Collin Morikawa and JJ Spaun each shot bogey-free rounds of nine-under-par 64 on Thursday, and they share the lead with Spain’s Jon Rahm after the opening round of the Sentry Tournament of Champions in Kapalua, Hawaii.
Rahm eagled the par-five fifth hole on the Plantation Course at Kapalua, and he bogeyed the par-four 14th.
South Korea’s Tom Kim sits alone in fourth place at eight-under.
Tom Hoge, Aaron Wise, Scottie Scheffler, South Korea’s Sungjae Im, Canada’s Mackenzie Hughes and England’s Matt Fitzpatrick are tied for fifth at seven-under. Séamus Power is a shot further back after carding a round of 68. In a mixed bag of an opening round, Power carded eight birdies to go with three bogeys to sit in a tie for 17th, four shots off the lead on five-under.
The Tournament of Champions, which includes 39 players, is the first of 17 designated PGA Tour events with elevated purses this year. In the past, this event was limited to players who won a tournament the previous year, but the 2023 field was expanded to feature players who did not win in 2022 but did reach the Tour Championship.
Morikawa was just two-under par at the turn before reeling off six consecutive birdies. Following two pars, he closed with another birdie at the par-five 18th hole.
He credited the strong round to start the year in part to work with two new members of his team, putting coach Stephen Sweeney and chipping coach Parker McLachlin.
"It's good to have someone that knows a lot about short game and you just kind of bounce ideas off," Morikawa said of McLachlin.
As for his work with Sweeney, Morikawa said, "I just have answers. Before when I was putting, it was like guess work. I might have putted well today and then thought I was doing something, but in reality it was something else."
Spaun's round was highlighted by a string of four straight birdies in the middle of the back nine.
Spaun said of his initial round after the circuit's holiday break, "The walk is kind of tough. My toes hurt, but it was a great first round for me out here on Tour and in competition. So, yeah, I can't ask for anything more."
Asked he ever experienced toe problems previously, he said, "I think this is ... a first for me. Just all those uphills and then downhill, you're really on the balls of your feet all day. ...
"Walking downhill is almost just as hard. It's like, you're kind of like bracing yourself, so it's hard. Tough life out here (smiling)."
Defending champion Cameron Smith of Australia is not in the field after jumping from the PGA Tour to LIV Golf.
Scores from the PGA Tour Sentry Tournament of Champions on Thursday
-9 Collin Morikawa (USA) 64 Jon Rahm (Spain) 64 JJ Spaun (USA) 64
-8 Joo-hyung Kim (Korea Republic) 65
-7 Matthew Fitzpatrick (England) 66 Tom Hoge (USA) 66 Mackenzie Hughes (Canada) 66 Sungjae Im (Korea Republic) 66 Scottie Scheffler (USA) 66 Aaron Wise (USA) 66
-6 Tony Finau (USA) 67 Viktor Hovland (Norway) 67 Hideki Matsuyama (Japan) 67 Jordan Spieth (USA) 67 Scott Stallings (USA) 67 Sahith Theegala (USA) 67
-5 Ryan Brehm (USA) 68 Corey Conners (Canada) 68 Brian Harman (USA) 68 Kyoung-Hoon Lee (Korea Republic) 68 J.T. Poston (USA) 68 Séamus Power (Ireland) 68
-4 Russell Henley (USA) 69 Trey Mullinax (USA) 69 Will Zalatoris (USA) 69
-3 Keegan Bradley (USA) 70 Sam Burns (USA) 70 Patrick Cantlay (USA) 70 Max Homa (USA) 70 Xander Schauffele (USA) 70 Adam Scott (Australia) 70 Justin Thomas (USA) 70 Cameron Young (USA) 70
-2 Luke List (USA) 71 Chad Ramey (USA) 71 Chez Reavie (USA) 71 Sepp Straka (Austria) 71 Adam Svensson (Canada) 71
3 Billy Horschel (USA) 76
