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Canada's Svensson seizes PGA Barbasol lead on eagle wings / Photo: © GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/AFP
Canada's Svensson seizes PGA Barbasol lead on eagle wings
Canada's Adam Svensson eagled twice in shooting a 10-under par 62 to grab a two-stroke lead late in Thursday's opening round of the US PGA Tour's Barbasol Championship.
World number 158 Svensson, chasing his first PGA victory, also had seven birdies and a lone bogey at Keene Trace Golf Club in Nicholasville, Kentucky, to match the lowest score for the first 18 holes in tournament history.
"I was hitting it well and putting well and it kind of all clicked," Svensson said. "I feel like I'm rolling it really nicely."
Portugal's Ricardo Gouveia, who missed the cut at Bay Hill in 2016 in his only prior US PGA start, was second on 64.
Sharing third after opening 65s were Germany's Matt Schmid, Colombian Camilo Villegas, England's David Skinns and Americans Trey Mullinax, Michael Kim and Max McGreevy.
The event is co-sanctioned by the US PGA and DP World tours for the first time as is this week's Scottish Open, where most of the world's top players are competing ahead of next week's British Open at St. Andrews.
Svensson, a back-nine starter, drove the green to set up a tap-in birdie at the par-5 11th, made a four-foot birdie putt at 12 and missed a five-foot par putt at the par-3 14th for his only bogey.
He responded by reaching the par-5 15th green in two and sinking a 23-foot eagle putt, then added birdies at 17 and one before making three in a row starting at the fourth.
Svensson, 28, drove the green at the par-5 eighth and sank a 31-foot eagle putt to take the lead alone and parred the par-3 ninth.
He has managed his two best PGA results, this season, a share of seventh at the Sony Open in Hawaii in January and ninth at the Honda Classic in February.
A. Walsh--BTZ
