Charlie Hoffman shot a 65 to take the only real lead after the primary spherical of the Charles Schwab Problem.
The 47-year-old American made the perfect of blustery situations on the Colonial Nation Membership in Fort Price, birdieing two of the primary three holes to get off to a robust begin.
He added additional birdies on the eighth, eleventh and thirteenth to high the leaderboard forward of compatriots Davies Riley, Brian Harmon and Tony Finn, Scotland’s Martin Laird and South Korea’s SH Kim.
Scotty Scheffler, in the meantime, struggled to make an impression, ending seven behind Hoffman with a two-over-par 72, his first over-par opening spherical of the season. He additionally recorded his first triple bogey of the 12 months after discovering water from the tee on the par-3 thirteenth.
The world primary had performed 41 consecutive rounds at no worse than par till final week’s third spherical on the PGA Championship, a day after he was arrested on his approach to the course for disobeying police orders following an earlier non-fatal collision.
Laird and Open champion Harmon had been additionally bogey-free, as was Hoffman, whereas England’s Callum Taren is three-under, as is Justin Rose, who opened with a 70-par.
“I noticed that the scores weren’t too low there, I knew I did not should be too aggressive,” Hoffman mentioned.
“I knew the greens had been agency, the wind began selecting up halfway by way of the spherical. I would say it was fairly simple, 5 under which is good, they are not at all times like that, but it surely was stress free.”
Hoffman has 4 profession PGA Tour wins, however none since April 2016.
England’s Bland workforce leads the best way within the debut championship amongst senior groups
England’s Richard Bland took a break at LIV Golf to make a optimistic begin on his senior main debut on the PGA Championship seven-under 64 to share the lead with Australia’s Richard Greene.
Inexperienced set the tempo within the morning with three birdies and an eagle, whereas Bland had an opportunity to take the lead within the afternoon however struggled for par on the eighth gap after a wayward putt and was unable to make birdie for par. 5 ninths for the lead.
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The PGA of America affords a one-time exemption to anybody who has received on the DP World Tour prior to now 5 years; Bland received the 2021 British Masters for the primary time on the age of 48.
The Englishman couldn’t make the most of the exemption final 12 months as a result of the Senior PGA was in the identical week as LIV Golf Bedminster in New Jersey.
“I am very grateful for the invitation and hopefully I can do one thing with it,” Bland mentioned.
Bland and Inexperienced are two away from a bunch that features defending champion Steve Stricker.
Proceed to look at the PGA Tour’s Charles Schwab Problem reside on Sky Sports activities Golf on Friday from 5pm
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