Harold Varner III was flirting with golf’s magic number of 59 and he didn’t even realize it.
The 29-year-old Varner, who is winless on the PGA Tour, opened the Wyndham Championship by tying his career-best with a bogey-free, 8-under-par 62 to tie for the lead with Tom Hoge and Roger Sloan of Canada at Sedgefield Country Club in Greensboro, N.C.
“Dang, I wish I would have (known),” said Varner (pictured), who grew up in Gastonia, N.C., about two hours from Greensboro. “I didn’t think about it at all. Just trying to birdie every hole. You can go get it out here, obviously, with the scores, so I just knew that, you know, the gas pedal is on the right. I wish I would have thought about it, just to get some more goosebumps.
“ … It’s not hard at all. Life’s really hard. What people are going through right now, yeah, this is easy. I don’t care if I don’t ever win. I want to win, but it is what it is. I’ve been hitting the ball really well (lately), but today I made some putts and that was the difference.”
Varner, whose only pro victory came in the 2016 Australian PGA Championship, collected four birdies on each nine, including four in a row through the turn from the eighth through 11th holes.
Hoge made four birdies in a row on the front nine and six in all to go with a 14-foot eagle putt on the 15th hole to hold the lead at 9-under through 16 holes, but finished par-bogey. He also chipped in for a birdie from 34 feet at No. 16.
“It was pretty solid until the last two holes because I kept the ball out of the rough, but I missed a couple putts at the end,” said Hoge, whose only pro victory came in the 2011 Canadian Tour Players Cup. “I drove it well and putted well, a pretty good combination.
“Had a chance to birdie every hole on the front nine. I was 9-under after 16 and thought I could birdie the last two holes, but I didn’t hit the fairway. … The game felt pretty good today. It’s been a rough couple of months, but I found the game I had before the Coronavirus.”
Sloan, whose only pro victories came in the 2011 Western Championship on the Canadian Tour and the 2014 Nova Scotia Open on what is now the Korn Ferry Tour, birdied six of the first eight holes before making his only bogey at No. 9, and added three more birdies on the back.
After birdies on the 16th and 17th holes, he had a chance to take sole possession of the lead, but missed a 16-foot birdie putt on the last hole.
“I really got hot with the putter,” said Sloan, who is 178th in the FedEx Cup standings and needs a good week to crack the top 125 to qualify for the playoffs that start next week. “I was able to attack the pins and I just filled it up with the putter. These greens are so good, if you get the ball on-line, it’s going in.
“I played well here last year and I didn’t think too much out there, it was just business as usual. That’s the way you have to approach things out here, just take it one shot at a time like any other tournament. I have status for next year, so I’m in a good place.”
Play was halted by inclement weather late in the day and 33 players will return on Friday morning to finish the first round ahead of the start of round two.
Harris English kick-started a 64 with birdies on the first three holes and is alone in fourth, while ninth-ranked Patrick Reed, the 2013 Wyndham champion, carded a bogey-free 65 and tied for fifth with Si Woo Kim of South Korea, Brian Harmon, Wesley Bryan and Chesson Hadley.
Talor Gooch, Hank Lebioda and Ryan Brehm were still on the course and also in the tie for fifth at 5-under when play was halted.
Sixth-ranked Webb Simpson, the 2011 Wyndham champion, is tied for 13th at 66, seventh-ranked Brooks Koepka shot 72 and is tied for 123rd, while defending champion J.T. Poston struggled to a 74 and is in a tie for 142nd.
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