Sungjae Im found his rhythm Thursday at the Valspar Championship, making two eagles in a 7-under-par round of 64 at Innisbrook Resort’s Copperhead Course to grab the first-round lead in Palm Harbor, Fla.
Brandt Snedeker, the U.S. captain for the upcoming Presidents Cup, is one back after a bogey-free 65, turning a sponsor exemption into an early statement.
Davis Thompson sits in third at 66, while Billy Horschel, Andrew Putnam and Pierceson Coody are tied for fourth with matching 67s.
Ten players, including Xander Schauffele and England’s Matt Fitzpatrick, share seventh place at 68.
Im missed the start of this season due to a wrist injury, finally returning to action at the Arnold Palmer Invitational earlier this month. He missed the cut there and at The Players Championship, making his Thursday surge a surprise.
Im opened his round on the 10th hole and was 4 under through his first three holes, including an eagle on the par-5 11th. He started his second nine with another eagle on par-5 first hole, then added birdies on two of the next four holes, but he bogeyed two of his last four.
“I had a very good start,” said Im, whose only two PGA Tour wins came in 2020 and 2021. “… I did not have very good starts the last few months. After last week, I really felt like I had to refine some techniques and I was able to focus on specific techniques, and I refined it and for this weekend I feel like that’s a really good outcome.”
Asked to assess the status of his wrist, Im said, “I was out for two months because of my injury and was not able to touch the clubs, so I feel like I had some loss in touch, especially for my short game. So I really focused the last week on getting this feel and touch back for short game, and I really feel like I benefited from that today.”
Snedeker, 45, rolled in five of his six birdies on the back nine.
“Just a really good game plan coming into today,” said Snedeker, whose most recent win on tour occurred more than seven years ago. “… Just relied on my putter. I putted great today, made a bunch of footage of putts, and put myself in position off the tee. Hit a lot of fairways and greens and made it stress-free, which was nice. So really excited about how it started, but a long way to go from here.”
–Field Level Media
