J.T. Poston carded an opening 8-under 63 featuring six birdies in a seven hole stretch to take a two-shot lead in the RBC Heritage at Harbour Town Golf Links.
“I chipped and putted it really well. Especially putted it really well,” said the American. I felt like it was one of those days where if I could give myself a look, and I felt pretty confident in being able to make those putts, whether it was a close one or a 20-, 25-footer. It sort of freed up the tee to green a little bit I guess you could say.
“I’ve had some good weeks here in the past. It’s definitely one of those — when I saw that it was elevated, it’s definitely one of the ones that I had circled on my schedule for the year. It’s one of my favorite events. I’ve played well. I’m just excited to be here.
Ireland’s Seamus Power shot 6-under to tie for second place alongside American Collin Morikawa.
Six players are tied in fourth place at 5-under, among them last week’s runner-up at the Masters, Sweden’s Ludvig Åberg.
FedExCup leader and World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler double bogeyed at the par-4 3rd and made four birdies for a 69 in his first round since winning last week’s Masters Tournament. With a win, he would become the first player since Tiger Woods in 2006 to win a major and win on Tour the following week. Woods won the PGA Championship and followed it with a win at the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational.
“I think sometimes when you’re coming from Augusta — we were talking about it today, is it 14 that’s the long par-3 with the water? The green just looked so small. I’m sitting there with a 6-iron looking at this small green, and Augusta everything is really big at times and then you come here and everything is really, really small it seems like,” said Scheffler.
“I think for some people, distance debate type people if they’re ever looking at golf course design and how to combat people only trying to hit the ball really far, they need to come here and do a case study on this golf course because it’s really, really good. You’ve got to curve the ball both directions, and you have to control your distance. You have to control where the golf ball is going. It’s not just a place where you can go bomb it.”
Defending champion Matt Fitzpatrick opened with a 70; the last player to successfully defend a title at the RBC Heritage was Boo Weekley in 2008.
