There’s a few different ways to shoot 63 on the PGA Tour.
The four co-leaders at Hurstbourne Country Club showed that both early and late to the Louisville, Kentucky, crowd watching the open round of the 2026 ISCO Championship on Thursday.
Steven Fisk and Stephan Jaeger set the pace, carding a pair of 63s before most of the gallery had filled in.
While Fisk and Jaeger had to wait a little while for chasers to emerge and catch them, said challengers did eventually surface in the form of Lucas Glover and Troy Merritt who went into the clubhouse with a share of the lead after also getting to 7 under after 18 holes in the Blue Grass State.
Jaeger and Glover got to where they are on the ISCO leaderboard the most direct way possible: Playing mistake-free golf. But even in sharing a bogey-free experience through Hurstbourne, Jaeger and Glover only birdied two of the same holes — the par-5 10th and the par-4 12th.
“I’ve been hitting it good for a couple weeks,” said Glover, who told reporters he found something Sunday morning of the Travelers outside of Hartford and that has been carrying him recently. “I took it to the Deere and brought it here and it just seems to be clicking. I need to hit a few more fairways rest of the week. I missed several fairways with fairway woods, which is unlike me, so got to clean that up a little bit. But I’ll work on that in the morning. Too hot to work on it tonight.”
As for Fisk, he opened the way no pro wants to on the first hole — with a square on the scorecard.
It was quickly erased though. Fisk made birdie on the next five holes on his way to a front nine 31.
“I can’t remember the last time I made five straight birdies,” he said after the round. “I hit a bunch of quality shots middle of the green, ended up close enough to get the next one to go in. It was something that doesn’t happen very often, so very appreciated.”
Like Glover, Merritt came on late putting the last 63 on the board late in the afternoon. He shot the lowest back nine of the field, carding a 6-under 29.
“I don’t mind the bent greens, especially in the summertime,” said Merritt of his short-game that was locked in late.
“Sometimes you’re in the perfect spot on the green and you can see the line and match up the speed with it and then there are other days where you’re not in the right spot and you can’t find the line,” he explained. “Today was one of those days where I had the right putts and I hit the lines.”
