Hunter Eichhorn opened with a bogey-free, 9-under 62, highlighted by eagles at the par-4 fourth and par-5 14th, to lead in the opening round at the Suncoast Classic golf championship, which was suspended due to darkness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It was quite a turnaround for Eichhorn, who had missed the cut as an open qualifier at his only previous start in the event last year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Eichhorn already boasts four top-10s in seven starts this season, tied for the most top-10s on the Korn Ferry Tour with Ian Gilligan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jay Card trails Eichhorn by just one stroke, after he birdied five of his final six holes to card a bogey-free 8-under 63.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Florida native Nick Gabrelcik is tied third at 6-under with five others including Trace Crow, Harry Higgs, Jackson Buchanon, Chad Sewell and Alvaro Ortiz.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Hayden Buckley winner of the 2021 Suncoast Classic, opened in 5-under 66 to be tied ninth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Hubbard leads in Texas<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Mark Hubbard converted his sixth birdie over his final eight holes to post a 7-under 65 at dark for one-shot lead in the storm-delayed opening round at the Valero Texas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Hubbard broke out of six-way tie for the lead with his flurry of birdies. The ight birdies are tied with Will Zalatoris (T7\/-5) and Adam Schenk (T15\/-4) for the most in the round<\/p>\n\n\n\n Hubbard will be looking to maintain his fine form this week after an underwhelming star to the season. In nine starts this season, has only one top-25 finis, a T23 at the Cognizant Classic in The Palm Beaches.\u00b7\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/p>\n\n\n\n Tony Finau, Davis Thompson, Robert Macintyre, Steven Fisk and Andrew Putnam are all in the chasing pack, just one stroke behind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n MacIntyre and Fisk were two of eight players bogey free in the first round.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Making his third appearance in the Valero Texas Open Tommy Fleetwood, is the highest-ranked player in the field at No. 4. He is within striking distance after carding a 5-under round.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Meanwhile, Austin Smotherman (T15\/-4) aced the 220-yard par-3 13th with a 6-iron, his first hole-in-one in his 86th PGA Tour start.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Past champions Jimmy Walker (2015) and J.J. Spaun (2022) are at 3-under while while Charley Hoffman (2016) is at one-under with 13-time PGA Tour winner and 2021 champion Jordan Spieth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Defending champipn Brian Harman could only must an even par round.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Leaderboard<\/strong> (Suncoast Classic)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n PARTIAL First-Round Leaderboard<\/strong> (Texas Open)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Hunter Eichhorn opened with a bogey-free, 9-under 62, highlighted by eagles at the par-4 fourth and par-5 14th,<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":11206,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[44],"tags":[58],"class_list":["post-11205","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-international","tag-golf"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\tPos.<\/strong><\/td> Player<\/strong><\/td> Total<\/strong><\/td><\/tr> 1<\/td> Hunter Eichhorn<\/td> 62 (-9)<\/td><\/tr> 2<\/td> Jay Card III<\/td> 63 (-8)<\/td><\/tr> T3<\/td> Five Players Tied<\/em><\/td> 65 (-6)<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n Pos.<\/strong><\/td> Player<\/strong><\/td> R1<\/strong><\/td><\/tr> 1<\/td> Mark Hubbard<\/td> 65 (-7)<\/td><\/tr> T2<\/td> Tony Finau<\/td> 66 (-6)<\/td><\/tr> T2<\/td> Davis Thompson<\/td> 66 (-6)<\/td><\/tr> T2<\/td> Andrew Putnam<\/td> 66 (-6)<\/td><\/tr> T2<\/td> Robert MacIntyre<\/td> 66 (-6)<\/td><\/tr> T2<\/td> Steven Fisk<\/td> 66 (-6)<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"