Washington (AFP) – Akshay Bhatia made four birdies and an eagle in the last seven holes to seize a one-stroke lead after the opening round of the US PGA Tour Rocket Mortgage Classic.
The 22-year-old American fired a bogey-free eight-under-par 64 at Detroit Golf Club to finish just ahead of countrymen Michael Kim and Taylor Montgomery for 18 holes.
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“I’ve been playing pretty solid,” Bhatia said. “It’s nice to be in this position. Putted great. I missed one green today, so I got that up and down. All in all, I hit it pretty nice with the irons and I made some putts.”
A fourth-place pack on 66 included England’s Aaron Rai, Germany’s Matti Schmid and Americans Eric Cole, Will Zalatoris and defending champion Rickie Fowler.
Bhatia seeks his third career PGA title and third within the past year, having won playoffs to capture last July’s Barracuda Championship and last April’s Texas Open.
After birdies at the second and par-5 fourth holes from 10 and 16 feet respectively, Bhatia began his late charge with a 10-foot birdie putt at 12 and a 16-footer at the par-5 14th.
Bhatia knocked in a birdie from just inside six feet at 16 then chipped in from 82 feet at the par-5 17th and sank a seven-foot birdie putt at 18.
“It’s always nice to finish like that,” Bhatia said. “This tournament is always kind of a birdie-fest, so birdies and eagles help a lot. These greens are pretty tricky, they have a lot of small slopes, but they’re soft so you can still be aggressive towards a couple of these pins.”
Montgomery, chasing his first PGA triumph, birdied six of the first nine holes and added a tap-in birdie at the par-5 17th in a bogey-free round.
Playing was a last-minute decision due to nagging shoulder injuries. “I wasn’t expecting to play as solid as I did. I had no idea what I was getting into,” Montgomery said. “I probably played four times in the last two months. I haven’t been like grinding as hard as I could. I haven’t worked hard at all on my game because I haven’t been able to. Come out and shoot 7-under. What the hell? How is that possible? It’s so weird.”
Kim, a back-nine starter, closed his bogey-free round with three consecutive birdies, tap-ins at seven and nine, to seize his share of the lead. “I felt better as the round went on,” Kim said. “Got off to a scrappy start, then I kind of got into the groove of things and was able to make some really nice putts for some birdies.”
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