{"id":1311907,"date":"2019-06-27T22:12:01","date_gmt":"2019-06-28T04:12:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.postindependent.com\/nate-lashley-shoots-63-to-take-rocket-mortgage-classic-lead\/"},"modified":"2019-06-27T22:12:01","modified_gmt":"2019-06-28T04:12:01","slug":"nate-lashley-shoots-63-to-take-rocket-mortgage-classic-lead","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/local-news\/nate-lashley-shoots-63-to-take-rocket-mortgage-classic-lead\/","title":{"rendered":"Nate Lashley shoots 63 to take Rocket Mortgage Classic lead"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
Nate Lashley eyes his putt on the 18th green during the first round of the Rocket Mortgage Classic golf tournament, Thursday, June 27, 2019, in Detroit. (AP Photo\/Carlos Osorio)<\/strong>
AP | AP<\/em><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

DETROIT \u2014 Nate Lashley tried and failed to qualify for a spot in the Rocket Mortgage Classic earlier this week.<\/p>\n

He chose to stay in Detroit, hoping to slip into the field as an alternate.<\/p>\n

Good call.<\/p>\n

Lashley birdied the final three holes and five of the last six for a 9-under 63 and the first-round lead Thursday at the PGA Tour\u2019s first event in Detroit.<\/p>\n

The 36-year-old Lashley had the lowest score in his PGA Tour career, a day after finding out he would have a chance to compete at Detroit Golf Club. Ranked 353rd in the world and No. 132 in the FedEx Cup standings, Lashley\u2019s only top-10 finish in his two-year PGA Tour career is a tie for eighth in the Puerto Rico Open in February.<\/p>\n

\u201cHopefully, can play well this week and continue to play well and lock up my card,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Ryan Armour and Nick Watney were at stroke back at 64. Chez Reavie , the Travelers Championship winner last week in Connecticut, and Charles Howell III and Stewart Cink topped the group of seven players at 65.<\/p>\n

Dustin Johnson, the second-ranked player in the world, opened with a 71. Gary Woodland had a 73 in his first start since winning the U.S. Open, an accomplishment that altered his career and schedule.<\/p>\n

\u201cI definitely didn\u2019t get prepared as much as I like to, but that\u2019s no excuse,\u201d Woodland said.<\/p>\n

Lashley made the most of the opportunity with a bogey-free round, taking advantage of scoring opportunities during a day with little wind on a short course with receptive greens. He opened with a birdie and had three more on the front nine before the closing spree.<\/p>\n

Lashley, who is from Nebraska, had a knee injury last year that stunted his rookie season on the PGA Tour after 17 events.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m just trying to play relaxed and confident golf,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s no chance Lashley can afford to be comfortable with the early lead.<\/p>\n

Johnson provided proof the Donald Ross-designed course can present a challenge. The only top-10 player in the field ranked in the middle of the pack off the tee, missing five of 14 fairways. He was among the worst on approach shots, leaving him 33-plus feet away from the pin on average.<\/p>\n

Johnson missed the green to the left on the 175-yard, par-3 fifth and his ball bounced into a bunker, forcing him to stand in the rough while squatting to get the ball out of the sand.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt ended up in a terrible spot,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Four shots later, Johnson had his first of two double bogeys. He was 2 over at No. 11 before rallying with three birdies over the last five holes.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think come out (Friday) morning and shooting a good score, I\u2019ll be back in the tournament,\u201d he said after finishing the first round tied for 101st.<\/p>\n

Woodland was strong late in the first round after failing to maintain any momentum from winning the first major of his career. He tied a U.S. Open record by making just four bogeys over four rounds at Pebble Beach and had that many bogeys in a four-hole stretch at Detroit Golf Club and a total of six. After falling to 5 over through 11 holes, he had four birdies over the last six to finish with a 73.<\/p>\n

Reavie, meanwhile, picked up where he left off after winning for his first win in 11 years. He had a 4-under 32 on the front nine and was 3 under on the back, including an eagle on the 582-yard, par-5 17th.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m entering the week as if I didn\u2019t win last week,\u201d Reavie said. \u201cI\u2019m out here grinding as I do every week and looking forward to the challenge. I like old-school golf courses. I like being able to work it off slopes on the greens.\u201d<\/p>\n

via:: Post Independent<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Nate Lashley eyes his putt on the 18th green during the first round of the Rocket Mortgage Classic golf tournament, Thursday, June 27, 2019, in Detroit. (AP Photo\/Carlos Osorio)AP | AP DETROIT \u2014 Nate Lashley tried and failed to qualify for a spot in the Rocket Mortgage Classic earlier this week. He chose to stay […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[160],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1311907","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-local-news"],"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-09-08 13:07:54","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSKE Ski Country","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1311907","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1311907"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1311907\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1311907"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1311907"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kske\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1311907"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}