Hodges posts 63 for one-shot lead in 3M Open, Thomas 6 back

BLAINE, Minn. — Lee Hodges acquired off to a very good begin in his bid to make the FedEx Cup playoffs, taking pictures an 8-under 63 on Thursday for a one-stroke lead within the first spherical of the 3M Open.

Two-time main champion Justin Thomas, who’s making an attempt to make each the playoffs and the U.S. Ryder Cup staff, opened with a 69 in windier afternoon circumstances on the TPC Twin Cities.

Kevin Streelman had the perfect of the afternoon rounds with a 64, matching Hideki Matsuyama, Brandt Snedeker and Tyler Duncan. Emiliano Grillo, Nick Hardy and Justin Suh have been one other shot again, and defending champion Tony Finau was one in every of 9 gamers to shoot 66.

Hodges entered the week having missed the reduce in three of his previous 4 tournaments and 14 of 29 occasions this season. He is 74th within the FedEx Cup standings; the highest 70 will make the playoffs that start in two weeks.

He acquired off to a scorching begin with back-to-back birdies.

“To see that wedge shot go to an inch on the primary gap after which make that 40-footer on the second gap, I used to be like, ‘All proper, right here we go, would possibly as effectively make plenty of birdies if we’re gonna make a pair,'” Hodges stated.

Finau was 5 underneath by way of his first 4 holes however stalled from there.

“I did not miss a shot for the primary seven holes actually. That was a reasonably scorching begin, it was a pleasant solution to begin my title protection this week and type of calmed my nerves,” Finau stated.

Together with winds topping 20 mph, gamers within the afternoon needed to cope with a warmth index of 105 levels Fahrenheit.

“To get out early the place we had just a few holes the place we did not should cope with wind is fairly key and simply make the most of these holes,” stated Suh, additionally a part of the morning wave.

Matsuyama wanted some heat-related consideration after his spherical however tour officers stated it was nothing critical.

“It acquired actually scorching on the market on the again 9. I am going to chill out this afternoon and hopefully get able to play effectively once more tomorrow,” Matsuyama stated.

Enjoying for the sixth time after sternum surgical procedure that sidelined him for 9 months, the 42-year-old Snedeker was coming off 4 straight missed cuts. He had six birdies over eight holes across the flip.

“I knew it was going to be just a little studying curve coming again, and took just a little longer than I needed to, however lastly capable of put a spherical collectively right this moment,” Snedeker stated. “It was coming, and it was good to see some putts go in and type of have a simple stress-free spherical the place I hit the ball rather well, did not do something poorly all day.”

Thomas is No. 75 within the FedEx Cup standings. He was grouped with one other struggling main champion, Gary Woodland (No. 90), who shot 72. Billy Horschel, who entered at No. 119, was among the many group at 66.

Sepp Straka, coming off a tie for second within the British Open, rallied for an even-par 71.