Brooks Koepka made a birdie out of the water on his next-to-last hole to shoot 8-under-par 64 and take a one-stroke lead over Gavin Green of Malaysia and Kiradech Aphibarnrat of Thailand after one round of the WGC-HSBC Champions at Sheshan International Golf Club in Shanghai, China.
The reigning U.S. Open champion took his shoes off to hit his ball out of the water on the eighth hole, his 17th of the day, before sinking a 20-foot birdie putt from the fringe after earlier making a 21-foot eagle putt on the third hole.
“It was an interesting hole to say the least,” said Koepka, who collected seven birdies and had one bogey in his round. “I hit an awful 3-iron, hit it in the water and was lucky enough to at least hit it and advance it, and hit a great 3-wood in there just past the pin. We were laughing. It was almost kind of destiny to make that putt.
“I felt like I struck it really well (and) drove it really well. Any time you’re making putts and you’re keeping it in the fairway, you’re going to shoot good. … Any time you can get off to a good start and be close to the lead or have the lead, that’s what you want. Just roll that into the rest of the week.”
Green, who played college golf at New Mexico, had four birdies on the back nine in a bogey-free 65, while Aphibarnrat made seven straight birdies in the middle of his 65.
Patrick Reed birdied his last three holes in a bogey-free 66 and is tied for fourth with Haydn Porteous of South Africa, who overcame a double-bogey 7 on the 14th hole with 10 birdies.
Matt Kuchar had four birdies on his last eight holes in a 67 that left him in a tie for sixth with Justin Rose of England, Tony Finau, Ashun Wu of China and Paul Dunne of Ireland.
Top-ranked Dustin Johnson carded a 68 that put him into a tie for 11th that includes ninth-ranked Henrik Stenson of Sweden, while eighth-ranked Jason Day of Australia is tied for 21st at 69, and fifth-ranked Jon Rahm of Spain is tied for 48th at 72.
Defending champion Hideki Matsuyama of Japan, ranked fourth, struggled to a 74 and is tied for 67th.
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