Kevin Na shot a 8-under 62 in the first round of the 2018 Fort Worth Invitational on Thursday to take a one-stroke lead over Charley Hoffman. Na, who started on the back nine, made par on his first six holes before playing his final 12 in 8 under. That included six birdies, an eagle and five pars. It was flawless.
Na fell one shy of the course record, but now he takes a nice advantage into Round 2 in a terrific field. Following a T6 at the AT&T Byron Nelson last week, Na is looking for the winner's circle for the first time since 2011 at the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open.
This is actually the third time Na has led after Round 1 at this event.
"I don't know (why I play well here)," Na said. "Southern barbecue. I don't know. Well, I do know. This is a great golf course for me. Every year I come here I have high, high expectations, high hope coming into this event. Course sets up nice for me. I've had some success here in the past. I really like coming here. The tournament does a great job of hosting players, too. I wouldn't miss it."
Na is trailed by several big names with the biggest being Justin Rose, who is 4 under and four back. Rickie Fowler is 3 under and five back after 18 holes. Jon Rahm is 2 under and Jordan Spieth is 1 under. So it should be fun watching those stars try and run down somebody who has had a ton of success at one of the best courses on the PGA Tour.
Here are a few more thoughts on Round 1 of the Fort Worth Invitational.
1. First round-Chuck: You've heard of two-buck Chuck wine from Trader Joe's. I'd like to introduce you to first-round Chuck, the best player in PGA Tour history. Yes, I know he's T111 on the PGA Tour in Round 1 scoring average, but it sure feels like he leads or nearly leads a lot of tournaments after 18 holes. Hoffman used a bogey-free round that included seven birdies to shoot up near the top of the leaderboard with a 63 in Round 1 at Colonial, and (somewhat amazingly) he's looking for his first top-10 finish of the season. He said the key to his birdie binge was a putter switch.
"Yeah, it's new this week," Hoffman said. "I had an idea literally on Sunday coming out here that I wanted to have a little more weight to my putter. I went with one that was sort of in my bag of putters at home that I could add some weight here. Brought it here, added some weight. It's a new experiment that for one day has worked. Hopefully keeps rolling."
2. So-so Spieth: Three-time major winner Jordan Spieth shot a 1-under 69 on Thursday, which was good but not good enough to slide into the top 50 after Round 1. There's a lot of golf to be played, though, and Spieth only shot two better in the first round in 2016 when he went on to win this tournament. Spieth's troubles, as they have been all year, were with the putter. He ranks No. 103 in the field in strokes gained putting but finished in the top 30 from tee to green.
3. Fowler preps for the U.S. Open: Rickie Fowler has a big few weeks ahead of prep work here and at the Memorial next week before the U.S. Open at Shinnecock, where he'll be one of the favorites. He had a strong first day with just two bogeys to five birdies, and he's playing this event for the first time since 2014. He finished third in the field in strokes gained putting and said he felt super comfortable on the Colonial greens.
"These greens are ... when they're in the shape they are right now, they're some of the best we play all year," Fowler said. "They're a little soft this morning, which made them receptive. If you did hit it in the fairway, the course was gettable."
4. Zach Johnson's hilarious moment: Johnson shot a 2-over 72, which is not very good, but he did have my favorite moment of the day when he told his ball to "run like you stole something" on Thursday afternoon.