First reserve Nate Lashley took full advantage of his late entry into the Rocket Mortgage Classic by shooting a career-best 63 to take the first-round lead on nine under.
The 36-year-old, ranked 353rd in the world, was first alternate at last week’s Traveler’s Championship but did not get an opening, so when the chance came at the Detroit Golf Club, he seized it after David Berganio withdrew on Wednesday.
Waterford’s Séamus Power – who will return to Ireland for the Irish Open next week – has work to do to make the cut after his opening round of 73. The lone Irishman in the field in Detroit was two under through his first nine holes before bogeying the 10th and finishing with an ugly double bogey six at the 18th.
Unheralded Lashley carded four birdies on the front nine and five on the back in a bogey-free round which put him top of the leaderboard early on and he was never caught.
Ryan Armour and Nick Watney came closest, one shot behind after rounds of 64, with a large group on seven under including former Open champion Stewart Cink.
“When you’re first alternate, it’s not a whole lot of fun, that feeling of only missing getting in the event by a spot, by one person,” said Lashley, who is playing this season on conditional status after earning his PGA Tour card in 2018.
Newly crowned US Open champion Gary Woodland recovered from being five over through 11 holes to finish with four birdies in his last six to shoot a one-over 73.
Collated first round scores in the USPGA Tour Rocket Mortgage Classic Detroit Golf Club, Detroit, Michigan (USA unless stated, par 72):
63 Nate Lashley
64 Nick Watney, Ryan Armour
65 Adam Schenk, Rory Sabbatini (Svk), Talor Gooch , Stewart Cink, Chase Wright , Chez Reavie , Charles Howell III
66 Brian Stuard, Jason Kokrak, Scott Stallings , Martin Piller, Cameron Champ, Bronson Burgoon , Harris English, Kevin Streelman, Danny Lee (Nzl), Mackenzie Hughes (Can), J.J. Spaun, Dylan Frittelli (Rsa), Kevin Kisner
67 Wes Roach, Carlos Ortiz (Mex), Jonas Blixt (Swe), Tom Hoge , J.B. Holmes , Joey Garber , Chad Collins , Curtis Luck (Aus), Luke Donald (Eng)
68 Scott Brown , Hideki Matsuyama (Jpn), Sepp Straka (Aut), Byeong-Hun An (Kor), Doc Redman , Wyndham Clark , Max Homa , Russell Henley , Jimmy Walker , Kevin Tway , Nick Taylor (Can), Rickie Fowler , Patrick Reed , Peter Malnati , Bubba Watson , Brendan Steele , Ted Potter, Jr. , Joaquin Niemann (Chi), Seth Reeves , Brandon Harkins , Cameron Tringale , Josh Teater
69 Bud Cauley , Charley Hoffman , Benjamin Silverman (Can), Aaron Wise , Anders Albertson , Alex Prugh , Scott Langley , Martin Laird (Sco), Billy Horschel , Brice Garnett , Dominic Bozzelli , Anirban Lahiri (Ind), Austen Truslow , Shawn Stefani , Kyle Stanley , Sam Saunders , Smylie Kaufman , Billy Hurley III , Denny McCarthy , Sungjae Im (Kor)
70 Kramer Hickok , Roger Sloan (Can), Vaughn Taylor , Colt Knost , Viktor Hovland (Nor), Brady Schnell , Kelly Kraft , Nicholas Lindheim , Robert Streb , Hank Lebioda , Roberto Castro , JT Poston , Jason Dufner , Adam Svensson (Can), Jose de Jesus Rodriguez (Mex), Brian Harman , Kyle Jones , Trey Mullinax , Whee Kim (Kor), Cameron Smith (Aus), Freddie Jacobson (Swe), Rod Pampling (Aus), Sam Burns , Patton Kizzire , Brandt Snedeker , Ryan Moore
71 Satoshi Kodaira (Jpn), Matt Jones (Aus), Harold Varner III , Austin Cook , Andrew Landry , Justin Suh (a) , Cody Gribble , Wes Homan , Peter Uihlein , Chris Thompson , Luke List , Ryan Vermeer , Roberto Diaz (Mex), Beau Hossler , John Chin , Matt Harmon , Dustin Johnson , Michael Thompson , Adam Long , Keith Mitchell , Chip McDaniel
72 Sam Ryder , Kyoung-hoon Lee (Kor), Hunter Mahan , Stephan Jaeger (Ger), Ollie Schniederjans , Mike Weir (Can), Ryan Blaum , Tyler Duncan , Jim Herman
73 Chris Stroud , Sung Kang (Kor), Gary Woodland , Cameron Davis (Aus), Alex Cejka (Ger), Séamus Power (Irl), J.J. Henry , Sebastian Munoz (Col), Martin Trainer , Troy Merritt , Corey Conners (Can)
74 Will MacKenzie , Richy Werenski , Brian Gay , Zack Sucher , Will Claxton , Si Woo Kim (Kor)
75 Matthew Wolff , Ernie Els (Rsa), Chesson Hadley , Michael Kim , Fabian Gomez (Arg)
76 Sang-moon Bae (Kor), Morgan Hoffmann
78 Zachary Bauchou
80 Lee Houtteman
