Three weeks after banging down the door to his first PGA TOUR victory, Chinese Taipei’s Kevin Yu was hovering around the leaderboard once again following a tidy 5-under 65 in the first round of the ZOZO CHAMPIONSHIP on Thursday.
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The 26-year-old Yu hit six birdies against a lone bogey at Accordia Golf Narashino Country Club for tied fifth position as he rode on his new-found confidence after winning the Sanderson Farms Championship earlier this month.
His close friend, C.T. Pan, came home with a matching 65 as the duo emerged as Asia’s leading players on a day when Taylor Moore fired a fine 63 to lead by one stroke from Max Greyserman, Nicho Echavarria and Eric Cole, who finished runner-up here last season.
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Korea’s K.H. Lee, who finished T5 at the Shriners Children’s Open in Vegas last week, maintained his resurgence with a 66, and was matched by Japanese quartet, Ryosuke Kinoshita, Taisei Shimizu, Shugo Imahira and Takumi Kanaya.
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Defending champion Collin Morikawa opened with a 69 while home hero Hideki Matsuyama, the 2021 champion, carded a 71. Two-time major winner Xander Schauffele, who at World No. 2 is the highest ranked golfer in this week’s field, stumbled to a 73 following a quadruple bogey on the ninth hole.
Yu, a former amateur star at Arizona State University, hit 10 of 13 fairways which he said was the key to his fast start in the US$8.5 million showpiece which is co-sanctioned by the PGA TOUR and Japan Golf Tour.
“Everything was pretty good. I feel like after last year, really put in the work for this course because I didn’t play good. I was trying to figure out what’s the reason, and this year I feel like my tee shot was a lot better,” said Yu, who finished T59 last season in the 78-man field.
“I feel I was too aggressive last year and this year, I was trying to be more conservative. If I can hit some fairways, hit some greens, I know my putting is good, too. It worked out pretty good. Definitely my game is up there. Obviously last week I didn’t have my best, but I still feel pretty good coming in this week. Just trying to keep it up the next three days.”
Pan, whose lone PGA TOUR victory was the 2019 RBC Heritage, closed with four consecutive birdies as he capitalized on some wonderful iron play. He ranked first in Strokes Gained: Approach the Green, gaining 3.598 strokes over the field.
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“It was an amazing finish, one of my best in my career I believe. Finish with four birdies and actually had an eagle putt on the last hole, missed it right a little bit, but still it was a great second shot. It was about 260 yards out, hit 7 wood to about 13 feet,” said Pan, who finished T23 last weekend after a final round 64 in Vegas.
“Actually kind of struggled the last couple months, finding a hard time to score out there until last Sunday. Made nine birdies to climb up the leaderboard, so that was a big day for me, turning point for me. Hopefully I’ll stay with it and keep the momentum going. My putter just clicked.”
Like Pan, Lee, who is ranked 91st on the FedExCup points list, also found some good form last weekend where he finished T5 for his fourth top-10 of the season. “Today my iron game was really good. I know this course is very hard to hit fairway and greens, which makes it easier,” said Lee, who hit 16 greens in regulation. My iron game is is getting better, so that helps me to play well.
