Justin Lower fired a career-low 9-under, bogey-free 63 to take a two-hot lead at the Fortinet Championship.
“I’ll take it. I birdied half the holes, so that’s always a good start, I guess. I’m honestly just happy to be in the position I am having I guess full status for once. I actually get to play events I wanted to play this fall. Last fall I only got three starts, so looking to get off to a better start this fall for sure,” said the American.
“I left this course last year kind of in shock, honestly. I was like, God, if this is how the Tour is, I need to get a lot better very quickly.
“Yeah, I feel a lot more confident than I did at this point last year just being the last card last year and then being where I am this year, I feel a lot more confident with my game and a lot more comfortable, for sure.”
Max Homa, who finished just before play was suspended due to darkness, fired a bogey-free 65 to take second place at 7-under.
Fellow American J.J. Spaun carded a bogey-free 66 for a share of third place at 6-under alongside South Koreans Byeong Hun An and S.H. Kim.
American Rickie Fowler started his 15th professional season with new clubs, coach and caddie and closed with a bogey-free 67 for a share of sixth place at 5-under.
“I always like it when there’s a bogey-free round in there,” said Fowler. “For the most part, there wasn’t an issue today other than having to make a 15-footer when I hit it into the bunker. Other than that, it was a fairly simple day.”
Play was suspended for 90 minutes in the morning due to fog and as a result 35 players were still on the course when darkness halted play and will resume their rounds Friday at 7:20 a.m.
| Pos. | Player | To Par | Thru | R1 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Justin Lower | |||
| 2 | Max Homa | -7 | F | 65 |
| T3 | Byeong Hun An | -6 | F | 66 |
| T3 | S.H. Kim | -6 | F | 66 |
| T3 | J.J. Spaun | -6 | F | 66 |
| T6 | Greyson Sigg | -5 | F | 67 |
| T6 | Nick Taylor | -5 | F | 67 |
| T6 | Rickie Fowler | -5 | F | 67 |
| T6 | Sahith Theegala | -5 | F | 67 |
| T6 | Emiliano Grillo | -5 | F | 67 |
| T6 | Scott Harrington | -5 | F | 67 |
| T6 | Matti Schmid | -5 | F | 67 |
| T6 | Sung Kang | -5 | F | 67 |
| T6 | Brice Garnett | -5 | F | 67 |
| T6 | Robby Shelton | -5 | 13 | - |
| T16 | Adam Svensson | -4 | F | 68 |
| T16 | Matt Kuchar | -4 | F | 68 |
| T16 | Taylor Montgomery | -4 | F | 68 |
| T16 | Joseph Bramlett | -4 | F | 68 |
| T16 | Taylor Moore | -4 | F | 68 |
| T16 | Brian Stuard | -4 | F | 68 |
| T16 | Kevin Streelman | -4 | F | 68 |
| T16 | Sam Ryder | -4 | F | 68 |
| T24 | Stephan Jaeger | -3 | F | 69 |
| T24 | Chris Stroud | -3 | F | 69 |
| T24 | David Lipsky | -3 | F | 69 |
| T24 | Hideki Matsuyama | -3 | F | 69 |
| T24 | Tyson Alexander | -3 | F | 69 |
| T24 | Sam Stevens | -3 | F | 69 |
| T24 | Ben Taylor | -3 | F | 69 |
| T24 | Adam Schenk | -3 | F | 69 |
| T24 | Tom Hoge | -3 | F | 69 |
| T24 | Brandon Hagy | -3 | F | 69 |
| T24 | Danny Willett | -3 | 16 | - |
| T35 | Lee Hodges | -2 | F | 70 |
| T35 | Mark Hubbard | -2 | F | 70 |
| T35 | Chad Ramey | -2 | F | 70 |
| T35 | Brandt Snedeker | -2 | F | 70 |
| T35 | Corey Conners | -2 | F | 70 |
| T35 | Tyler Duncan | -2 | F | 70 |
| T35 | Matthias Schwab | -2 | F | 70 |
| T35 | Matt Wallace | -2 | F | 70 |
| T35 | Alex Smalley | -2 | F | 70 |
| T35 | Mackenzie Hughes | -2 | F | 70 |
| T35 | Hayden Buckley | -2 | F | 70 |
| T35 | Vincent Norrman | -2 | F | 70 |
| T35 | John Augenstein | -2 | F | 70 |
| T35 | Beau Hossler | -2 | F | 70 |
| T35 | C.T. Pan | -2 | F | 70 |
| T35 | Webb Simpson | -2 | F | 70 |
| T35 | Gary Woodland | -2 | F | 70 |
| T35 | Andrew Landry | -2 | F | 70 |
| T35 | Russell Knox | -2 | 17 | - |
| T35 | Jimmy Walker | -2 | 16 | - |
| T35 | Zac Blair | -2 | 16 | - |
| T35 | Austin Eckroat | -2 | 16 | - |
| T35 | Davis Thompson | -2 | 15 | - |
| T35 | Will Gordon | -2 | 15 | - |
| T35 | Trevor Cone | -2 | 13 | - |
| T35 | Augusto Núñez | -2 | 13 | - |
| T61 | Kramer Hickok | -1 | F | 71 |
| T61 | Doug Ghim | -1 | F | 71 |
| T61 | Denny McCarthy | -1 | F | 71 |
| T61 | Jim Herman | -1 | F | 71 |
| T61 | Robert Streb | -1 | F | 71 |
| T61 | Michael Thompson | -1 | F | 71 |
| T61 | Ryan Brehm | -1 | F | 71 |
| T61 | Richy Werenski | -1 | F | 71 |
| T61 | Harris English | -1 | F | 71 |
| T61 | Taylor Pendrith | -1 | F | 71 |
| T61 | Harry Higgs | -1 | F | 71 |
| T61 | Anders Albertson | -1 | F | 71 |
| T61 | Nico Echavarria | -1 | F | 71 |
| T61 | Austin Smotherman | -1 | F | 71 |
| T61 | Martin Laird | -1 | F | 71 |
| T61 | Brendon Todd | -1 | F | 71 |
| T61 | Cameron Champ | -1 | F | 71 |
| T61 | James Hahn | -1 | F | 71 |
| T61 | Chesson Hadley | -1 | F | 71 |
| T61 | Troy Merritt | -1 | F | 71 |
| T61 | Nate Lashley | -1 | 17 | - |
| T61 | Ben Martin | -1 | 16 | - |
| T61 | Seung-Yul Noh | -1 | 16 | - |
| T61 | Kevin Yu | -1 | 15 | - |
| T61 | Philip Knowles | -1 | 14 | - |
| T86 | Kevin Chappell | Par | F | 72 |
| T86 | Wyndham Clark | Par | F | 72 |
| T86 | Alex Noren | Par | F | 72 |
| T86 | Joel Dahmen | Par | F | 72 |
| T86 | Danny Lee | Par | F | 72 |
| T86 | Jason Dufner | Par | F | 72 |
| T86 | Harrison Endycott | Par | F | 72 |
| T86 | Carson Young | Par | F | 72 |
| T86 | Andrew Putnam | Par | F | 72 |
| T86 | Nick Hardy | Par | 16 | - |
| T86 | Ben Griffin | Par | 16 | - |
| T86 | Trevor Werbylo | Par | 15 | - |
| T86 | Jacob Bridgeman | Par | 13 | - |
| T86 | Thomas Detry | Par | 13 | - |
| T86 | Zecheng Dou | Par | 13 | - |
| T86 | Chris Gotterup | Par | 13 | - |
| T102 | Vince Whaley | +1 | F | 73 |
| T102 | Scott Piercy | +1 | F | 73 |
| T102 | Aaron Baddeley | +1 | F | 73 |
| T102 | Brandon Wu | +1 | F | 73 |
| T102 | Paul Haley II | +1 | F | 73 |
| T102 | Harry Hall | +1 | F | 73 |
| T102 | Eric Cole | +1 | F | 73 |
| T102 | Nick Watney | +1 | F | 73 |
| T102 | Chez Reavie | +1 | F | 73 |
| T102 | Callum Tarren | +1 | F | 73 |
| T102 | Peter Malnati | +1 | 16 | - |
| T102 | Brent Grant | +1 | 16 | - |
| T102 | MJ Daffue | +1 | 14 | - |
| T115 | Matthew NeSmith | +2 | F | 74 |
| T115 | Luke List | +2 | F | 74 |
| T115 | Stewart Cink | +2 | F | 74 |
| T115 | Cam Davis | +2 | F | 74 |
| T115 | Kevin Tway | +2 | F | 74 |
| T115 | John Huh | +2 | F | 74 |
| T115 | Cameron Percy | +2 | F | 74 |
| T115 | Chris Kirk | +2 | F | 74 |
| T115 | Jason Day | +2 | F | 74 |
| T115 | Trey Mullinax | +2 | F | 74 |
| T115 | Lucas Glover | +2 | F | 74 |
| T115 | Charley Hoffman | +2 | F | 74 |
| T115 | Justin Suh | +2 | 16 | - |
| T115 | Carl Yuan | +2 | 16 | - |
| T115 | Dylan Wu | +2 | 14 | - |
| T115 | Tano Goya | +2 | 14 | - |
| T131 | Dylan Frittelli | +3 | F | 75 |
| T131 | Max McGreevy | +3 | F | 75 |
| T131 | Patton Kizzire | +3 | F | 75 |
| T131 | David Lingmerth | +3 | F | 75 |
| T131 | Maverick McNealy | +3 | F | 75 |
| T131 | Erik Barnes | +3 | F | 75 |
| T131 | Ryan Armour | +3 | F | 75 |
| T131 | Henrik Norlander | +3 | F | 75 |
| T131 | Kelly Kraft | +3 | F | 75 |
| T131 | Garrick Higgo | +3 | F | 75 |
| T131 | Michael Kim | +3 | F | 75 |
| T131 | Austin Cook | +3 | 17 | - |
| T131 | Doc Redman | +3 | 16 | - |
| T131 | Michael Gligic | +3 | 15 | - |
| T131 | Kyle Westmoreland | +3 | 13 | - |
| 146 | Kevin Roy | +4 | F | 76 |
| T147 | Patrick Rodgers | +5 | F | 77 |
| T147 | Brendan Steele | +5 | F | 77 |
| T147 | Alex Lee | +5 | F | 77 |
| T147 | Ryan Moore | +5 | F | 77 |
| T151 | Davis Riley | +6 | F | 78 |
| T151 | Kyle Stanley | +6 | F | 78 |
| T151 | Adam Long | +6 | F | 78 |
| 154 | Scott de Borba | +7 | 13 | - |
| 155 | Taylor Lowe | +8 | 15 | - |
| W/D | Brandon Matthews | - | - | 35 |
