Kevin Na took a nap when the start of play was delayed by rain and then shot 6-under-par 64 to tie for the lead first-round lead with Jordan Spieth, Boo Weekley and Ryo Ishikawa of Japan in the Crowne Plaza Invitational at Colonial Country Club in Fort Worth, Texas.
All four leaders played bogey-free golf.
Na, who left Diamond Bar High before his senior year in 2001 to turn pro, slept in the clubhouse before recording three birdies in his first seven holes after starting at No. 10, and then birdied three of the last four holes while finishing on the front.
“I wasn’t sure when we were going to play this morning,” said Na, whose only PGA Tour victory came in the 2011 Justin Timberlake Shriners Hospitals for Children Open. “Fortunately I was able to get some extra sleep in the locker room, put some towels down and pulled off a little veteran move, took about an hour nap. So I felt great when I woke up.
” … If I’m driving the ball well, I’m going to have a good performance here. I think it’s like that for everybody. This week, I came in hitting the ball pretty well, and I had some confidence with the putter, and I was able to get it together on the first day.”
Spieth, playing at home in Texas for the first time since winning the Masters last month, birdied the first two holes and two of the last four, sinking a 19-foot putt at No. 18. He was coming off a missed cut in the Players Championship two weeks ago at TPC Sawgrass.
Weekley, who won at Colonial in 2013, birdied three of the first five holes after starting on the back nine and finished with a 13-foot birdie putt at No. 9, while Ishikawa closed with birdies on the eighth and ninth, ending with a 29-foot putt.
Ian Poulter of England was tied for the lead before making his only bogey on the 18th hole to wind up at 65 and was tied for fifth with George McNeill, who birdied the first three holes and could have tied for the lead but missed a 13-foot birdie putt at No. 18.
Charley Hoffman of Poway and UNLV bounced back from his only bogey at No. 10 with three birdies coming hole to shoot 66 and was tied for seventh with Colt Knost, Ben Martin, David Hearn of Canada, Danny Lee of New Zealand, Ben Crane, Marc Leishman of Australia, Luke Guthrie and Ben Crane.
Defending champion Adam Scott was tied for 86th after a 72.
