Ludvig Aberg shot an opening nine-under-par 63 to take a two-shot lead in the Farmers Insurance Open in San Diego on Wednesday.
Danny Walker and Hayden Springer each delivered an opening round of seven-under to tie for second place, with the former having the best score of the day on the more difficult South Course.
Åberg opened his round on the back nine and got off to a fast start with birdies on four of his first five holes. He delivered an eagle in the 520-yard 17th hole, his eighth of the day, and shot a 30 on his opening nine holes.
After another birdie on his 10th hole of the day, Åberg delivered his only bogey on the 495-yard par-four second hole, then finished his day with three more birdies.
“Felt like I was driving the ball really well,” Åberg said. “Golf becomes a lot easier when you can do that. Even though North is a little bit easier than South, it still presents its challenges and you’ve still got to hit the shots.
“Super happy with the way we kind of came out of the gates today and played some good golf.”
Walker carded his 65 while hitting all 18 greens in regulation to become just the 12th player to accomplish the feat on the South Course since 1980. The PGA Tour rookie is the first to do it since Martin Laird was 18-for-18 in the third round in 2019.
Walker was the only player who opened up on the South Course to be within four strokes of Aberg, alongside only two others in the top 18.
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He hit every green in regulation, cashing in with seven birdies to join Springer who eagled his opening hole.
“Yeah, it was just fairways and greens. One of those days where the driver was working (and) really just never forced the issue out there,” Walker said. “Was really just trying to hit the middle of the green a lot of times and then rolled in some putts.”.
Defending champion Matthieu Pavon struggled to a 1-over 73 on the South Course and is tied for 100th place.
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