Kevin Roy and Aldrich Potgieter each shot a 10-under 62 on Thursday, defeating Rocket’s Classic Records, sharing their first-round lead.
The Detroit Golf Club has been one of the easiest courses since the PGA Tour became an annual stop in 2019.
Podgiator, a 20-year-old South African who grew up in Australia, started in 10th place and set a tournament record with a 7-under 29 in the back nine. He added three birdies to his back nine and caught the left edge to a 12-foot putt in his final hole that would have given him a 61.
“I then started walking,” Podgiator said. “But it was a good putt. I’m happy with it. And it was on the top so I wasn’t sure if it was left or right, so that was a bit disappointing, but I’m still going to take a 62.”
Potgieter and 35-year-old Roy each had eight birdies with me in the bogey free round.
Roy finished round Eagle Bydi to match the number of Podges. Roy tipped for the Eagle from 30 feet on the par 5 17th hole and infused his approach to about 5 feet on the 18th, setting up his final birdie.
“Only one of the days was clicking everything,” Roy said. “A lot of fairways, lot of greenery, putters and Eagle 17 made the bonus tip-in hot.
Not only will Roy and Potgieter play, they can’t be comfortable on short courses with greens that are even more receptive than usual in recent rain.
Min Woo Lee, Max Glazerman and Mark Hubbard were stroked after matching the previous tournament record of 63. Andrew Putnam shot 64 and two-time major champion Zach Johnson appeared in the group.
The course is as easy as usual, but in tournaments that many top players have skipped in the past, the competition is relatively strong.
The field includes nine of the top 50 players in the world, with fifth place Colin Morikawa River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River River
Associated Press and field-level media contributed to this report.