Danny Lee’s sizzling start propelled the New Zealander to a one-stroke lead in the rain-delayed Mayakoba Golf Classic in Mexico on Friday.
Lee put together five birdies and an eagle in his first eight holes while shooting nine-under 62 to pace Americans Brendon Todd and Adam Long, who had 63s, as the weather improved in Playa del Carmen after Thursday’s first-round washout.
“I changed my swing a little bit to gain distance off the tee,” said the South Korean-born golfer who started play shortly after sunrise.
“I think it’s been showing me a lot of good results.”
Lee, the tournament’s runner-up last year, opened play with a birdie, then added another at the fourth hole before his eagle at the par-five fifth. Three more birdies followed.
He made the turn at seven-under, then added birdies at the 11th, 12th and 13th.
But he lost his bid for a sub-60 round with a bogey at the par-four 14th, then collected pars on the final four holes.
Graeme McDowell, playing for the first time since withdrawing from the Zozo Championship in Japan last month, opened with a fine five-under-par 66 – featuring six birdies and a lone bogey – to trail leader Lee by four strokes.
McDowell, a former champion, covered the front nine in 32 strokes with four birdies – at the first, third, fifth and ninth – and bounced back from a bogey on the 12th, where he drove into a waste area, with back-to-back birdies on the 13th and 14th holes.
Vaughn Taylor, Mark Hubbard, Zach Johnson and Chris Baker shared fourth after shooting seven-under par 64s.
Lee has not won on the PGA Tour since 2015 when he topped a four-man playoff at the Greenbrier Classic.
Todd and Long are also previous winners. Todd’s victory came two weeks ago at the Bermuda Championship and Long claimed the Desert Classic title in January.
Two other Americans celebrated holes-in-one at the fourth hole. Cameron Tringale aced the 116-yard par-three layout in his 69 and about 45 minutes later rookie Chase Seiffert followed suit while shooting 68.
Collated first round scores in the USPGA Tour Mayakoba Golf Classic, El Camaleon GC, Playa del Carmen, Mexico (USA unless stated, par 71):
62 Danny Lee (Nzl)
63 Adam Long, Brendon Todd
64 Zach Johnson, Vaughn Taylor, Christopher Baker, Mark Hubbard
65 Billy Horschel, Harris English
66 Chris Stroud, Robby Shelton, Graeme McDowell (NIrl), Sam Ryder, (a) Alvaro Ortiz (Mex), Brian Gay, Bol Hoag, Chez Reavie, Bronson Burgoon, Abraham Ancer (Mex), Scottie Scheffler, Russell Henley, Luke Donald (Eng), Dylan Frittelli (Rsa)
67 Sebastian Vazquez (Mex), Ben Martin, Henrik Norlander (Swe), Matthew NeSmith, Patton Kizzire, Zac Blair, Nick Taylor (Can)
68 JT Poston, Brandon Wu (a), Pat Perez, Harold Varner III, Viktor Hovland (Nor), Graham DeLaet (Can), Chase Seiffert, Brendan Steele, Ben Taylor (Eng), James Hahn, Cheng-Tsung Pan (Tai), Ryan Armour, Patrick Rodgers
69 Brian Stuard, Carlos Ortiz (Mex), Hudson Swafford, David Hearn (Can), Denny McCarthy, J.J. Spaun, Calum Hill (Sco), Luke List, Rory Sabbatini (Svk), Shawn Stefani, Davis Love III, Matt Kuchar, Kristoffer Ventura (Nor), Joel Dahmen, Scott Harrington, Keith Mitchell, Russell Knox (Sco), Cameron Tringale
70 Satoshi Kodaira (Jpn), Scott Stallings, Aaron Wise, Cameron Champ, Charles Howell III, Tony Finau, Emiliano Grillo (Arg), Xinjun Zhang (Chn), (a) Eugenio Lopez-Chacarra (Spa), Kevin Kisner, Will Gordon, Wes Roach, Jason Day (Aus), Chris Kirk, Kyle Stanley, Beau Hossler, Scott Piercy, Michael Gligic (Can), Kevin Chappell, Aaron Baddeley (Aus), Keegan Bradley, Harry Higgs, Mackenzie Hughes (Can), Jhonattan Vegas (Ven), Jim Herman
71 Rafael Campos (Dom), Matt Jones (Aus), Rhein Gibson (Aus), Andrew Landry, Robert Streb, Si Woo Kim (Kor), Wyndham Clark, Doc Redman, Talor Gooch, Ryan Brehm, Brice Garnett, Kyoung-hoon Lee (Kor), Brian Harman, Lanto Griffin, Fabian Gomez (Arg), Kevin Streelman, Sebastian Cappelen (Den), Maverick McNealy
72 Peter Malnati, Scott Brown, Kramer Hickok, Roger Sloan (Can), Martin Laird (Sco), Tyler McCumber, Tom Hoge
73 Nick Watney, Adam Schenk, Charley Hoffman, Sepp Straka (Aut), Benjamin Silverman (Can), Roberto Diaz (Mex), Jose de Jesus Rodriguez (Mex), Kevin Stadler, Rob Oppenheim, Hank Lebioda, Sebastian Munoz (Col), Tyler Duncan
74 Austin Cook, Nelson Lauta Ledesma (Arg), Mark Anderson
75 D.A. Points, Bol Van Pelt, Michael Kim
76 Efren Serna, Joaquin Niemann (Chi)
78 Jimmy Stanger
