Scheffler gains control

The eagle putt on seven was pretty close and then on eight, felt like I hit a pretty good putt, just misread it kind of lost a little momentum.

SCOTTIE Scheffler fires a 62 to clinch the lead in the first round of US PGA Tour Bermuda Championship. AFP

WASHINGTON (AFP) — Scottie Scheffler bogeyed his final hole, but still emerged with a one-stroke lead on nine-under par 62 on Thursday after the first round of the US PGA Tour Bermuda Championship.

Scheffler, the 2019 Korn Ferry Tour Player of the Year, teed off on the 10th hole at Port Royal Golf Club in Southampton and played his first nine holes in six-under.

That included an eagle at the par-five 17th. Four more birdies after the turn, including back-to-back birdies at six and seven, Scheffler had a shot at a 59, but he parred the eighth before surrendering a stroke at nine.

“You think about it a little bit,” Scheffler said of a chance to break 60.

“The eagle putt on seven was pretty close and then on eight, felt like I hit a pretty good putt, just misread it kind of lost a little momentum.”

Scheffler, 23, won twice on the developmental Korn Ferry Tour in 2019 and tied for seventh in his first PGA Tour start of the season.

He had a one-shot lead over compatriot Wes Roach, who had eight birdies and an eagle at the par-five seventh along with two bogeys in a 63.

Scotland Russell Knox was tied for third on 64 with Rob Oppenheim and Bo Hoag, with Australian veteran John Senden a further stroke back on 65.