Mark Hubbard shot 4-under-par 68 to take a one-stroke lead over Billy Mayfair, Chris Smith and Emilano Grillo of Argentina after one round of the Puerto Rico Open at Trump International Golf Club in windy conditions in Rio Grande, Puerto Rico.
The 25-year-old Hubbard, who played at San Jose State and won the 2011 Western Athletic Conference Championship, carded four birdies in the last six holes while finishing on the front nine.
“It played tough out there with the wind, but I hit a lot of really good kind of three-quarter and half shots into the wind,” said Hubbard, whose only pro victory came in the 2013 Wildfire Invitational on the Canadian Tour.
“I actually probably played the into the wind holes better than the downwind holes, where I had to just hit normal shots. But I drove it pretty well, kept it in the fairway and made a lot of solid five-, six-footers.”
Hubbard made news last month when he proposed to his girlfriend, Meaghan McCurley, on the 18th hole at Pebble Beach during the first round in the AT&T Pebble National Pro-Am.
Last week, he was disqualified after the first round of the Honda Classic because he failed to officially register after getting into the field as an alternate at the last minute.
“I’ve been getting a lot of press,” Hubbard said.
Mayfair, 48, who has won five times on the PGA Tour but not since beating Tiger Woods in a playoff in the 1998 Nissan Open at Valencia Country Club, made three birdies down the stretch in his 69, while Smith overcame two bogeys on the back nine and Grillo recorded three birdies on the back nine.
David Duval, who claimed the last of his 13 PGA Tour victories in the 2001 Open Championship at Royal Lytham & St. Annes, made only one bogey in a 70 and was tied for fifth with Dicky Pride, J.J. Henry, Jon Curran, Scott Pinckney, Chad Collins, Jonathan Byrd, James Driscoll, Rod Pampling of Australia, Alex Cejka of Germany and Rafael Cabrera Bello of Spain.
The Puerto Rico Open is an opposite field event on the PGA Tour held for players who did not qualify for the WGC-Cadillac Championship at Doral.
