Harrison Endycott finished with a birdie on his last hole to apply more heat on the joint leaders after the first round of the PGA Tour’s inaugural Myrtle Beach Classic.
The Sydneysider fired a 5-under 66 at the Dunes Golf & Beach Club to remain in hot pursuit of Beau Hossler and Robert MacIntyre, who each shot 7-under 64 on Thursday to share the lead.
They have a posse of chasers with 10 players, including Endycott, within a two-shot margin.
Endycott began his round with a bogey on the 10th, but found his rhythm with birdies on 12, 13, 15, 16, the first and on the par-3 ninth.
The 29-year-old Hossler, who is winless on the Tour, had an eagle, six birdies and a bogey..
“It’s obviously fairly gettable,” Hossler said. “But you’ve got to put the ball in the right place off the tee to have a shot to the green. The greens are pretty severe.”
MacIntyre had eight birdies and a bogey. The 27-year-old Scot, also winless on the Tour, rebounded from a bogey on the par-4 eighth with a closing birdie on the par-3 ninth.
“Kind of built up a bit of momentum and then just hung on to it, really,” MacIntyre said. “It got really tough on the back nine, so I was just trying to manage the misses well.”
Davis Thompson, Alistair Docherty, Zecheng Dou and Alejandro Tosti are a stroke back.
Aaron Baddeley, the other Australian in the field, shot an even-par 71 in an interesting opening round that included five birdies, three bogeys and a double bogey.
The tournament is being held opposite the Wells Fargo Championship – a signature event in Charlotte, North Carolina.
The winner will get a spot in the PGA Championship next week, but not in the Masters or a guaranteed spot in the remaining two $20m ($A30.2m) signature events.
Source Agencies
