Matt McCarty made five birdies on his front nine, including three putts of 50+ feet (No. 13 – 52′ 5″, No. 16 – 59′ 8″, No. 17 – 52′ 0″), to make the turn in 31. He made another birdie at the 5th followed by a bogey and three birdies to close with an 8-under 63 and take the lead at the suspended Truist Championship.

“Yeah, played really good. I wasn’t hitting it that great early but you make a bunch of 50-plus footers and it kind of gets your day going. Hit it a lot better on the back nine and nice to get a few coming home for sure,” said the American.

“I’ve been putting pretty good for the last couple years. Feel like it’s normally a strength of my game, and honestly this year I feel like I haven’t been able to pop the top off it any round so far. I don’t know if I, you know, I was more expecting to putt well and make a bunch of 12-, 15-, 20-footers maybe, not exactly that, but, yeah, no, it was a good day and felt good out there and it was nice to kind of put it all together and on the greens especially.”

Playing in his 46th start, his best 18-hole position on the PGA Tour so far was T2 (2024 Bank of Utah Championship/Won, 2025 Procore Championship/T43).

McCarty is playing for the sixth straight week on Tour and has improved his finish in each event, including four consecutive top-25 finishes entering the week: T39/Valero Texas Open, T24/Masters Tournament, T12/RBC Heritage, T10/Zurich Classic of New Orleans, T9/Cadillac Championship. In 14 starts this season he has had three top-10s, including two in his last two starts.

His single win came at the 2024 Bank of Utah Championship in his third career start. He became the sixth player in PGA Tour history to win within his first three starts.

Korean Sungjae Im made six birdies on his front nine to make the turn in 30 then added one more, two bogeys and an eagle at the par-5 7th before play was suspended. He currently lies in second place at 7-under.

Im returned to competition in March after being sidelined for five months with a wrist injury and has had one top-25 finish in seven starts. (T4/Valspar Championship).

Norwegian rookie Kristoffer Reitan recorded his lowest first-round score with a 5-under 66 having made two bogeys around the turn and also lies in T3. A two-time winner on the DP World Tour, he owns four top-25 finishes in 11 starts this season, including a T14 in last week’s Cadillac Championship, his first ever start in a Signature Event.

Canadian Nick Taylor fired eight birdies and three bogeys for his share of third place alongside England’s Harry Hall (one bogey), Denmark’s Nicolai Højgaard (eagle at the par-4 14th, three bogeys) and Sepp Straka (bogey-free through 17 holes).

Straka is seeking to become the first player to successfully defend at the Truist Championship.

Four-time Truist Championship champion Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland is T30 at 1-under having recorded pars on his first 17 holes before a birdie on his final hole (No. 9) for a 70 (first-round scores from each year he won the event: 2010/72, 2015/70, 2021/72, 2024/67).

Due to heavy rain, the first round of the Truist Championship was delayed 90 minutes, with tee times from 12:30 – 2:31 p.m. ET in groups of three off Nos. 1 and 10. The first round was suspended at 7:10 p.m. due to inclement weather. Play will resume Friday at 10:30 a.m. with 20 players left to complete the round. The second round will begin as scheduled, featuring groups of three from 11 a.m. – 1:01 p.m. off Nos. 1 and 10.

Related: Mark Enderle interview

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