Americans Ryan Gerard, Andrew Putnam, J.J. Spaun, Matt McCarty and Lee Hodges all fired 64s to take a share of the Charles Schwab Challenge lead alongside Korean Tom Kim.

“I played really nicely,” said Kim. “Obviously no wind, soft green conditions on the course. I would say probably one of the best golf courses we play just because it’s not super long, but it’s super hard. It’s just a hard golf course.

“I felt like I did a really good job of just kind of putting myself in positions, giving myself a lot of opportunities, and obviously taking care of those opportunities helped.”

Putnam, Spaun and McCarty stayed bogey-free while Hodges made one bogey, and Gerard and Kim made two.

“It was a very strange round,” said Putnam. “I mean, my playing partners when we were in scoring they said, Great 6-under. I didn’t really see that out there, I was all over the place, kind of in some weird spots. But my scrambling was great, as people have mentioned, 7-7. So kind of hung in there and made the most of the good shots.

“It’s one of those courses you got to hit a lot of fairways. You got to stay patient because there’s a few tricky holes. It fits my game pretty well. I’ve always loved coming here, it’s one of my favorite tournaments, so I always circle it in the calendar as a big event for me. I love it. Yeah, you got to hit shots and pretty much tests all part of your game.

“Going to hit the range to try to figure out the swing a little bit. I need to drive it a little better the rest of the week to stay in contention.”

Six players tied for the 18-hole lead marks the second most in Charles Schwab Challenge history (8/2022) and the second most this season (7/PGA Championship).

Making his first start since finishing T2 at the PGA Championship, American Alex Smalley posted a bogey-free 5-under 65 and lies in T7 at 5-under. He entered the week with top-25 finishes in his last six starts on Tour.

American Ben Griffin opened with a 2-under 68 in his bid to join Ben Hogan (1946-47, 1952-53) as the only back-to-back winners of the Charles Schwab Challenge. He fired four birdies and two bogeys and currently lies in T41 at 2-under.

Conditional Tour member (111-125 in 2025 FedExCup Fall standings) Jackson Suber of the United States (T57/-1) carded an opening-round 69 having made four birdies and three bogeys. He finished a career-high solo fourth at last week’s CJ Cup Byron Nelson and received a sponsor exemption to compete this week. At No. 4 in the Aon Swing 5 standings entering the week, he is in position to qualify for his first Signature Event at next week’s Memorial Tournament (currently projected No. 6).

The first round was suspended due to a dangerous weather situation at 4:15 p.m. and resumed at 6:19 p.m. for a delay of 2 hours and 4 minutes.

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