Scott Piercy barely missed the Tour Championship last month and knew it was because of his putting.
Piercy changed putters and spent much of his time during the break on the practice green and it paid off when he opened with a course-record 10-under-par 62 to take a two-stroke lead over Paul Casey of England at Patton Kizzire after the first round of the season-opening Safeway Open at Silverado Resort and Spa in Napa, Calif.
“Oh man, I think I made more feet of putts than I did all last season,” said the 37-year-old Piercy, a three-time winner on the PGA Tour who collected 12 birdies in his round. “We’ve been working on the putter a lot and trying to get some things figured out. Today was a good start off to the season, a good start to give me some confidence with the putter.
” … I just missed getting to the Tour Championship, I ended up missing it by four strokes is what it comes down to. Being 150th on the stats last year in putting I think we can figure out where it came from.”
Casey, coming off three top-five finishes in the FedExCup playoffs, kept it going with a bogey-free 64 that included birdies on his last three holes, while Kizzire birdied six of the last eight holes in his 64.
Kyle Stanley birdied three of the last five holes while finishing on the front nine to card a 65, which was matched by Johnson Wagner, who birdied two of his last three to tie for fifth.
Rookie Jon Rahm of Spain and Arizona State made a hole in one with a 7-iron from 182 yards on the 11th hole to shoot 66 and tied for sixth with Troy Merritt, who birdied four of the last five capped by a 10-footer at No. 9, and Bill Haas, who collected four birdies on a flawless back nine.
Brendan Steele of Idyllwild and Cal State Riverside made four birdies down the stretch to shoot 67 and is tied for ninth with Martin Laird of Scotland, Seung-Yul Noh of South Korea, Cody Gribble, Peter Malnati and Hudson Swafford.
Phil Mickelson made bogeys on the first two holes but rallied for a 69 and was in a tie for 22nd that included defending champion Emiliano Grillo of Argentina, while Matt Kuchar is tied for 40th after a 70.
