Tour rookie John Pak fired a 7-under 63 on Thursday and holds a three-shot lead after one round of the Charles Schwab Challenge at Fort Worth, Texas.
Pak’s career-best round began with an eagle on the par-4 10th hole, his first hole of the day at Colonial Country Club. He also had five birdies during a bogey-free round.
Pak, 26, made quite the statement with his eagle on the 392-yard 10th hole. He was 147 yards away for his second shot and knocked the ball in the hole.
“It was just like a perfect 9-iron,” Pak said of the shot. “The wind was off to the left, and I just tried to hit a 145-(foot) shot. I actually pushed it a little bit because I was aiming left of it, and it kind of just trickled in.
“We didn’t really see it but saw a couple of guys behind the green throw their hands in the air. It was kind of nice to see that fall in.”
Nine golfers are tied for second place after shooting 4-under 66. Bud Cauley, Ben Griffin, Beau Hossler, J.T. Poston, Patrick Rodgers and J.J. Spaun were joined by Japan’s Ryo Hisatsune, Germany’s Matti Schmid and England’s Matt Wallace in the mammoth logjam.
Another group of nine golfers are tied for 11th, four shots off the lead. Webb Simpson, Akshay Bhatia and England’s Tommy Fleetwood are part of that mix.
Pak has one Top 25 finish this year, tying for 17th at the Mexico Open. He has made seven cuts and missed five.
He earned his PGA Tour card with a solid performance on the Korn Ferry Tour last year.
He looked like a veteran during the first round at Colonial, producing a stretch of four birdies in one six-hole run and finishing his day with another birdie on No. 9.
Pak pointed to his recent emphasis on putting as a prime reason why he was able to put together such a low score.
“I really worked on my alignment. I was struggling with aiming where I’m trying to hit it,” Pak said. “When you’re trying to aim right edge and you’re aiming two cups out right, it’s kind of hard. You’re then trying to pull it into the hole, and it just gets really messy from there. So I really worked on that during the off-week last week. Yeah, that was kind of a big change for me.”
Pak also found motivation from the New York Knicks. The NBA team blew a 14-point lead with less than three minutes to play on Wednesday night and lost 138-135 in overtime to the Indiana Pacers.
“I’m a die-hard Knicks fan, and that was historically one of the worst losses I’ve ever seen in my life,” Pak said. “There was a fire lit under me, yeah, this morning. I was a little (peeved) about that.”
World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler is tied for 20th place after shooting 68. He had an eagle on the par-5 first hole as well as two birdies and two bogeys.
“On a day where I didn’t hit a lot of fairways on a golf course where you have to hit a lot of fairways, I posted a decent score,” Scheffler said. “Anything under par around here in these conditions isn’t a bad score. Obviously I wish it was a little bit lower, but overall I feel decent about the position I’m in, and everything feels pretty good.”
Scheffler won the PGA Championship last weekend for his third career major.
Jordan Spieth is tied for 35th at 1-under 69.
Defending champion Davis Riley is tied for 106th after a 3-over 73.
–Field Level Media
