Playing out of the early wave and beginning off No. 10 tee, World No. 282 Chesson Hadley rode a hole-out eagle to a bogey-free 7-under-par 32-32=64 in the first round of the Shriners Children’s Open to sit T5, three adrift of clubhouse leader Sung Kang.
The 34-year-old, who finished 125th in the FedExCup standings last season, arrived off a missed cut at the Fortinet (71-76) and a T45 at last week’s Sanderson Farms (69-69-67-73). This is his eighth Shriners with three prior top 10s, two of those doubling as top 5s, most recently a best of T4 at the 2018 edition (74-65-69-68). Today’s 64 is the Georgia Tech alum’s best at TPC Summerlin in 25 laps, previously 65(x3), and included five birdies, two from between 11 and 20 feet, and a hole-out eagle-2 at 7 from 121 yards away. He landed 10 (of 14) fairways and 14 greens in regulation, and at last glance, posted 0.690 SG: Off-the-Tee, 3.102 SG: Approach, -1.199 SG: Around, and 2.127 SG: Putting.