Kizzire Shoots 62, Takes Early Lead at OHL Classic

Patton Kizzire fired a 9-under 62 in the opening round of the OHL Classic, and holds an early three-shot lead in Playa del Carmen, Mexico.

Kizzire, who was 10 under after 17 holes, made his lone bogey at El Camaleon’s 18th hole to sign for a card one shy of Roland Thatcher’s (2008) course record-61.

Overall, the 31-year old Alabama native, and Auburn product, finished with 10 birdies, highlighted by six straight on hole Nos. 8-13.

“The strength of my game is putting and I gave myself a lot of opportunities. Had some really short birdie putts and then rolled in a few good ones. I just kept giving myself good looks at it,” said Kizzire, who finished T4 last week at the Shriners.

Vaughn Taylor birdied the final hole on Thursday to sign for a bogey-free 7-under 64, good for solo second.

“I played really well. Hit some good iron shots. Overall, I did everything pretty well,” said Taylor, a three-time Tour winner.

Tournament headliner Rickie Fowler didn’t disappoint the Mayakoba Resort golf fans, as the World No. 10 posted a tidy 6-under 65, and is just three back at T3.

“Got off to a solid start, made some good swings, got up and down to start the round and always nice to go bogey-free,” said Fowler, who is making his first career appearance at Mayakoba. “Always nice to start the year that way, just six birdies out there. I had one really good par save on my 11th, which is No. 2. Other than that, it was nice to start the year on a positive note.”

Tied with Fowler is little-known Brandon Harkins, who closed with four birdies over his final six holes, to get to 65. The California native has been impressive to start his rookie season, finishing T9 at the season-opening Safeway, and T20 last week in Vegas.

Retief Goosen and Fabian Gomez got in the clubhouse early with 5-under 66s. Four players in the afternoon wave matched the veteran duo, including Xin-jun Zhang, Austin Cook, Martin Piller, and Keith Mitchell, who started his day with an ace on the par-3 10th, hitting a 6-iron to 214 yards.

Defending champion Pat Perez, and PLAYERS champion Si Woo Kim, lead a logjam of 10 players at 4-under 68.

OHL CLASSIC: TOP 10

The Top 10 and ties after the opening round of the OHL Classic at Mayakoba.

1 Patton Kizzire -9
2 Vaughn Taylor -7
T3 Rickie Fowler -6
T3 Brandon Harkins -6
T5 Retief Goosen -5
T5 Fabian Gomez -5
T5 Xin-jun Zhang -5
T5 Austin Cook -5
T5 Martin Piller -5
T5 Keith Mitchell -5

OHL CLASSIC: HIGHLIGHTS

Round one highlights of the 2017 OHL Classic at Mayakoba, presented by the PGA Tour.

QUOTABLE

“I find that zone more at home than I do out here on the Tour, so I just tried to imagine being back home at my own course, Ocean Forest or Sea Island, and just playing with my buddies and trying to make as many birdies as I could.”
–Patton Kizzire

OHL CLASSIC: LEADERBOARD

The leaderboard after round one at El Camaleon Golf Club.

Credits: Getty Images, PGA Tour Media