HILTON HEAD ISLAND, S.C. (AP) — Justin Thomas had a round to match the immaculate weather Thursday at Harbour Town with 11 birdies that allowed him to tie the course record with a 10-under 61 to lead the RBC Heritage.
The best shot he hit all day was an 8-iron that dropped near the pin and settled 5 feet away. He missed that birdie putt, one of the few chances he didn't convert.
There was little to complain about on a day of hardly any wind, a course in mint condition and warm sunshine that added to the RBC Heritage being the ideal place to decompress from the hectic week at the Masters.
Defending champion Scottie Scheffler, coming off a tie for fourth at the Masters, had very little stress at Harbour Town in a round of 64 that looked easy — which is not to say it felt that way.
“I will never say that golf is easy, ever. Golf is hard,” Scheffler said with a laugh.
But he was out of position only once off the tee and one other time when he went long of a green and both times he saved par. Otherwise, he putted for birdie or better on the other 16 holes and converted enough chances for a start that only looked good — not great — because of Thomas with the lowest score at Harbour Town in 10 years.
Bay Hill winner Russell Henley also had a 64, while Wyndham Clark was another shot back at 65. The group at 66 included former Hilton Head winner Matt Fitzpatrick and Gary Woodland, on the road back from brain surgery and building momentum from a runner-up finish in Houston.
Fifty players in the 72-man field broke par on a course that yielded an average score of 69.2
“I felt like if you compared my four rounds last week to today, today would be a much less stressful round of golf in terms of scrambling for a par,” Scheffler said. "A lot of the stuff I had to do last week I felt like I didn’t have to do today to shoot a good score. The golf course is obviously a bit different, but I was in position most of the day today.
“Overall, yeah, I would say stress-free day.”
Thomas is winless since capturing his second PGA Championship title in 2022, though his game has been trending enough in the right direction that he is No. 8 in the world. The Masters was a disappointment — no round lower than 70, 13 shots behind in a tie for 36th — but he put in some good work at Hilton Head for two days and made it pay off.
Six of his birdie putts were inside 10 feet, and he threw in three birdies from the 35-foot range, one of them on the 17th hole that put him in range of the course record.
He thought he had it with that 8-iron to a front pin on the 18th, which runs along the Calibogue Sound, only to miss the putt. He also missed a 4-foot par putt on the 10th.
“I’ve been playing really well, really solid. Felt good about things,” Thomas said. “I just didn’t play well last week. Put some really good work in the couple days leading into the start today, and I felt prepared. It was just about going out and doing it, and it was nice to do so.”
Among those who played later as the breeze — and nothing more than a breeze — began to pick up was Justin Rose, who lost in a playoff last week. He birdied his last two holes for a 67 to join a group that included Jordan Spieth, Patrick Cantlay and Tommy Fleetwood.
Mackenzie Hughes of Dundas, Ont., was the top Canadian with a 68. Nick Taylor of Abbotsford, B.C., and Corey Conners of Listowel, Ont., who finished tied for eighth at the Masters, each had a 70 and Taylor Pendrith of Richmond Hill, Ont., had a 73.
Masters champion Rory McIlroy decided to skip this signature event even before the Masters got started. Hilton Head was not a course he felt suited him with its tight, tree-lined angles.
Thomas felt differently.
“I love it. I wish we played more places like it,” Thomas said. “I think more architects should design places like this. It kind of stands of test of time, I think. Especially if we continue to get weather like this and if these fairways get firm — the greens are already getting firm — it’s going to be everything we want by the end of the week.”
He got everything he could have wanted — save for that birdie putt on the 18th — at the start of the week.
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AP golf: https://apnews.com/hub/golf
Doug Ferguson, The Associated Press
