Mexico City (AFP) – England’s Harry Hall posted an eagle and five birdies in a seven-under-par 64 on Thursday to share the US PGA Tour Mexico Open lead with Kris Ventura and Jeremy Paul. Hall, who won a five-man playoff to claim his only US tour title to date at the ISCO Championship in Kentucky last July, produced his bogey-free effort in benign early conditions at VidantaWorld resort near Puerta Vallarta as he aims to improve on two top-10 finishes to start the year at The Sentry and the Sony Open in Hawaii.
“Played really solid,” the 27-year-old said. “Hopefully I can do more of that.” Paul, a 30-year-old from Germany who graduated from the Korn Ferry developmental tour, also played early and had two eagles, four birdies, and a bogey in his 64. Ventura, a Norwegian who was born in Mexico and lived there until he was 12, battled through the windier afternoon weather to claim his share of the lead.
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Hall teed off on the 10th and birdied the 14th, 16th, and 18th — where his tee shot landed well left beyond a cart path, but he managed to put his second shot 15 feet from the hole. After a 19-foot birdie at the fourth, Hall holed out from off the green for eagle at the par-five sixth. He then reached the green with his tee shot at the par-four seventh for a two-putt birdie.
“You want to birdie six and seven because they are quite gettable,” Hall said. “I put myself in good position just short of the green (at six) and wasn’t thinking about chipping it in, but that one went in.”
Paul picked up five strokes in a four-hole stretch with birdies at the fourth, fifth, and sixth, and his first eagle of the day at the seventh — where he found the back fringe and rolled in the 27-foot putt. “That was a nice bonus,” said Paul, who gave a stroke back with a bogey at the eighth but grabbed another eagle at the par-five 12th, where his approach from the right rough left him a 13-foot putt. “It was sweet to make two eagles,” Paul said. “Eagles you don’t make that often, so to make two in one round was special.”
Ventura teed off on 10 and had five birdies in his first nine, starting with a 16-foot birdie putt at the par-three 11th. Back-to-back birdies at the sixth and seventh saw him grab a share of the lead. He rolled in a 17-foot birdie putt at the eighth to stand alone atop the leaderboard but missed the green at the par-three ninth on the way to a closing bogey.
The leading trio were a stroke in front of five players sharing fourth on 65: Argentina’s Alejandro Tosti, South Africa’s Aldrich Potgieter, and Americans Patrick Fishburn, Brian Campbell, and Isaiah Salinda. Italy’s Francesco Molinari, the 2018 Open Champion, headed a group of nine players on five-under 66.
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