Pierceson Coody racked up 11 birdies, including six in a row, to shoot a bogey-free 61 and snag the first-round lead at the ISCO Championship on Friday at Keene Trace Golf Club in Nicholasville, Ky.
Coody leads by three strokes over Hayden Springer and the Philippines’ Rico Hoey, who stand at 8-under 64. Lanto Griffin and Justin Suh are among the nine names tied at 7-under 65.
Coody, a 24-year-old rookie from Texas, shot his career-low score on the PGA Tour and needed just 20 putts to get there. His six-birdie binge began with a 14-foot putt at the par-5 fifth hole and a 19-footer at the par-4 sixth.
He found the bunker off the tee at the par-3 ninth, yet he kept his run going by holing out without much green to work with.
“No. 9 was probably the best of the birdies,” said Coody, whose grandfather Charles Coody won the 1971 Masters. “I was in the right bunker, had a nice lie on the upslope and I made that.”
A 59 was in play when he was 10 under through 15 holes, but after a pair of pars he ended his round with an exclamation point with a great approach shot into the 18th green and a 5-foot birdie.
“I’m trying to run my own race,” Coody said. “I didn’t start the season the way I wanted to obviously, it was really slow. I’ve had some tournaments where I’ve kind of flashed a little bit. I’m just trying to keep improving my form.”
Springer is just one week removed from carding a 59 in the first round of the John Deere Classic, the 14th sub-60 round in tour history. He posted nine birdies and just one bogey on Thursday.
Hoey, like Coody and Springer, is vying for his first win on the PGA Tour. Hoey’s bogey-free round featured a 10-foot eagle putt at his penultimate hole, the par-5 eighth.
“It was a great day,” Hoey said. “Yeah, I knew the scores were going to be low today so I wanted to go out and start firing and that’s what I did, so I’m happy to do that.”
–Field Level Media
