American Ryan
Palmer fired a bogey-free six-under par 64 to seize a one-shot lead over
German Alex Cejka and Australian Marc Leishman after round one of the
Byron Nelson Championship.
Palmer lost last year's Nelson
title in a playoff to countryman Keegan Bradley. Palmer birdied the last
hole to force a playoff but found water on the first extra hole and
lost the $6.5 million US PGA event at TPC Four Seasons.
Palmer began off the 10th tee. He
birdied the par-4 11th, had back-to-back birdies at the par-4 15th and
par-5 16th and hit back-to-back birdies again at the par-3 second and
par-4 third. He added another at the par-3 fifth.
"It's great to be in this spot again," Palmer said.
"Continuation from last year,
that's what's cool about the whole thing. I knew everything was going in
the right direction. It was a matter of putting it all together at
once."
Palmer was disappointed at hooked tee shots on his last four holes but salvaged pars on them all.
"That's what the short game is there for and fortunately it was good," said Palmer.Leishman had back-to-back birdies at the par-5 seventh and par-4 eighth but capped the front nine with his lone bogey of the day. His big jump up the leaderboard came on "awesome" eagles at the par-4 11th and par-5 16th.
"On 11, I was trying to drive it up toward the right bunker, pulled it a little bit, right in front of the green about 10-foot off the edge, easy chip, (30-feet) down grain," Leishman said.
"On 16, I think about 245 (yards), hit a 2-iron to about 8 feet, easy putt, straight up, rolled that in and it was a good day."
Leishman has not cracked the top 15 in 11 US PGA starts this season, his best result a share of 17th at Riveria in February.
"I drove the ball a lot better
than I have been. I think I only missed two or three fairways," he said.
"Haven't been hitting a lot of fairways this year so far. I drove it
well and holed the par putts that kept the round going.
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