Keith Mitchell carded a 9-under, bogey-free 61 on Thursday to take the opening lead at the Truist Championship.
This marks his career-low 18-hole score on the PGA Tour, he had previously shot 62 three times, most recently at the 2024 American Express.
“It’s a great golf course. Love playing it. Definitely old school. We don’t play a ton of these. It’s nice to have that as a little refresher out here,2 said Mitchell.
“A lot of greens that have one real uniform slope outside of little, small nuances. In the practice rounds, my caddie and I were just throwing an arrow pretty much to determine what direction the entire green sloped, and he always kind of played it outside so you can stay below the hole.
“If you get above the hole really pin high on the wrong side, you can have a really fast putt and have a ton of breaks. So trying to stay below the hole out here is huge.
“There’s a couple bunkers that you need to be able to carry on a few holes, and just not having much wind, I hit a lot of drivers. I can see some holes that are downwind lay back a little bit, and some holes that are in the wind, the bunkers could really come into play.
“Today I was able to either avoid them or hit over them, and that’s not going to be the case with rain or wind.”
Mitchell has won once in 200 career starts, at the 2019 Cognizant Classic in The Palm Beaches. He received one of four sponsor exemptions restricted to Tour members this week.
Denny McCarthy posted his low opening-round score on Tour this season with a 62 marred by a single bogey. He led the field in Strokes Gained: Putting (4.478).
Competing as one of four sponsor exemptions restricted to Tour members, Rickie Fowler opened with birdies on six of his first seven holes and closed with 63 for a share of third place at 7-under having made one bogey at the 17th. Fowler seeks his first top-10 finish in his 10th start on Tour this season. His best finish was T21 at the The American Express.
Collin Morikawa shares third place after posting a bogey-free 63 for his low opening-round score this season. He is coming off his first missed cut in eight starts this season at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans (with Kurt Kitayama).
Austria’s Sepp Straka, the only non-American in the top-5, recorded a bogey-free 63 to join third place alongside Akshay Bhatia who made three bogeys.
FedExCup leader and defending champion Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland, currently T25 at 4-under, opened with 66 in search of his fifth career tournament title at the Truist Championship, previously the Wells Fargo Championship (2010, 2015, 2021, 2024).
