Hoffman leads on renovated Colonial by one from Kim, four others

Four-time PGA Tour winner Charley Hoffman missed only two fairways and three greens, and always looked in control of his game on his way to a one-stroke lead on the opening day of the $9.1 million Charles Schwab Challenge in Fort Worth, Texas, on Thursday.

The US golfer (65) led a group of five that included in-form Korean S.H. Kim and noted post-round at the renovated track, “It’s one of those golf courses you want to be aggressive on because you have some mid and low irons in, but you can’t get too aggressive out here because the greens are small and it’s hard to get up-and-down.

“So I would say it was somewhat an easy 5-under, which are nice. They're not always that way, but it was low stress.”

Behind him, Korea’s S.H. Kim fired a solid 4 under 66 that included a brilliant eagle, three birdies and a lone bogey at the renovated Colonial Country Club alongside Martin Laird of Scotland, and Americans Brian Harman, Tony Finau and Davis Riley, the PGA Tour said.

Of the other Asians in the field, fellow-Korean Joohyung ‘Tom’ Kim carded a 69 which was matched by the Chinese Taipei duo of C.T. Pan and Kevin Yu.

Already this month, Kim has posted a tied fourth at the CJ Cup Byron Nelson and finished tied 63rd at the PGA Championship last weekend on his major debut. On Monday, he successfully qualified for next month’s US Open, the year’s third major, after prevailing in a seven-man playoff for the final six tickets to Pinehurst.

“I’m glad to finish on the leaderboard today. It could have been a bogey-free round but I got one bogey. I wasn’t feeling 100% but it was great round overall,” said the delighted Kim. “I was in the US Open Monday qualifying earlier this week, so I didn’t get a chance to look at this golf course too much. I got to play seven holes only in the pro-am.

“Compared to last year, the course is firmer and it feels like the shapes of the holes are similar to last year. There is undulation on the greens but I think overall I had a great first round, I’m glad to get to play in the US Open this year. I didn’t get a chance to do so last year, but this year, I’m happy to play in one more major. I hope to give it my best shot to see what I can do,” Kim added.

It was a day many established stars struggled with the redone course including world number one, Scottie Scheffler, who failed to break par in an opening round for the first time this year with a 2 over par 73 and Jordan Speith had a 1 over 71. Former winner Adam Scott was 1 under 69 while Indian-American Akshay Bhatia shot 3-over 73 for a share of 98th place.

Hoffman, whose last title came at the 2016 Texas Open, was bogey free, as were Harman and Martin Laird who played in the morning wave for their 66s, while PGA runner-up Collin Morikawa opened with 68.