Peter Hanson of Sweden holed a six-foot birdie putt on the 18th hole to wrap up a 5-under-par 65 and take a one-stroke lead over David Duval, Tim Wilkinson of New Zealand and Marc Leishman of Australia after one round of the HP Byron Nelson Championship at TPC Las Colinas in Irving, Texas.
The 36-year-old Hanson, who has won 13 times around the world but never on the PGA Tour, carded five birdies on the front nine and bounced back from his only bogey of the day at No. 14 with his birdie on the final hole.
“It’s always nice to birdie the last hole,” said Hanson, who played on the European Ryder Cup team in 2010 and 2012. “I got off to a great start with those five birdies and made a clumsy bogey on No. 14, but that happens, that’s the way the game is.
“It’s a great track and had a lot of fun. This is my first time here in Texas and I’ve been told that it can be very windy, but we were lucky and it was a great day to play golf.”
Duval, 42, who was No. 1 in the World Golf Rankings in 1999 and captured the 2001 Open Championship at Royal Lytham & St. Annes among his 19 pro victories, birdied four of his last five holes while finishing on the front nine to shoot 66.
Leishman, whose only PGA Tour victory came in the 2012 Travelers Championship, made his only bogey at No. 4 and also shot 66, tying for second with Duval and Wilkinson, who made his only bogey at No. 1 before collecting five birdies the rest of the way.
Martin Kaymer of Germany, coming off his victory in the Players Championship last week, posted four birdies and a single bogey at No. 17 to record a 67 and was tied for fifth with Ryan Palmer, Boo Weekley, John Huh, Tyrone VanAswegen of South Africa, Alex Cejka of Germany, Alex Prugh and Lee Williams.
