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Coody leads by three strokes over Hayden
Springer and the Philippines' Rico Hoey, who stand at 8-under
64. Lanto Griffin and Justin Suh are among the nine names tied
at 7-under 65.
Coody, a 24-year-old rookie from Texas, shot his career-low
score on the PGA Tour and needed just 20 putts to get there. His
six-birdie binge began with a 14-foot putt at the par-5 fifth
hole and a 19-footer at the par-4 sixth.
He found the bunker off the tee at the par-3 ninth, yet he kept
his run going by holing out without much green to work with.
"No. 9 was probably the best of the birdies," said Coody, whose
grandfather Charles Coody won the 1971 Masters. "I was in the
right bunker, had a nice lie on the upslope and I made that."
A 59 was in play when he was 10 under through 15 holes, but
after a pair of pars he ended his round with an exclamation
point with a great approach shot into the 18th green and a
5-foot birdie.
"I'm trying to run my own race," Coody said. "I didn't start the
season the way I wanted to obviously, it was really slow. I've
had some tournaments where I've kind of flashed a little bit.
I'm just trying to keep improving my form."
Springer is just one week removed from carding a 59 in the first
round of the John Deere Classic, the 14th sub-60 round in tour
history. He posted nine birdies and just one bogey on Thursday.
Hoey, like Coody and Springer, is vying for his first win on the
PGA Tour. Hoey's bogey-free round featured a 10-foot eagle putt
at his penultimate hole, the par-5 eighth.
"It was a great day," Hoey said. "Yeah, I knew the scores were
going to be low today so I wanted to go out and start firing and
that's what I did, so I'm happy to do that."
--Field Level Media [© 2024 Thomson Reuters. All rights
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