Taylor Moore Leads ZOZO Championship After Round One

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2024 ZOZO Championship Taylor Moore Leads Round 1
Taylor Moore hits his tee shot on the 11th hole during the first round of the ZOZO Championship 2024 at Accordia Golf Narashino CC on Oct 24, 2024 in Inzai, Chiba, Japan. (Photo by Yong Teck Lim via Getty Images)

Taylor Moore opened with a 63 on Thursday to claim the round-one lead at the ZOZO Championship in Japan.

The 31-year-old Texan finished his first round at Narashino Country Club with one bogey against a chip-in eagle and six birdies, including three gains in a row down the stretch, to reach 7-under par.

“I’d say just very solid overall,” said Moore when asked to comment on his round. “You know, did a pretty good job hitting fairways and greens for the most part.

“Yeah, couple chip-ins as well, which always helps.

“Yeah, overall, very solid.”

A threesome of Max Greyserman, Nico Echavarria and Eric Cole were one off the pace at 6-under 64, one clear of C.T. Pan and Kevin Yu, who were joint-fifth on 5-under 65.

2024 ZOZO Championship Justin Thomas Contends Round 1
Justin Thomas hits his tee shot on the 11th hole during the first round of the ZOZO Championship 2024 at Accordia Golf Narashino CC on Oct 24, 2024 in Inzai, Chiba, Japan. (Photo by Yong Teck Lim via Getty Images)

Two-time major winner Justin Thomas headlined a logjam of nine players deadlocked at 4-under 66.

“I played solid. I feel like I took advantage of some opportunities when I had ’em,” said Thomas, who offset one bogey with five birdies. “I mean, although the course is in such good shape, the fairways have a little bit of run in ’em, the greens are still soft so I feel that if you miss fairways, if you miss greens, if you’re in the right spot you can get it up and down.

“I feel like I struggled with a little bit of a miss off the tee in the beginning and I feel like I ironed that out pretty well. You know, wasn’t great, wasn’t bad, but it’s nice to get in a round with a good score.”

Shugo Imahira, Takumi Kanaya, Ryosuke Kinoshita and Taisei Shimizu were also in the group tied at 66, which was the low-round score among the Japan tour’s 14-player contingent.

Of note, defending champion Collin Morikawa opened with 1-under 69 to sit T35, two clear of home hero Hideki Matsuyama, who posted 71.

Two further back was world No. 2 Xander Schauffele, who finished with 16 pars, one birdie and a quadruple bogey on the par-4 ninth.

2024 ZOZO Championship Xander Schauffele Round 1
Xander Schauffele tees off at the first hole during round 1 of the 2025 ZOZO Championship at the Narashino CC in Inzai, Chiba, Japan on Oct 24, 2024. (Photo by TOSHIFUMI KITAMURA for AFP via Getty Images)

“Yeah, overall it was pretty low stress for the most part of the day,” joked Schauffele, who won two majors in 2024. “Like 85 percent of the day was not very stressful.

“No. 9 just, it was an incredible spot. I wanted to take a photo of it almost, how bad it was.

“For me to think I can do anything definitely got me in a hole there. I should have just taken an unplayable, but I was an idiot and tried to hit it. Then I was stubborn and then tried to hit it again, then finally took an unplayable.

“I was going to hit it a third time too just because, but yeah, it was a bad spot.”


2024 ZOZO Championship


Top-10 Leaderboard: Round 1

Pos-Player-Score (Rd1)
1. Taylor Moore -7 (63)
2. Max Greyserman -6 (64)
2. Nico Echavarria -6 (64)
2. Eric Cole -6 (64)
5. C.T. Pan -5 (65)
5. Kevin Yu -5 (65)
7. Justin Thomas -4 (66)
7. Ryosuke Kinoshita -4 (66)
7. K.H. Lee -4 (66)
7. Taisei Shimizu -4 (66)
7. Takumi Kanaya -4 (66)
7. Beau Hossler -4 (66)
7. Jhonattan Vegas -4 (66)
7. Shugo Imahira -4 (66)
7. Zac Blair -4 (66)


PGA Tour media press release and post-round notes used to compile recap.


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