Akshay Bhatia signed for a bogey-free, 8-under 64 featuring an eagle at the par-5 7th to take a one shot lead at the Rocket Mortgage Classic.

“[I] putted great. I guess I missed one green today, so I got that up and down. All in all, I hit it pretty nice with the irons and I made some putts. Driver, 3-wood didn’t feel too good, but I’ve got some time to go work on that.

“I’ve been playing good the last three weeks. I feel like the results haven’t been where I’ve wanted them to be, but I’ve been playing pretty solid. I’ve been right there for, you know, over 40 holes I would say the last couple weeks. It’s just I’m having some hiccups either Saturday or Sunday. I’m just trying to figure that out. It’s nice to be in this position.”

It was his third opening-round score of 64 or better this season, tying Patrick Cantlay and Xander Schauffele for the most such scores on Tour. His others were 63 at the Valero Texas Open which he went on to win and 64 at the Travelers Championship.

Fellow Americans Taylor Montgomery and Michael Kim carded bogey-free 65s for a share of second place at 7-under

England’s Aaron Rai shot a bogey-free 66 for a share of fourth place at 6-under alongside defending champion Rickie Fowler of the United States who also stayed bogey-free as well as fellow Americans Eric Cole and Will Zalatoris and Germany’s Matti Schmid who eagled the par-5 7th and bogeyed the 18th.

“Biggest thing, I was just trying to hit as many greens as possible,” said Fowler. “It was going to be tough to make putts unless you hit it really close. So yeah, that was kind of the big thing. I was just trying to fairways and greens, wear those out, and if we get a couple putts to go in, just kind of bound to happen. It was nice to get a few to go in coming in and finish off the round.”

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