After day one of the Charles Schwab Challenge, Jordan Spieth and Sergio Garcia share the early lead on 7-under par.
The first to turn in a low-round 63 was Spieth, who reached the marquee position with seven birdies, including a closing hat trick, to sign for a career best score at Colonial.
“Yeah, it’s hard to go any lower,” said Spieth. “Made some putts, got started on the first hole today, that one goes in, and that’s what I talked about before the tournament. If I could get a couple to go in early in the first round and the confidence and the work I’ve been doing on my stroke the last few days, which is a somewhat significant change in a stroke feel.
“I thought that would exude just a little bit of confidence into the rest of the round on greens where I’ve been very successful on before.”
Garcia, who played in the afternoon wave, joined Spieth with a bogey-free scorecard, highlighted by a four-hole stretch of birdie-birdie-birdie-eagle (Nos. 8-11).
The low-round score was the 40-year old Spaniards best on the PGA Tour since the 2016 Byron Nelson (also in Texas).
“Yeah, great round. I’m not going to lie – conditions weren’t easy,” said Garcia. “Obviously because of the rain, the course wasn’t too firm, even though it firmed up nicely between yesterday and today.
“But yeah, it was quite breezy. It was gusty, so it wasn’t easy to pull some of the clubs. There were some tough holes out there, but I was able to hit really good shots on those holes, and a couple up-and-downs when I needed them, so very happy with the way it went.”
Eric Compton and Jason Kokrak were two back on 5-under par, one clear of Adam Hadwin, Brandt Snedeker, and Kramer Hickok, who rounded out the top-5 on 4 under.
Defending champion Daniel Berger opened with a 68 and was T14 on 2 under, while new PGA Champion Phil Mickelson struggled to a 73.
World No. 2 Justin Thomas‘ posted a 2-over 72 to sit T69.
2021 Charles Schwab Challenge
Top-5 Leaders: Round 1
Pos-Player-To Par-(Rd 1)
1. Jordan Spieth -7 (63)
1. Sergio Garcia -7 (63)
3. Eric Compton -5 (65)
3. Jason Kokrak -5 (65)
5. Brandt Snedeker -4 (66)
5. Kramer Hickok -4 (66)
5. Adam Hadwin -4 (66)
Material from the PGA Tour Media was used to compile this report.
