CROMWELL, Conn. — Eric Cole’s opening-round 63 was the lowest score on Thursday at TPC River Highlands.
It didn’t come without a slew of challengers, each of whom found the final stretch of the back nine exceptionally tight — and had a very good chance to share the lead or grab it outright, but came up a bit short.
The two players leading the FedExCup — Scottie Scheffler and Matt Fitzpatrick — were some of the “victims” who couldn’t find a way to get to 7 under on the opening round.
“The greens firmed up I would say maybe a touch quicker than I thought they could have, so that was nice,” Scheffler told reporters. “As long as we don’t get any rain the next couple days should continue to try out and get firmer and faster.”
Fitzpatrick and Scheffler both finished T-2, a shot off Cole’s lead. They were joined by Nico Echavarria, Ben Griffin, Kristoffer Reitan and Bud Cauley.
Fitzpatrick couldn’t convert three birdie opportunities to close out his first 18 holes, any of which could have given him a share of the lead. Cauley repeated the same sequence about an hour after Fitzpatrick, Scheffler about 30 minutes after the 2026 RBC Canadian Open winner.
“When the scoring is lower it can be harder and harder to play catch up,” Scheffler said. “I feel like when you play a golf course where even par’s going to be the winning score at the end of the week there’s always those days where somebody figures it out.
“When you look at the low rounds from last week’s U.S. Open, there’s still a few of ‘em, or at least one guy seems to figure it out each day, so you feel like you can catch up a little bit easier. Sometimes here you get so far behind you can only shoot so low on some of these golf courses, so it’s important to keep pace.”
The 431-yard 17th was a missed opportunity for some, with Cauley tapping in for par and Fitzpatrick having his best birdie look of the final three holes on the par 4.
There are six more players sitting at T-8, two shots off Cole’s lead after finding similar struggles down the stretch.
One of those players is Justin Rose, who birdied three consecutive holes on the back nine but ran into the same stingy string that slowed down Fitzpatrick, Scheffler and Cauley. Challenging for the lead, Rose played his final four holes in 1 over.
“Don’t need driver on every hole, but you really have to get it in the fairway,” Cauley said, assessing his round. “The greens are small, you have to get it in the right spot.”
Corey Conners is tied with Rose. He was looking for his own three-birdie stretch when entering No. 17 but took three shots to get onto the green. He made bogey on his way to a 65.
Viktor Hovland also finished with a 65 but was one of the only afternoon players to solve the back nine, carding a bogey-free 31 that included three birdies on the final four holes. The only one he didn’t gain a shot on the field? You guessed it, No. 17.
“The birdie on 9 was nice, I rolled in a good putt on 11,” said Hovland of the momentum shift he experienced at the turn. “Obviously, the finish was really nice. Making a putt on 15 and then stuffing an iron shot in there on 16 and another good wedge shot on 18. So it was a really good finish to the day.”
“You got to do everything well around here, you can certainly miss it in some spots and be OK — it’s one of those where if you’re scoring it well you can kind of overcome some maybe some bad shots here and there,” he added. “Even on 17, even if you’re standing over there with a 4-iron, it’s still messing with your head a little bit. So there’s a lot of just great tee shots out here, if you put yourself in positions you can attack the pins and then you need your putter to get hot.”
