Taylor Moore
Taylor Moore opened with a bogey-free 9-under 62, to lead five-time major champion Brooks Koepka by a stroke at the CJ Cup Byron Nelson golf championships at the TPC Craig Ranch.
Looking for his first victory since returning to the PGA Tour, Koepka shot 8-under 63 to tie for second with Jesper Svensson, who had a chance to join Moore atop the leaderboard but missed a 9-footer on the ninth.
It was Moore’s career low 18-hole score in his third appearance at the tournament. He had missed the cut last year and finished tied-22nd four years ago.
Having won his PGA victory at the 2023 Valspar Championship, Moore is looking for is first win of the season. He came close at the Cognizant Classic, finishing tied second.
Koepka has not had the best of starts this season. In his 11th starts since becoming eligible via the Returning Member Program, which allows players who have achieved levels of elite performance-based criteria an alternative path back to the PGA Tour, this is his best start.
It was also his first opening bogey-free round on Tour since the 2023 Masters.
Koepka, who contended at last week’s PGA Championship before fading on Sunday, eagled the par-5 12th and was 4 under through five holes. He had four more birdies in a span of five holes in his back nine, capped by a 3-foot birdie putt on the short par-4 sixth.
Defending champion Scottie Scheffler is only tied-16th with a five-under par and would need to up his game if he wants to to become the first player since Tiger Woods to successfully defend the title.
Making his sixth start at tournament South Korean Kim Si-woo carded a 7-under 64 to be tied in fourth spot with Stephan Jaeger and Michael Thorbjornsen. The trio are tied with Emiliano Grillo, Keith Mitchell, Michael Thorbjornsen, Tyler Duncan and Kensei Hirata.
Doug Ghim was at 65 with Mackenzie Hughes, Hank Lebioda, Austin Eckroat and Lanto Griffin.
With eagles on Nos. 2 and 14, Hank Lebioda (T11/-6) is the second player on Tour this season to make multiple eagles in a round on the par-4 holes.
Ponder leads suspended round
Before the suspension of play due to weather,Thomas Ponder carded an 8-under 64 at Quito Tenis & Golf Club to take a one-stroke lead at the KIA Open de Ecuador in Quito, Ecuador.
Ponder, a third-year pro from the University of Alabama, finished No. 35 (2025) and No. 36 (2024) on the PGA TOUR Americas Points List the last two seasons. This year, he’s currently No. 9 on the points list and with top-10s in his last two starts – T6 at the 94 Abierto del Centro Zurich and T10 last week at the Peru Open.
A pair of Ecuadorians making their pro debuts – 25-year-old Felipe Garcés and 22-year-old Renato Naula – both carded rounds of 5-under 67 and are T9 to start the fourth event of the PGA TOUR Americas season.
Garcés won the South American Amateur in 2024 and 2026, and his round was highlighted by a hole-in-one with an 8-iron on the 200-yard, par-3 6th hole. He previously competed in this event twice as an amateur, finishing T19 in 2025 and T27 in 2024.
Naula just completed a four-year collegiate career at the University of San Francisco (2022-26), closing with a T12 finish at the West Coast Conference Championship. He competed in the Latin America Amateur Championship five times, with his best finish being T9 earlier this year in Peru.
Making his PGA Tour Americas debut this week was Canadian amateur Dayton Price, who was one of two survivors of a tragic auto collision that took the lives of his coach and six teammates four years ago when he was a member of the University of the Southwest golf team.
Hitt and Ledesma in Knoxville lead
Austin Hitt and Nelson Ledesma his bogey free rounds of 9-under 62’s to share the lead after the first round of the Knoxville Open.
Hitt had missed the missed the cut in two previous starts at the Visit Knoxville Open in 2024 and 2025, but was flawless in his round.
Ledesma, a two-time Korn Ferry Tour winner struck seven birdies at holes 4, 7, 8, 14, 15, 16, 18) and an eagle on the 5th en route to his bogey-free round.
Drew Nesbitt is tied third with Hunter Wolcott at 8-under while the trio of Max Schliesing, Doc Redman and Hayden Buckley are a further stroke behind.
Meanwhile, Ian Holt (T97/-1), who stands No. 1 on the 2026 Korn Ferry Tour Points List, carded his second hole-in-one of the season with a pitching wedge from 135 yards on the par-3 eighth.
Hand it to Hend
Australian Scott Hend birdied his final two holes en route to a 7-under 66 in the opening round of the 50th edition of the Trophy Hassan II in Morocco.
He takes a one-shot lead into Friday’s second round of the 54-hole event ahead of Tommy Gainey.
Cameron Percy posted a bogey-free 68 to sit two shots back of Hend while Matt Gogel carded a 4-under 69 in his tournament debut.
Four players sit T5 at 3-under, including George McNeill, Felipe Aguilar, Søren Kjeldsen and Darren Fichardt.
Defending champion Miguel Ángel Jiménez opened with a 4-over 77 (T42).
