Keith Mitchell used a late birdie run to shoot a 9-under-par 61 and take the early lead at the Truist Championship on Thursday in Flourtown, Pa.
Mitchell started his first round at the Philadelphia Cricket Club’s Wissahickon Course on the back nine and parred his first five holes. After birdieing Nos. 15, 17 and 18, he stayed hot on the front nine with a 6-under 29 coming in, including four straight birdies at Nos. 5-8.
At day’s end, it was only good for a one-stroke lead over Denny McCarthy. Tied for third at 7-under 63 are Collin Morikawa, Rickie Fowler, Akshay Bhatia and Austria’s Sepp Straka.
Mitchell — only in the field due to a sponsor’s exemption — carried a bit of insider info into the week.
“I have a buddy that’s a member that kind of gave me a little bit of info, but honestly nothing,” Mitchell said. “I knew it was a great golf course. Everybody that I talked to said it was amazing, and they were right.
“We’re lucky to be here. I just plotted my way around Monday and Wednesday to figure out what to hit and where to kind of try to put the ball on the green.”
That prep work helped immensely on his final few holes, as he stuck his approach at the par-4 seventh hole to 2 1/2 feet of the pin, in between 5 1/2- and 7 1/2-foot birdie putts at Nos. 6 and 8.
Making its PGA Tour debut, the Philadelphia Cricket Club is serving as a temporary host for the $20 million signature event while Quail Hollow prepares to host the PGA Championship next week.
“This golf course is as classic as it gets, traditional,” Mitchell said. “The weather was just absolutely perfect today. So it didn’t really have much going to make it play harder. Being able to take advantage of it today with the weather was exactly what we were trying to do.”
McCarthy had a five-birdie run early in his round and said the course was not too different from Baltimore Country Club near his Maryland home.
“So when I come here, I see a lot of similar visuals off the tee and how the greens are,” McCarthy said. “So I have a pretty good feel and idea of how the course plays and how the greens can tilt and how they can break and stuff. So I felt pretty comfortable.”
Morikawa went bogey-free in his first competitive round with new caddie Joe Greiner.
“It was awesome,” Morikawa said. “Look, anything new is going to be interesting, and it’s going to be a learning curve, but at the end of the day, right now I have to take full accountability of how I’m describing shots to him, how we’re going through it.
“It’s not as simple as 150 yards, hit it 155. Like I don’t do numbers like that. There’s going to be this learning curve, but I think we did a really good job of just being really decisive on what we were going to do.”
Fowler posted a front-nine 29, with five birdies over his first six holes.
“I know this isn’t the (course’s) normal routing, but the first seven holes, and you can make a lot of birdies there,” Fowler said. “If you get out of position, you can also go the other way. I knew that was going to be key to kind of get off a nice start and get things rolling there.”
Ireland’s Shane Lowry and U.S. Ryder Cup captain Keegan Bradley were part of a tie for seventh at 6-under 64. A massive tie at 65 included Patrick Cantlay, Harris English, Tony Finau, Russell Henley, Japan’s Hideki Matsuyama and South Korea’s Si Woo Kim.
Rory McIlroy is the four-time champion of the event at Quail Hollow, including last year, and the Northern Irishman managed an opening 66 with six birdies and two bogeys. Justin Thomas, Max Homa and Will Zalatoris are among those tied with him at 66.
Only five players failed to shoot even par or better, including Canada’s Adam Hadwin (1-over 71) and Lucas Glover (2-over 72). There will be no cut after 36 holes.
–Field Level Media
