England’s Tommy Fleetwood closed with back-to-back birdies to fire a bogey-free, six-under par 65 and grab a one-stroke lead after Thursday’s first round of the PGA Wells Fargo Championship.
Fleetwood, a six-time European Tour winner chasing his first PGA title, made four birdies and an eagle to take charge at Quail Hollow in Charlotte, North Carolina.
“I made a couple of good up and downs early doors,” Fleetwood said. “Overall I did a really good job of playing my game, hitting the shots I can hit and the score then took care of itself.”
Tokyo Olympic champion Xander Schauffele had back-to-back birdies at 14 and 15 to seize the lead but bogeys at 16 and 18 dropped him into a share of second on 66 with fellow Americans Kevin Streelman, Ryan Palmer and Taylor Moore and South Korean Lee Kyoung-hoon.
Fleetwood, making his 116th PGA start, birdied three of the last five holes to lead after a round for the first time since last year’s Players Championship opening round.
Fleetwood landed his approach eight feet from the hole at the par-5 seventh and rolled in the eagle putt, then sank a birdie from just inside five feet at the eighth and sank a 21-foot birdie putt at 14.
He was still off the pace until making an 11-foot birdie putt at the par-3 17th, and at 18 he blasted from a fairway bunker to just inside eight feet and sank the birdie putt to grab the lead.
Rory McIlroy, a four-time major winner and three-time champion at Quail Hollow, celebrated his 34th birthday with a 68, spectators serenading him with birthday best wishes all over the course.
“It’s nice to be out there and everyone wishing you a good day,” McIlroy said. “This is my 11th birthday I’m celebrating in Charlotte. I’m sort of getting used to it. I feel just as good now as I did at 24 so with that I still feel like I’ve got a lot of good years left in me.”