As those in the United States settled into a slumber, Taylor Moore shot out to the first-round lead at the 2024 Zozo Championship. Carding a 7-under 63 at Accordia Golf Narashino Country Club, Moore stands one stoke ahead of Max Greyserman, Eric Cole and Nico Echavarria after 18 holes of play.
"I'd say just very solid overall," Moore said. "You know, did a pretty good job hitting fairways and greens for the most part. Yeah, couple chip-ins as well, which always helps. Yeah, overall, very solid."
Starting his day on the back nine, Moore settled into his round nicely with a couple early birdies before the big bird arrived right before the turn on the par-5 18th. After exchanging a birdie for his lone bogey on the par-4 4th, Moore then caught fire and rattled off three straight birdies on Nos. 6-8 to polish off his 63 and seize the first-round lead to himself.
An eclectic cast of characters seeking vital FedEx Cup points and a potential victory sits closely behind Moore with the biggest name of all being Justin Thomas. Opening with a 67, the expecting father continued to impress from tee to green and was finally aided with a couple nice conversions on the greens.
Rickie Fowler put together another solid performance in Round 1 and is in red figures alongside Si Woo Kim at 2 under as Min Woo Lee and defending champion Collin Morikawa round out the notables in red figures and still within shouting distance of Moore at 1 under.
"I just kind of went through a little lull, missed a couple numbers, started missing some fairways," Morikawa said. "Out here, if you miss the fairways, it just plays a little bit tougher and you just can't get close to the pins. Didn't really make any putts, so didn't really save my round. But it was nice to just kind of have a clean back nine and finish in the red, still be in it. This is a tough golf course, and I know I can still make a lot of birdies; just got to be patient."
The leader
1. Taylor Moore (-7)
Moore's 63 matched his career low on the PGA Tour as he squeezed just about everything out of his round. Chipping in a couple times, he led the field in strokes gained around the green as he seeks to play himself not only into the winner's circle but into the first two signature events of 2025.
Like many others in this field, Moore finished outside the top 50 of the FedEx Cup this past season and requires a big fall to solidify his spot in the fields at Pebble Beach and Riviera. Should he go on to to win, he will climb all the way to the top spot in the FedEx Cup Fall to No. 51 in the year-long race.
"Yeah, I think so, just try to give myself maybe a handful of starts and obviously work my way into the top 60," Moore said. "Finished just outside of the top 50 in the regular season, so just trying to play my way into that top 60 to get in the first couple elevated going into next year."
Other contenders
T2. Max Greyserman, Nico Echavarria, Eric Cole (-6)
T5. C.T. Pan, Kevin Yu (-5)
T7. Justin Thomas, K.H. Lee, Jhonattan Vegas and six others (-4)
Thomas comes into his second Zozo Championship fresh off a rebound season that saw him go from outside the playoffs in 2023 all the way to the Tour Championship in 2024. Despite his improvement from tee to green, the two-time PGA Championship winner still lagged on the greens. Switching putters throughout the year, Thomas never stuck with one as inconsistencies and short misses became more common.
As a result, he ranked bottom 10 on the PGA Tour in strokes gained putting, but with his trusty Scotty Cameron mallet back in the bag on Thursday, Thomas looked more comfortable. He was slightly above average with the putter in hand -- including a couple short misses -- which is all he'll need to contend for his first victory since the 2022 PGA Championship.
"Yeah, it was good. I made some nice putts," Thomas said. "I hit -- even some putts that I missed I felt like they were good putts. I burned a couple edges. When greens have this much break, you really have to be precise with your speed and matching everything up. I feel like I did a really good job of that. I made some nice -- you know, kind of cleaned up nicely 4, 5, 6 feet."
What happened to Xander Schauffele?
The pre-tournament favorite was cruising through the front nine at Accordia Golf Narashino Country Club up until he reached the par-4 9th. Missing the fairway left into the trees, Schauffele took a page out of the weekend warrior's playbook and took a couple hacks at his golf ball without advancing it. Laughing it off, he ultimately took an unplayable lie and carded a quadruple-bogey 8 -- his only over-par score on the round. The world No. 2 played the back nine in 1 under, but by then the damage had already been done as he sits in a tie for 70th in this 78-man field.
"Overall it was pretty low stress for the most part of the day. Like 85 percent of the day was not very stressful," Schauffele said. "No. 9 just, it was an incredible spot. I wanted to take a photo of it almost, how bad it was. For me to think I can do anything definitely got me in a hole there. I should have just taken an unplayable, but I was an idiot and tried to hit it. Then I was stubborn and then tried to hit it again, then finally took an unplayable. I was going to hit it a third time too just because, but yeah, it was a bad spot."
2024 Zozo Championship updated odds and picks
Golf betting odds below provided via DraftKings Sportsbook. Check out the latest DraftKings promo to get in the game.
- Taylor Moore: 6-1
- Max Greyserman: 9-1
- Eric Cole: 9-1
- Justin Thomas: 10-1
- Collin Morikawa: 14-1
- Beau Hossler: 16-1
The top of the leaderboard leaves a lot to be desired from a betting perspective and may leave room for someone to come from off the first-round pace. Morikawa (14-1) stands only six strokes behind after hitting just four fairways in his first round. As one of the most accurate drivers on the PGA Tour, the two-time major champion should tighten up that club moving forward. The same goes for Fowler (65-1), who's one shot closer to Moore. He ranked last in the field in strokes gained off the tee, but he flashed some quality on approach and on the greens. If he hits more fairways, he will threaten at this tournament for the second time in the last three years.