New York (AFP) – Eric Cole, seeking his first PGA Tour title, fired a seven-under par 63 to seize the lead after Thursday’s opening round of the Travelers Championship with top-ranked Scottie Scheffler lurking. Cole’s bogey-free round gave him a one-stroke edge over six rivals through 18 holes in the $20 million signature event at TPC River Highlands in Cromwell, Connecticut.
“It was a good way to start the tournament, for sure,” Cole said. “We had really good conditions to start the day, limited wind, greens were pretty soft, so there were birdies to be made out there. I felt like I played solid and kept giving myself chances and a few of ’em went in, so that was nice.”
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Sharing second on 64 were Scheffler, fellow Americans Bud Cauley and Ben Griffin, England’s Matt Fitzpatrick, Norway’s Kristoffer Reitan, and Colombian Nico Echavarria. Cole, a 38-year-old American whose parents are pro golfers Bobby Cole and Laura Baugh, has four top-10 finishes in his past six starts, including second at last month’s Charles Schwab Challenge.
“It was just a lot of the hard work that I put in earlier in the year and while it didn’t necessarily yield any results, I just had faith I was working on the right stuff and eventually some results would come from it,” Cole said. “It’s a longer process than maybe I would have hoped for. Winning is something I want to do, but I’m just trying to get myself in that spot where I have more opportunities and then hopefully just the more I do that, the more likely it is I’ll win.”
Cole reached the green in two at the par-five sixth hole to set up a tap-in birdie. He sank a five-foot birdie putt at the par-three eighth and a 12-foot birdie putt at the par-three 11th. Cole chipped from just on the fairway and holed out for eagle from 63 feet at the par-five 13th, then added birdie putts from eight feet at 14 and 14 feet at 17.
Scheffler, coming off a share of fourth at last week’s US Open, sank a birdie putt from just inside 14 feet at the opening hole, added birdie putts from just inside 29 feet at the par-three fifth and from inches at the par-five sixth after reaching the green in two, then closed the front nine with a 14-foot birdie putt. At the par-five 13th, Scheffler dropped his approach just inside of five feet from the hole and sank his birdie putt, then birdied from just beyond eight feet at the 15th to seize a share of second.
“I felt like I did a lot of stuff pretty well definitely gave myself a lot of looks, which was nice around this golf course,” said Scheffler. “Was able to hole a couple of ’em as well.”
Sharing eighth on 65 were England’s Justin Rose and Aaron Rai, Norway’s Viktor Hovland, Canada’s Corey Conners, and Americans Patrick Cantlay and Brandt Snedeker. Wyndham Clark, fresh off winning his second US Open title last week at Shinnecock, opened on 68.
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