defending champion Sepp Straka of Austria made three birdies against one bogey and one double bogey at the par-4 16th at La Quinta CC for an even-par 72 and lies in T131.

Scoring average by course: Stadium Course (70.69), Nicklaus Course (66.75), La Quinta CC (67.43).

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