England’s Paul Waring shot a 7-under-par 63 without a bogey to lead after the first round of the Texas Children’s Houston Open on Thursday in Houston.
Waring is one stroke ahead of Gary Woodland, who was one of the final golfers to finish the round.
Sam Burns, Michael Brennan and Tom Hoge all shot 65s at Memorial Park Golf Course to land in a tie for third.
Six of Waring’s seven birdies came on par-4 layouts. He had a 40-foot birdie putt on No. 18, which marked the midway mark of his round, and later added a 31-foot birdie putt on No. 5.
Woodland played without a bogey until the seventh hole – his 16th hole of the day – though he bounced back with birdies on the next two holes. The latter came on a putt from inside 10 feet.
Burns overcame one bogey on both the front and back nine.
England’s Marco Penge (66) had a bogey-free round and is tied for sixth place with Kurt Kitayama, Germany’s Stephan Jaeger and England’s Mike Wallace at 4 under.
Rickie Fowler, who needs a strong result this week or a win in next week’s Valero Texas Open in order to qualify for next month’s Masters, posted 67.
Tony Finau slipped late with a bogey on the final hole following two pars to leave him at 67.
Australia’s Karl Vilips, who had birdies on five of the first 12 holes, appeared poised to charge toward the top until going 3 over with three bogeys on his last five holes to finish 2 under.
Cole Hammer, competing in his hometown, hit a hole-in-one on the 15th hole, setting the tone for his 3 under showing to land in the 20-player pile-up in a tie for 11th.
Defending champion Min Woo Lee of Australia shot 68.
Brooks Koepka, who helped redesign the course, finished with 75.
