Bryce Molder teed off on the 10th hole in the first threesome of the morning wave and was first on the scoreboard at the end of the dark, cloudy day.
Molder birdied six of his last nine holes, including the last four, after opening with nine straight pars in a 6-under-par 64 that gave him a one-stroke lead over Patrick Reed, Webb Simpson and Anirban Lahiri of India after one round of the Dean & DeLuca Invitational at Colonial Country Club in Fort Worth, Texas.
“It wasn’t dark to where you can’t see the ball flight, but you’re kind of reading putts looking a little funny at it (early in the day),” said Molder, whose only PGA Tour victory came in the 2011 Frys.com Open. “It was dark; it was weird. It was almost like late, late, late in the day.
“If you would have said I’m going to turn and shoot 29 on the back,’ I’d have been like, ‘Are you sure you’re talking to the right person?’ But that’s the way it happened. It all of a sudden comes together at the right time.”
Reed and Lahiri, also playing in the morning, posted 65s, and Simpson matched them even though the wind came up in the afternoon.
Jason Dufner, Ryan Palmer, Kyle Reifers and Martin Pilar all played in the morning wave and were tied for fifth 66.
Second-ranked Jordan Spieth, who lives about 30 miles away in Dallas, shot 67 and was tied for ninth with Bill Haas, David Toms, David Hearn of Canada, Jonas Blixt of Sweden, Jim Herman, Harris English, Seung-Yul Noh of South Korea and Sean O’Hair.
“That was a solid round of golf given the conditions this afternoon,” said Spieth, who has struggled recently, missing the cut in the Players Championship and closing with a 74 last week to tie for 18th in the AT&T Byron Nelson.
“I’m extremely pleased with somewhat boring golf. It was so tough to gauge the wind correctly and get the ball close to the hole. On a day like today, you’re just really looking to hit greens in regulation, be as stress-free as possible, and it felt like we were out there.”
Defending champion Chris Kirk shot 70 and was tied for 45th.
Jason Kokrak had a share of the lead after a birdie on the 17th hole put him at 6-under, but he hit two shots into the water to post a quintuple-bogey 9 on the final hole and finished in a tie for 27th at 69.
