Matt Fitzpatrick birdied seven of his first eight holes but ended the opening day of the WM Phoenix Open two strokes off the lead after failing to sustain his hot start.
The Englishman fired a stunning 29 on the front nine at TPC Scottsdale and added another birdie at the 12th to move to eight under with six holes to play. Two bogeys on his final two holes left him at six under, two behind leader Chris Gotterup.
Gotterup, the American who won the season-opening event in Hawaii last month, produced a faultless 63 that included six birdies and an eagle.
Fitzpatrick said: “If someone said, here is six under to start the day and I can stay in bed, I would have snatched your hand off. I’m in a good position to start with and hopefully kick on. I could argue I actually played better on my back nine than my front nine to be honest. I felt like I gave myself a few more mid-range putts to make birdies and just didn’t quite make them.”
World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler faces a fight to make the cut after carding a two-over round that included dropped shots on three separate occasions across both nines. There was a rare show of frustration from Scheffler when he twice mishit chips around the greens, blundering at the par-four 18th (played first) and again at the eighth, prompting him to throw his hand up in disbelief.
Scheffler, who elected not to speak to the media after his round, will need a low score on Friday to avoid missing his first cut since the 2022 FedEx St. Jude Championship.
There was strong European representation near the top of the leaderboard. Denmark’s Nicolai Højgaard was among four players on five under, with his brother Rasmus Højgaard two shots further back. Another Dane, Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen, sat on four under between them. England’s John Parry finished the day on three under with two holes left to play as darkness fell. Former Masters champion Hideki Matsuyama was also part of a 14-player group on four under.