Tyrrell Hatton continues rich vein of form and takes CJ Cup lead
BMW PGA Championship winner Tyrrell Hatton leads by one after the opening round of the CJ Cup.
Tyrrell Hatton continued to show why he is one of the most in-form players in golf right now after he took a one-shot lead at the CJ Cup at Shadow Creek.
After winning the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth last week, Hatton hopped on a plane and made his way over to the States to compete in the first of back-to-back no cut events on the PGA Tour.
Hatton, who moved inside the top 10 in the World Rankings for the first time in his career after winning the flagship European Tour event, fired a 7-under par opening round of 65 to lead by one in Las Vegas.
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Close behind Hatton is American duo Russell Henley and Xander Schauffele who both came in with a score of 6-under par, whilst tournament favourite Jon Rahm is just two off the lead in tied fourth with Tyler Duncan.
"We got off to a great start," Hatton said. "I imagine it would have been a lot tougher round if, being as tired as I was, we didn't quite have that momentum. To shoot that score today, I'm really happy."
Hatton started his round on the back nine and got off to a flying start with two consecutive birdies followed up by an eagle when he holed his approach shot from the fairway at the par-4 12th.
A round to remember. @TyrrellHatton holds a one-shot lead after a career-best opener at THE CJ CUP. pic.twitter.com/A3FI6QWuBm
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) October 16, 2020
Two more birdies were added to the scorecard before making the turn for a 6-under score of 30 through nine holes, before adding further birdies at the 1st (Hatton's 10th), 4th and 8th, with two bogeys for the day ath the 2nd and 6th.
Defending champion Justin Thomas made a double-bogey at the last after his tee shot went way off line, leaving him six off the pace with a level par opening round.
Rory McIlroy finished his day with three consecutive bogeys to shoot a 1-over par 73, whilst a returning Brooks Koepka finds himself in T46 after shooting 2-over par.
