Rory McIlroy hit five birdies as he opened the Cognizant Classic in Florida with a four-under-par 67.
A bogey on the 17th was the only blemish on McIlroy’s card as he finished three strokes off the pace on a day of favourable conditions at PGA National.
American Chad Ramey and South Korea’s SH Kim shared the opening-day lead with seven-under-par 64s – one clear of a group which included England’s David Skinns.
“It was so benign,” said McIlroy. “You’re not going to get this course much easier.”
Skinns, the world number 278 and without a top-10 finish on the PGA Tour, had a putt on his last hole for a seventh birdie and a share of the lead.
Ireland’s Shane Lowry was alongside McIlroy on four-under-par, part of a large group which also includes Sweden’s Alex Noren and France’s Victor Perez – the best placed of the final two groups who were unable to complete the final hole due to darkness.
England’s Harry Hall and Ben Taylor, Scotland’s Martin Laird and Austrian Ryder Cup star Sepp Straka were among an even larger group on three-under-par, which included American Daniel Berger who has recently returned to the tour after a 19-month injury lay-off.
Among those a short further back were Robert MacIntyre, who was among those yet to finish, and Justin Rose, whose 69 was highlighted by a par on the 13th after his tee shot came to rest against a mesh out of bounds fence.
Play was suspended at 6:22 p.m. ET due to darkness with six players left to complete their first round. The first round will resume at 8:15 a.m. and the second round will begin as scheduled at 6:45 a.m.
Related: South African duo take opening lead
| Pos. | Player | Thru | To Par | R1 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| T1 | Chad Ramey | F | -7 | 64 |
| T1 | S.H. Kim | F | -7 | 64 |
| T3 | Andrew Novak | F | -6 | 65 |
| T3 | Ryan Moore | F | -6 | 65 |
| T3 | Austin Eckroat | F | -6 | 65 |
| T3 | Cameron Young | F | -6 | 65 |
| T3 | Chesson Hadley | F | -6 | 65 |
| T3 | David Skinns | F | -6 | 65 |
| T9 | C.T. Pan | F | -5 | 66 |
| T9 | Billy Horschel | F | -5 | 66 |
| T9 | Sam Ryder | F | -5 | 66 |
| T9 | Bud Cauley | F | -5 | 66 |
| T9 | Chandler Phillips | F | -5 | 66 |
| T9 | Erik van Rooyen | F | -5 | 66 |
| T9 | Kevin Yu | F | -5 | 66 |
| T16 | Byeong Hun An | F | -4 | 67 |
| T16 | Tom Whitney | F | -4 | 67 |
| T16 | Davis Thompson | F | -4 | 67 |
| T16 | Matthieu Pavon | F | -4 | 67 |
| T16 | Shane Lowry | F | -4 | 67 |
| T16 | Chris Kirk | F | -4 | 67 |
| T16 | Rory McIlroy | F | -4 | 67 |
| T16 | Nick Dunlap | F | -4 | 67 |
| T16 | Garrick Higgo | F | -4 | 67 |
| T16 | Matt NeSmith | F | -4 | 67 |
| T16 | Min Woo Lee | F | -4 | 67 |
| T16 | Nico Echavarria | F | -4 | 67 |
| T16 | Alex Noren | F | -4 | 67 |
| T16 | Victor Perez | 17 | -4 | - |
| T30 | Harry Hall | F | -3 | 68 |
| T30 | Mark Hubbard | F | -3 | 68 |
| T30 | Keith Mitchell | F | -3 | 68 |
| T30 | J.B. Holmes | F | -3 | 68 |
| T30 | Jake Knapp | F | -3 | 68 |
| T30 | Doug Ghim | F | -3 | 68 |
| T30 | Peter Malnati | F | -3 | 68 |
| T30 | Ryo Hisatsune | F | -3 | 68 |
| T30 | Martin Laird | F | -3 | 68 |
| T30 | Tyson Alexander | F | -3 | 68 |
| T30 | David Lipsky | F | -3 | 68 |
| T30 | Kevin Dougherty | F | -3 | 68 |
| T30 | Troy Merritt | F | -3 | 68 |
| T30 | Daniel Berger | F | -3 | 68 |
| T30 | Lucas Glover | F | -3 | 68 |
| T30 | Sepp Straka | F | -3 | 68 |
| T30 | Tom Kim | F | -3 | 68 |
| T30 | Joseph Bramlett | F | -3 | 68 |
| T30 | Ben Taylor | F | -3 | 68 |
| T30 | Carson Young | F | -3 | 68 |
| T50 | Hayden Buckley | F | -2 | 69 |
| T50 | K.H. Lee | F | -2 | 69 |
| T50 | Corey Conners | F | -2 | 69 |
| T50 | Camilo Villegas | F | -2 | 69 |
| T50 | J.T. Poston | F | -2 | 69 |
| T50 | Ryan Brehm | F | -2 | 69 |
| T50 | Beau Hossler | F | -2 | 69 |
| T50 | Justin Suh | F | -2 | 69 |
| T50 | Ben Kohles | F | -2 | 69 |
| T50 | Jimmy Stanger | F | -2 | 69 |
| T50 | Chan Kim | F | -2 | 69 |
| T50 | Rico Hoey | F | -2 | 69 |
| T50 | Alexander Björk | F | -2 | 69 |
| T50 | Parker Coody | F | -2 | 69 |
| T50 | Ryan Fox | F | -2 | 69 |
| T50 | Denny McCarthy | F | -2 | 69 |
| T50 | Justin Rose | F | -2 | 69 |
| T50 | Cameron Champ | F | -2 | 69 |
| T50 | Taylor Pendrith | F | -2 | 69 |
| T50 | Robert MacIntyre | 17 | -2 | - |
| T50 | Ben Silverman | 17 | -2 | - |
| T71 | Callum Tarren | F | -1 | 70 |
| T71 | Ben Martin | F | -1 | 70 |
| T71 | Maverick McNealy | F | -1 | 70 |
| T71 | Matt Wallace | F | -1 | 70 |
| T71 | Francesco Molinari | F | -1 | 70 |
| T71 | Stephan Jaeger | F | -1 | 70 |
| T71 | Tyler Collet | F | -1 | 70 |
| T71 | Max Greyserman | F | -1 | 70 |
| T71 | Jacob Bridgeman | F | -1 | 70 |
| T71 | Michael Gligic | F | -1 | 70 |
| T71 | Greyson Sigg | F | -1 | 70 |
| T71 | Christiaan Bezuidenhout | F | -1 | 70 |
| T71 | Zac Blair | F | -1 | 70 |
| T71 | Tom Hoge | F | -1 | 70 |
| T71 | Luke List | F | -1 | 70 |
| T71 | Adam Svensson | F | -1 | 70 |
| T71 | Gary Woodland | F | -1 | 70 |
| T71 | Adam Schenk | F | -1 | 70 |
| T71 | Matt Fitzpatrick | F | -1 | 70 |
| T71 | Nate Lashley | F | -1 | 70 |
| T71 | Chris Gotterup | F | -1 | 70 |
| T71 | Norman Xiong | F | -1 | 70 |
| T71 | Joe Highsmith | F | -1 | 70 |
| T71 | Chris Crawford | F | -1 | 70 |
| T95 | Tyler Duncan | F | Par | 71 |
| T95 | Alex Smalley | F | Par | 71 |
| T95 | Nick Hardy | F | Par | 71 |
| T95 | Davis Riley | F | Par | 71 |
| T95 | Zach Johnson | F | Par | 71 |
| T95 | Akshay Bhatia | F | Par | 71 |
| T95 | Adrien Dumont de Chassart | F | Par | 71 |
| T95 | Jorge Campillo | F | Par | 71 |
| T95 | Ben Griffin | F | Par | 71 |
| T95 | Taylor Montgomery | F | Par | 71 |
| T95 | Jeff Overton | F | Par | 71 |
| T95 | Brendon Todd | F | Par | 71 |
| T95 | Lee Hodges | F | Par | 71 |
| T95 | Joel Dahmen | F | Par | 71 |
| T95 | Russell Henley | F | Par | 71 |
| T95 | Rickie Fowler | F | Par | 71 |
| T95 | Sungjae Im | F | Par | 71 |
| T95 | Vincent Norrman | F | Par | 71 |
| T95 | Scott Stallings | F | Par | 71 |
| T95 | Aaron Baddeley | F | Par | 71 |
| T95 | Padraig Harrington | F | Par | 71 |
| T95 | Carl Yuan | F | Par | 71 |
| T95 | Robert Garrigus | F | Par | 71 |
| T95 | Fred Biondi | F | Par | 71 |
| T95 | Thorbjørn Olesen | F | Par | 71 |
| T95 | Rasmus Højgaard | 17 | Par | - |
| T121 | Sam Stevens | F | +1 | 72 |
| T121 | Matti Schmid | F | +1 | 72 |
| T121 | Kevin Streelman | F | +1 | 72 |
| T121 | Paul Barjon | F | +1 | 72 |
| T121 | Mac Meissner | F | +1 | 72 |
| T121 | Braden Shattuck | F | +1 | 72 |
| T121 | Pierceson Coody | 17 | +1 | - |
| T128 | Ryan Palmer | F | +2 | 73 |
| T128 | Thomas Detry | F | +2 | 73 |
| T128 | Patton Kizzire | F | +2 | 73 |
| T128 | Robby Shelton | F | +2 | 73 |
| T128 | Justin Lower | F | +2 | 73 |
| T128 | Alejandro Tosti | 17 | +2 | - |
| T134 | Dylan Wu | F | +3 | 74 |
| T134 | Brandt Snedeker | F | +3 | 74 |
| T134 | Michael Kim | F | +3 | 74 |
| T134 | Brandon Wu | F | +3 | 74 |
| T134 | Matt Kuchar | F | +3 | 74 |
| T134 | Patrick Fishburn | F | +3 | 74 |
| T134 | Nicholas Lindheim | F | +3 | 74 |
| T141 | Sami Valimaki | F | +4 | 75 |
| T141 | Chase Johnson | F | +4 | 75 |
| 143 | Kevin Kisner | F | +6 | 77 |
| 144 | Eric Cole | F | +7 | 78 |
